#40 Waldir Berbel-Filho

First of all I just want to wish everyone a happy new year say thanks to those of you who have been reading PhDetails from the beginning (when it was just an idea in the pub) and for all of you who have joined along the way - I never thought we would reach 40 interviews and there are plenty more on the way for 2019! I'm hoping to expand PhDetails over the next few months and have some PostDocDetails on the horizon where, as well as continuing to share the diversity of people and PhD projects in biology, i'm hoping we can spread some tips and trick and tales of success and failure from people who have made it though their PhDs. I hope 2019 brings you successful PCRs, bug-less code, safe fieldwork and as little interaction with 'reviewer 3' as possible!

Anyway, on to this week's PhDetails with Waldir Berbel-Filho who does his PhD at Swansea University. Waldir graduated from his degree in Biology at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil in 2011 and stayed on to complete his masters in Systematics and Evolution in 2014 - which included a short period as a visiting researcher in Dalhousie University in Canada. Waldir's interests include the evolutionary processes generating biodiversity from micro to macroevolution and in his PhD he studies how self how self-fertilizing fishes (the mangrove killifishes) cope with environmental variability, examining the relationship between epigenomics and genomics under environmental variation, as well its evolutionary consequences. You can also find Waldir on twitter @BerbelFilho

Well let’s start off talking about completely unscientific stuff: What is your favourite band/musical artist pre 1980?

During my childhood, I was musically influenced by my dad, so my favourite artist/bands are actually much older than me. I got hooked to lyrics pretty early, so I really enjoy classics of popular Brazilian music (the ones on the language I could understand at the time): Giberto Gil, Jorge Ben, Belchior, among others. Internationally, I can point out some few I generally enjoyed a bit more than average: Beatles, Bob Marley, Nirvana, The Strokes, Michael Jackson, Bee Gees, and so on

Favourite band/musical artist post 1980?

Hard question as well. I would say the ones I have enjoyed more during my teenagerhood and still listened nowadays are The Strokes.

Favourite movie?

I would say the Godfather series (mainly the first one).

Do you listen to podcasts? What are some of your favourites?

Only recently I got into podcasts, and so far, I have been enjoying The Infinite Monkey Cage, a British popular science hosted by Brian Cox and Robin Ince.

Where do you study and who is/are your supervisors?

I study at Swansea University in South Wales. My supervisors are Professors Sofia Consuegra and Carlos Garcia de Leaniz.

What year of your PhD are you in?

Fourth, the writing up year. Hopefully finishing my PhD in 2019.

Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?

I have been paid by the Brazilian government during the whole PhD period. 

Do you have any publications – if so where?

Yes, I have some. I have a personal website (berbelfilho.com) which contains all my publications and some other details of my scientific career. Some of my favourite pictures as well :D

Did you do a masters – where was it and was it about?

Yes, my master degree was done in UFRN in Northeast Brazil. This region contains the largest dry forest biome in Brazil, called Caatinga. Not much is known about the native biodiversity on this area. I was looking at the phenotypic variation and genetic structure of two native fish species in the region, mainly focusing on how the evolved to live in the constant flooding-drying water regime in the region and how large inter-water basin transfer work would interfere on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of the freshwater fish fauna.

Do you do fieldwork? What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?

Fieldwork has been a crucial part of my career, and it works as a sort of therapy for me. I had very nice fieldwork trips since my undergraduate times, but the best one particularly, was one in 2017, looking for mangrove fishes along 4.000 km of the Brazilian coast. This fieldwork was particularly great given I was surrounded by friends, we got to meet different regions in Brazil, and their diversity of cultures and flavours. We were very successful sampling the fish as well, which made it even better!

How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?

I had started a PhD in Brazil before moving to the UK. Although I had a nice project, I felt I was not challenging myself enough at the time, that why I decided to move abroad. 

What one piece of advice would you give to a masters student applying to PhDs now?

When I finished my master’s degree and started looking for a PhD, I did not think much about myself outside the academic environment. I would advise students to not only pay attention to their prospective projects and supervisors but also to the social part of their life when moving to a different place. Having an active life outside academia certainly helps to maintain good mental health and can even boost your academic productivity!

How often do you meet with your supervisors?

We generally meet once a month when possible.

What supervisor traits are important to you?

I really advocate for a more humane relationship between supervisors and students. I think both have to gain in a relationship where both parts see each other as humans before employee or employers.  

What do you think are the worst supervisor traits?

I think it goes with my answer before. Probably the most cited problem, lack of support by supervisors, may be an actual consequence on how supervisors see their students.

In one sentence what is your PhD about?

Investigating the role of genetic and epigenetic variation on the ecology and evolution of mangrove killifishes (that’s actually my thesis title!)

What has been your academic highlight of the last year?

I had one my papers covered by National Geographic and other popular sciences pages. That was cool!

Have you had an academic low-point of the last year – if so what happened?

Yes. I had a manuscript which has been under review for more than a year. After some rounds of major reviews, the manuscript was rejected. The news came in the same day I have received the news that a close family member had passed away. Two big punches at once. 

Which academic idol/scientist have you met?

I really admire popular science book authors, so it was quite nice to meet Adam Rutherford in talk he gave last year at the University. I have read a few of his books, and got a copy of his newest released signed. 

Which academic idol/scientist would you most like to meet?

This is rather impossible, but I wish I could have met Carl Sagan in person.  I admire his books, works, and his way of seeing life and science.

Do you have a favourite paper?

I don’t think so. I tend to read more books than papers.

What has been your favourite conference so far – why?

I have been to the EMPSEB in Sweden in 2016. This is a conference organised by student for students in Evolutionary Biology in Europe. The environment there was very friendly and welcoming. Apart from the scientific content, there were some nice talks about academic life and career. To make things better, the conference was hold in the beautiful island of Gotland, which made easier to make the social activities even more engaging.

What hours do you typically work?

Officially, from 8am to 5pm. But this varies a lot. I tend to be more productive in the morning, so sometimes, I tend to start earlier to finish earlier.

How do you avoid procrastinating?

I like using apps who block social media sites on browsers (SiteBlock is a good one!).

What motivates you in your day to day PhD life?

I always like to remember why I am doing a PhD at the first place.  I am deeply concerned about the impacts of human activities on Earth. I am doing my PhD to help to understand the molecular mechanisms of evolution of life. Better understanding should bring better conservation policies. Hopefully I am not only a dreamer!

What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your PhD?

I like reading, playing football, table tennis, videogames, swim. Unfortunately, time constrains me to do all these things, but I always try to have some free time to myself every day, mainly during the evening and night (it is not always possible!). I think this free time helps me to detach from work a bit.

If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your PhD what would you wish for?

TIME!

What would be your dream job?

I think would be working in a research institution which support and fund all my crazy ideas/projects.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Hopefully starting my own lab in a university.

One word to sum up your future in academia:

Persistence!

What do you want to achieve outside of academia in the coming year?

Read more books than 2018. Eat better, and have more time for the family.

What essential tool hardware/software could you not do your PhD without?

Basic knowledge of coding languages (Python, Perl)

Where is somewhere you would like to work in the future?

I would love to work back in Brazil. For someone fascinated by biodiversity, Brazil is a paradise!

Do you have a favourite organism – what is it and why – is it different from your study organism(s)?

I really like snails. Don’t ask me why!

Are there any social interactions/meetings which have enhanced your PhD experience e.g. social seminars/group meetings?

Yes, definitely. Our student group had created several academic activities to enhance student experiences – journal clubs, seminar, social meetings. I think these activities have brought a more joyful and friendly environment to our department.

If you could change one thing about your group/department structure what would it be?

I wish students had a more active voice on departments decisions.

What major question in your subject area is yet to be addressed – why is it important and why isn’t anyone addressing it? 

The field of ecological and evolutionary epigenetics is only emerging. Given the complexity of epigenetic mechanisms themselves, and its relationship with genomes and environments interactions, this field can get very complicated. There are so many ways that environment, genomes and epigenomes can interact in specific manners, together with many potential confounding effects (e. g. age, sex, social status, diet) that even harder finding suitable model organisms for some particular questions. Can be tricky.