14 Feb Enjoy the Show

Francis dela Rosa (ESR10)

Hello! I am Francis M. dela Rosa (ESR 10).  I am from the Philippines and I love to see people smiling and laughing at my jokes. I could look like a serious person when there is no smile on my face, but believe me that is my standard facial expression. Trust me, I will not bite you, just call me and I‘ll be very happy to help you.

Here at the University of Zagreb (Croatia), my colleagues called me “Franjo”, which is the translation for Francis in Croatian. My post-doc friend gave me a surname “Ružić”, from the word Ruža (rose in English). So now, I have a second full name which is “Franjo Ružić”. Amazing hahaha!

If you want to know something about me is that I Iove basketball. Since when I was a teenager, my idols are Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Indeed, I adapt their mentality from their court to my own court, the chemical laboratory. Of course, I will not shoot the glassware and equipment in the trash-can like I’m going for a buzzer-beater crucial game (my supervisor will spank me if I do that. Just kidding). For instance, in Kobe Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality”, the idea is to have an intense focus on what you really want in life. This means that you need to overcome obstacles that may interfere in your pathway and stay focus on obtaining what you really want. My focus is to contribute to science. Only that. People may tell me, “hey that is not just life is all about…..” Yes, I know. Of course, I will change my priorities in the future but not during these three years of my PhD time. Now, my focus is here.

Technically speaking, I really like the field of heterogeneous photocatalysis. So, what I did last January of 2019 was to search for the keyword “Photocatalytic Degradation” every day on the Euraxess portal. I was not sure if something would pop-out or if there was an existing EU project during that time but “SUDBINA” (destiny in Croatian) happens and “NOWELTIES” where there.  And the focus mentality was spot-on, again.

Some of my friends may ask me “what makes you curious about this topic? Why are you so dedicated”?  Well, it’s for you to find out in my next blog contribution….

Join me and the other ESR’s for our moment.

Let us all ENJOY THE SHOW!!!