GCE Alumni (6): Research manager at UZH and ETH Zurich

The master´s programme “Global Change Ecology” (GCE) started in 2006. Since that time, some GCE students have already completed their Master´s degree.
We are interested to know what has been happening in the lives of our former GCE students. A few GCE alumni told us about GCE and how their careers have continued after they had finished the master´s programme.
The sixth one in our series is Dr. Sia Gosheva-Oney, who was born in Bulgaria and started to study GCE in 2007:

Why did you decide to study GCE?
The general topic of Global Change Ecology combined with the diversity of branches of the topic one could pick and delve into.

What did you like most about GCE?
When I started studying GCE, we were 7 people altogether in my year, which allowed for a very intensive supervision from the side of the GCE profs; additionally, the study course supported our education by enabling us to visit international conferences and to participate in summer and winter schools. One amazing experience I had was a summer school in the Brazilian Amazon, where we did research with international students, experienced new cultures, and lived on a boat.

How has your career continued after GCE?
After I graduated GCE, I started working as a junior policy advisor for the GIZ at the headquarters in Eschborn and later in Bonn. During this time, I advised the BMZ on the water-energy-food security nexus topic.
Later on, I continued with obtaining my PhD degree in PhD program Ecology in Zurich. After I obtained my PhD degree, I worked shortly as a scientific assistant on project funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. After that I left academia.

What is your current position? What are your tasks?
I am a research manager at a joint office of UZH and ETH Zurich. The office is part of the offices of the vice-presidents for research at both universities. In my role, I advise researchers on EU funding schemes. Also a big part of my work is the negotiation of contracts and agreements.

How has GCE supported your career?
I loved that there was a good mixture of mandatory and optional courses, ensuring that all students get a very good overall quality of knowledge and yet still have the option to go into their own specific area of interest. Furthermore, I won friends for life with the people I got to know there. Last but not least, we could always discuss openly with our professors about politico-scientific topics but could also always give input to the structuring of the study course.

What do you recommend to the current GCE students?
What you learn now, during GCE, will help you during your entire career and will influence who you become as a person. Enjoy it as much as you can and be active!