“It Never Gets Boring In Battery Research”
Interview on International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February 2025
11 February 2025 – Every year on 11 February, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science reminds us that women are still underrepresented in research and development. In Germany their share is only 29.4 percent according to Eurostat 2021. In this interview, Dr Fariza Kalyk, postdoctoral researcher from Helmholtz Institute Münster (HI MS; IMD-4) of Forschungszentrum Jülich, and Dr Anna Gerlitz, postdoctoral researcher from MEET Battery Research Center of the University of Münster, talk about their work in battery research. They would like to encourage young women to pursue a career in science.
What made you decide for battery research?
Gerlitz: It was rather a development than a fixed goal. I started studying chemistry and worked as a student assistant for a researcher who did electrolyte development and investigations. That is how I got into the battery context. I found out that there is a huge diversity of all the different fields coming together. It is very interdisciplinary which makes it very interesting for me. For example, a lot of organic chemistry is involved, but you also have the electrochemistry part. I shifted towards battery research and did my bachelor and master there. I have specialised further in the direction of battery research because I found it fascinating without having a specific job in mind.
Kalyk: At high school I was already interested in physics and chemistry. First, I started studying physics where the research fields are quite separate. But I was always interested in interdisciplinary work, energy in general, energy devices and energy storage and conversion. I thought the topic was very important, too, especially nowadays as we face the consequences of climate change. In my PhD I worked with fuel cells, studied electrolytes and synthesized new materials. For my post doc I did not want to stay in the same research area but shift to other energy applications. The battery was the answer. It was similar to Anna: I was interested in one general topic like science, tried myself in different areas, found something that spoke to me and continued with that.
Did you have role models?
Kalyk: If we talk about science, there were and there are many female scientists who changed the world and did a lot of important work for us which is very inspiring. But the honest answer would be that the real role models in my life are the people I met along the way. The one that has always been my ultimate role model is my mother. I get very much inspired by her. She is very strong, independent and anything she does in her life she does to the fullest. She puts all her energy and effort into it. She also does very well with everything she tries.
I was born in Kazakhstan when the country became independent. My parents were young and full of hopes and dreams. With the economic crush their hopes and dreams crushed as well. They had to fight and work hard to just provide for themselves and the family. Nowadays my mother is a professional chef. She always told me to study, work hard and to believe in myself. Apart from her, I met very inspiring people in my academic career. I always got inspired by the supervisors I had since my bachelor degree, two of them were women.
Gerlitz: I did not have a particular role model. There are famous scientists who always fascinated me like Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin or Lise Meitner. More relatable role models for me I met in my everyday life. Women who do really well in their job. It has always been people who supervised me, did their thing in science, politics or wherever their strengths lay. Who show you that you do not have to be the next Einstein to be good in your field.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
Gerlitz: I like to work on different topics and dive into various aspects. There is always something new in battery research and it never gets boring. Sometimes it is challenging, but all the more rewarding whenever you discover something or you realise that your work really does make a difference.
Kalyk: When you work in a team with people and exchange ideas. I prepare and synthesize a lot of energy materials in which I like to combine approaches of myself and others. Sometimes the theory works out in the material I make, sometimes it does not. After making the material, I characterise it and see if it obtains the properties we expected – or you did not even expect – that part of our job is very exciting. Listening to colleagues’ ideas, how they explain or obtain things or what they even see in the materials is also very interesting day to day.
What challenges do you face in your job?
Kalyk: It can be very frustrating, if you expect something to work out in the lab and then it does not. You put your heart and time into those materials and sometimes it is hard to make them. If they do not work out the way you wanted them to work out or the properties are not good enough after all, it can be very upsetting and demotivating. But of course you always learn.
It is also easy to get the idea that you do not do enough which can be hard. I know from talking to my colleagues that this is a feeling a lot of us have. In science it is always possible to do more and you have to know where to stop.
Gerlitz: I totally agree with that. We are always challenged: The more you learn, the more you find out, the more you realize there is even more you do not know or you cannot do. People tend to have the feeling they could do more but you need to guard yourself. And it is challenging that often ideas do not work out in the lab the way you intended them to work out. Then you go back to the start and discuss with your team. This is normal in science, a lot of trial and error. Lately I also noticed that it is challenging to deal with the fact that you can only exert limited influence on research funding on which you depend.
Which advice would you give your younger self?
Kalyk: To my younger self at school times I would say: “Study hard and be a bit nicer, not too harsh to yourself” Apart from that I would not change anything.
Gerlitz: I would tell myself the same thing. Maybe also to be patient and to keep an open mind. It is ok to take one step at a time, to look around yourself and see where it takes you. Along the way you learn more about yourself and the job you want to do and it is always ok to change directions.
What do you wish for women in the future?
Gerlitz: I wish for more equality in chances. There has to be recognition and visibility of female achievements in science. The glass ceiling needs to be dismantled so women and men get the same professional opportunities. And we need female scientists to be role models for girls.
Kalyk: I agree with Anna. I simply hope that the question will no longer arise in the future because we do not need it any longer. I hope we will achieve true equality one day. Until then we need to address this very important topic and keep talking about it. When you start in battery research you will see that the numbers of men and women are quite equal, sometimes there are even more women in PhD positions. In higher positions the numbers shift drastically. This shows we are not there yet.