The milestone of Angelique Van Ombergen
Children's books vs trade journals
Angelique: “I never expected to end up in this job, so I don’t make predictions about where I want to be in five or ten years either.” But when it comes to space travel, she does have a very clear milestone in mind. “To put another human on the moon. It’s been so long that it will be a first for many people. And the biggest milestone for me would be if it was a woman or a person of colour this time. I can’t even put into words how amazing I would find it to watch that together with my children.”
“Such a milestone inspires people. It brings science into their lives and makes it accessible.” Making science accessible, Angelique believes, is the job of every scientist. She does her part by writing children’s books about the topic. “First of all, it’s just fun to do (laughs). But it’s certainly also a way to make science easier to digest. These are books that I myself sometimes missed as a child.” Her place on the Forbes ‘30 under 30’ list was another useful tool to make her research better known to the public. “People like my mum don’t read specialised journals, but they do know that Forbes list.”
Having fries with NASA
Conferences are an important part of Angelique’s job. “They’re perfect for building a community, for networking. Especially for young scientists, this is super important. You can, of course, read about research data and results in publications, but having informal conversations and connecting with people is what I value the most about a conference. For ESA, conferences are also key to interacting with different scientific disciplines: what are others working on? How could that be of interest to us? And how can they benefit from our research? With one presentation at a conference, you reach a lot of people at once.”
“You can read about research data in publications. Connecting with people is what I value the most about a congress.”
“I’ll never forget my first congress. It was about space physiology, and I was invited to present a poster as a student. It was quite intimidating for a rookie, but also very inspiring. The feeling of being part of a group of like-minded people definitely gave me a push to continue in that direction.”
“A while ago, I was at a conference in Antwerp, Flanders. I had fries and beef stew with colleagues from NASA. The Flemish culture is ideal for such icebreakers. The little things we enjoy, such as eating fries or grabbing a beer together, create the perfect context for networking and community-building.”
“Flanders is an ideal setting for networking and community-building during a conference.”
