Viola Spamer

When did you become a member of the GGL?

I was a member of the GGL since 2006 and therefore among the first members of the GGL.

Where do you work and what is your position? Industry or university?

I’m working right now for Syngenta seeds which is an agribusiness. There I’m responsible for the pre-breeding of winter oilseed rape for Europe.

What was your field of research during your doctoral studies? Are you still working on that?

I researched on resistant QTL in Barley against Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus. Even though I’m not working with barley anymore or with virus in particular, I’m still working with resistances in crop and try to enhance the crop with traits to improve the quality for the farmers.

Did the GGL’s programme prepare you well for your subsequent career challenges?

The GGL prepares me in so many ways for my current position. In particular in the way I can deal with literature, with publications, the way I present scientific content to people who are not familiar with the topics, the way how I connect with colleagues, the networking I learned, the international experiences I gathered during the lab rotations. All this taken together prepared me very well for the position I’m having at the moment.

What piece of advice would you like to give to our new members?

The advice I want to give to new members is: Do whatever you can, whatever is offered, take all the opportunities, don`t do it just for the credits you get, do it because you get the chance to learn things and improve yourself. Even though it might be challenging and time-consuming, do it because it`s worth.