Soapbox Science 2020 Online

Soapbox: Did you choose a scientific career or did the scientific career choose you?

Martina Magli: I choose a scientific career. It started when I was 6 years old and I found math very fun.

SB: What was the key moment that brought you to the place where you are today?

MM: When I decided to quit my corporate job to pursue my dream to become an academic.

SB: What is your scientific superhero power? Or what superhero would you be?

MM: I think the humbleness to admit “I do not know, let me check”.

SB: What is the most exciting aspect of your research?

MM: That there might be more than one correct answer.

SB: If you were stranded on a desert island, what scientific equipment would you bring with you?

MM: A book with the fundamentals of Math and a calculator. All questions can be solved with some mathematical tools.

SB: What challenges do you encounter in science?

MM: Sometimes scientists loose the contact with the real World. We fail to communicate efficiently the research outcomes, either by using too many specific jargons or over-simplifying complex concepts.

SB: What motivates you to give a talk in Soapbox Science?

MM: As a young girl, I was fascinated by famous female researchers, as Marie Curie and Rita Levi Montalcini, which lives I saw as heroic. Likewise, during my high school years, I was inspired by female researchers I had the opportunity to interact with outside the school environment. Unconsciously, being exposed to those examples is what lead me to pursue a career in STEM subjects, first in Engineering and later in Economics. Being able to “give back this opportunity”, presenting my research and experience in Economics to a general audience is a fulfilling life event.

SB: Do you have a few words to inspire other women or young scientists?

MM: Do not be scared and praise all the critiques you will receive. It is from the failures that we learn.

SB: In these quarantine days, what funny/interesting experiments, books, talks or podcast can you recommend to our audience?

MM: Amy Cuddy Ted Talk. She really is inspirational. There is a book that literally all scientists (and many more) love “The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy” by Douglas Adam. It is good fun and provides a very insightful view of our World.