Earth Science and Engineering PhD student wins SCI scholarship

Gonzalo Larrabure, PhD candidate from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, has been awarded an SCI scholarship to support his PhD studies.

In addition to the scholarship of £5,000 over two years, Gonzalo will benefit from publishing opportunities, access to a high-calibre network to help launch his career, and opportunities to present his work and raise his profile within the scientific community.

The SCI Scholars Fund was established in 1920 by the requests of Rudolph Messel and John Gray, both former presidents and founding members of SCI. Each year, SCI provides scholarships and bursaries to early career scientists including opportunities to attend or present at an international conference.

Gonzalo works with Dr Pablo Brito Parada in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering (ESE) at Imperial. Having been awarded the scholarship, Gonzalo’s work on the assessment of the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of leaching experiments will benefit from the additional contacts and support he will gain from this valuable opportunity.

“I am now finishing the second year of my PhD at Imperial and I have found this experience to be both thrilling and intellectually stimulating. During these two years, I have had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the use of various cutting-edge analysis and imaging techniques, including Microcomputed Tomography and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. My PhD aims to design a methodology to access insights into leaching experiments, with the intention of providing guidance for process optimisation. The funding and support received from my SCI Scholarship will help me go more in depth in my studies and provide me with the opportunity to present my work in conferences,” said Gonzalo.