Phd Career Stories

In this episode, Tina Persson interviews the associate professor Erik Alexandersson from the  Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Alnarp (SLU). Erik has a background in plant molecular biology, and he is currently studying the interaction between potatoes and pathogens, as well as potato defense mechanisms both in the laboratory and in the field. He is also leading a project on biofortification of cassava. Half of the time Erik is the director of PlantLink - a collaboration between Lund University and SLU to strengthen plant research in Southern Sweden. For a couple of years, he had also worked as an in-house editor at BioMed Central publisher in London before he decided to come back into the academic career. Erik will reflect on his career choices and discuss with Tina how the series of life events may lead to the dream job and what you need to sacrifice for it. “Dare and make the step, and move between environments, and going between countries. Because, I think, you learn and develop so much fro