An Interview with Elsa Call

Current Job:  PhD student

Scientific Discipline/Field: Biology, evolution, genomics, entomolgy.

Country: Sweden (but I am French)

Pick some letters (L,G,B,T,Q etc.): L

Website: 

http://www.biology.lu.se/elsa-call
http://big4-project.eu/projects/11407_elsa-call/

What does your job involve? 

I am working as a doctoral student at Lund University, Sweden on Lepidoptera (butterflies) molecular phylogenomics.

How did you get to this job (education etc.)? 

I have a master in biology, ecology and evolution. This job is a EU-funded Marie Sklodowska-Curie project. I applied to the position.

Do you feel being LGBT has affected your career decisions? 

I do not think so!

Have you had any reactions from colleagues about being LGBT, either good or bad?

Both. Usually it is good reactions; but once someone told me that I should not tell everyone about that (I was just mentioning that my girlfriend works in another field in a normal conversation). For this colleague, mentioning my girlfriend was a militant act…

Did you have any role models growing up (LGBT, STEM, totally unrelated…)?

What are your plans for the future?

I would like to pursue my job in academic research with a focus on evolutionary genomics and in entomology. I ultimately seek to become a University lecturer.