Academic and Graduate student of the UCSC Faculty of Sciences travel to France to conclude research

The Doctor in Oceanography, Sergio Contreras, and a professor at the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, traveled to Paris, along with Rodrigo Ramírez, a PhD student in Sciences with a major in Biodiversity and Bioresources, thanks to the ECOS-ANID Scientific Cooperation program to continue working in conjunction with Dr. Arnaud Huguet, and fine-tune the last details of their collaborative research.

Jean Pierre Molina Medina, Journalist.- The last stage of the research was carried out at the facilities of the University of Paris, also known as “La Sorbonne”, where data from the samples extracted in Chile were compared with those of the soil and sediments from French lakes. “The aim is to validate at a global level the affirmation that the abundances of certain lipids of bacteria that live in soils serve as an indicator of temperature. Thanks to this academic collaboration, we already have 2 joint publications, a manuscript under review and another in preparation together with Rodrigo and the recent graduate and doctorate from our house of studies, Carol Cerda”, explained the expert.

As one of the most important results of the research, it is being shown that it is possible to reconstruct the temperature of past times in both Chile and France and other remote places in the world where there are no temperature records. “The more results we have to compare, the more we can refine the tool to estimate temperature and be able to associate its changes with other environmental factors, such as precipitation, vegetation, drought events, and fires, both in the present and in the past. Without going any further, it would allow us, for example, to better understand the past climatic conditions of our beautiful and remote Patagonia,” said the academic.

As a result of this research, the team has also been invited to conferences and talks to present the process and results obtained. “This year, taking advantage of my visit, they invited me to make a presentation that was broadcast online for La Sorbonne, where they connected from all the campuses of the university. The exhibition dealt with the molecular indicators of vegetation change and precipitation, where we showed the work that we carry out here in the south of Chile with the students of the UCSC and collaborators of other national and foreign universities”, he detailed.

A symbiotic intellectual collaboration

The professor also referred to the importance of carrying out these collaborations with foreign universities and researchers. “Having these experiences shows us that we are not behind other countries in terms of research. Regarding this, I consider it very important for graduate students to have at least one internship abroad. That they realize that their scientific level is as good as that of postgraduate students abroad, and their English is not a limitation, and that living and demonstrating this allows them to grow by leaps and bounds”, he commented.

In addition, the work of Rodrigo Ramírez stands out, who is still in France in the internship. “Rodrigo, for example, is still in France and has just made a presentation on his research in his doctoral thesis to defend the French research group in one or two months, where the mother tongue of none of the attendees is English. English”. he emphasized

Regarding the gap that may exist between prestigious research centers, such as the University of Paris itself, the professor explained that “what we do at the UCSC Faculty of Sciences is on a par with other universities in Europe and other countries. The equipment we have and the level of science we do is very high, and they notice it”.

Regarding his personal experience, Dr. Contreras pointed out that in one of his international presentations, specifically the Goldschmit Conference held in Paris, he had the opportunity to meet Dr. Arnaud, and that allowed this collaboration to take place. “Dr. Huguet also had the opportunity to travel to Chile and give talks and give classes in two postgraduate courses organized by us. All this has strengthened the work and has made us consider the idea of ​​training postgraduate students together and applying for financing from external funds ”, he concluded.