My name is Vivien Willems (1997, Zurich, Switzerland). From a young age, I have been interested in science and nature. Therefore, the interdisciplinarity and real-life applications of Materials Science drew me in by combining aspects of chemistry, physics, and engineering. I am especially interested in bioinspired materials and biomimetic systems, as well as what potential applications they might lead to, which I focused on during my master's degree.

 

 In both my bachelor’s and master’s studies at ETH Zurich, I had the opportunity to complete different research projects. This includes an industrial internship during my bachelor's, where I gained insight into industrial research in a project to optimize the ageing behaviour of plastic products. During my master's, I worked on two short research projects studying the dynamics of active colloidal systems, where I was first introduced to the field of active matter, and working with phase-separating giant unilamellar vesicles respectively. Combining the knowledge I gained in these two projects, I began working on vesicle-based cell-mimetic active microswimmers during my master’s thesis at the University of Bordeaux with Laura Alvarez. Now I am continuing this work in a PhD, to optimize the reliable production of phase-separated Janus vesicles and further understand the behaviour and dynamics of these soft cell-mimetic systems in AC-electric fields.   

 

Outside of the lab, I enjoy painting and I like to spend time knitting with the hope of slowly getting less dependent on fast fashion.