Adéla Melcrová

I am a 33-year-old scientist, mother of two, language- sport- and music- enthusiast, and bookworm. I did my MSc. studies of biophysics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the Charles University in Prague, and then started my PhD journey at J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry in Prague. During my PhD studies, I became a mother of two daughters (born in 2014 and 2016). I stopped my work on the PhD research twice for a full year due to maternity leaves and then worked only part-time until the end of my PhD. After that period, we moved with the whole family to the Netherlands for a postdoc, where we managed to get a nice postdoctoral position for both me and my husband (also a scientist) in the same city. Currently, we are located in Groningen, the Netherlands.

I have experience with grant writing in the Czech Republic, European Union, and the Netherlands. I obtained 3 personal grants that helped me to (I) finish my PhD faster because I obtained coverage for a private daycare for my daughters (Martina Roeselová Memorial Fellowship, 2018), (II) start my own line of research at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands (NWO Physics/f, 2019–2022), and (III) broaden my line of research for new innovative ideas (NWO XS, 2022–2023).

I am active in mentoring and outreach also online through my personal blog Miss Biophys on the social platform Tumblr, and to Czech-speaking audiences through Czexpats in Science.

Why I decided to become a mentor

I like helping others. If my experience helps to ease one‘s fears, I am more than happy to share my story. I too appreciated (and still appreciate) the help and guidance of my more experienced colleagues during both my PhD studies and postdoc, who became my unofficial mentors even without knowing.

Candidate requirements

BSc., MSc., PhD student/candidate

Areas of possible mentoring

Work-life balance; stress from over-working and too big expectations; moving abroad for postdoc; balancing the career with starting and having a family; networking; writing of grant applications; presentation skills, negotiations, soft-skills

What can you expect from me in mentoring?

I will gladly share my experience with managing the scientific job with childcare, relaxation, and time for yourself and your partner. I place a great emphasis on work-life balance. We can talk together about your problems, expectations, worries, stress factors… whatever you need.

What can't you expect from me in mentoring?

I‘m sharing my experience and ideas, nothing less and nothing more.

Meeting frequency

I’m living in the Netherlands, so we probably meet online. Once a month or once in two months is ideal.

We will communicate in

Czech, English