Interview with postdoc Aleksandra Sokolowska

We are talking to several female postdocs from different faculties. What is it like to be a postdoc at TU Delft? And what kind of things do they come up against? In this interview, we talk with Aleksandra Sokolowska. 

Aleksandra studied computational science and theoretical physics at the University of Zurich. After her PhD at the intersection of computational science, theoretical physics and astronomy, she worked at 2 different tech startups  before taking her post as a postdoctoral researcher at TU Delft in 2020. 

“In my research project at TU Delft I applied my skills in computer vision and deep learning to process and interpret images seen by drones and used during their autonomous decision-making. The goal of the project is to build autonomous drone-therapists that will help children with autism develop social skills that they are lacking. This project belongs to a field of research that is still very young and is called socially assistive robotics. The benefits of using robots in therapies are plenty. One example is that children with autism are often overwhelmed with cues coming from the outside world. A robot is simple and can exercise one particular social skill at a time without overwhelming the child.”  

Landing at TU Delft

“My landing at TU Delft has been extremely interesting. I haven’t been able to see my supervisor in person for the first two months [laughing]. It has been challenging because of the pandemic. The  remote Coming to Delft workshops were very helpful though: it made living in a new country and having a new job in the middle of the pandemic a lot easier. The support for settling in the country, including appointments setup for me about the obligatory health insurance and at the city hall, was very much appreciated.

Role models and networking

“I have had plenty of role models on my career path. The best thing you can do for yourself is surround yourself with people who inspire you. I don’t have one person in mind but I have met many extremely interesting people through work, networking and through my projects such as the non-profit organization supporting women’s careers in technology in Switzerland that I founded during my PhD.

“I am extremely happy whenever I see women succeed; for example, if a woman becomes a CEO, COO or CTO of a company, or if a Nobel Prize has been given to a woman. This has an impact on me and my perception of what I can achieve. Role models are important because we need this typical image of a leader who is by default male to be challenged; to know that the alternative is not only possible but also normal. That the success of what I do is down to my effort and skill, and possibilities not limited because of my gender. Every woman, especially women in male-dominated fields, will encounter societal barriers and biases sooner or later. Seeing these successful women gives other women confidence boosts and makes the professional environment less strange to us, especially when nobody around understands or looks like us because we are the only woman on the team. 

(Implicit) biases and discrimination

“Once I heard a junior male researcher say about the first female professor hired in a department: ‘She is hired because she is a woman.’ It takes away the joy of achievement from that woman who is amazingly smart and had to overcome many obstacles to become a professor in a male-dominated field. I usually start a dialogue with a person who expresses unfair judgements or feeds me personally with gender stereotypes. Mostly I come to an understanding with the right arguments but once in a while you will encounter a “lost cause”, so you need to develop a thick skin and a solid self-worth if you want to play big in this world. 

Belonging and feeling included

“At first my non-profit activity predominantly focused on how to increase gender diversity at expert and general public technological events and workshops, which are not well-attended by women, and then applied that to workplaces. From day zero, we were figuring out  why women shy away from those meetings, even though everybody knows that they bring new skills, job opportunities and expand networks. What I’ve learnt is that whenever you, as a woman, are entering a company or department, you need to feel that you belong, that you are welcome and valued. It is a responsibility of an employer to create that space. If you have only one woman on your team, organize initiatives like circles between the teams or departments where women can meet and talk. It is fundamental to get that support and leaders need to understand that.

“One lesson I learnt from the women-friendly hackathons I organized in Switzerland, which increased female participation from 20 to 80%, is that there has to be a fundamental shift in the design of workplaces. These places have been made by men for men who dominated these spaces for decades. Women are different. Think of Google. They eventually realised that their products should also be tailored to women: the design of smaller mobile phones for women because they have smaller hands, so they created a position of a chief of diversity to remind them of that as they build products. Much like this, institutions should take into account what sort of workplaces women want because we make up 51% of the planet and even if your developer’s team comprises men only and you think that you don’t need to make any changes yet, well maybe, just maybe, this is the reason why you don’t have women on your team.

Redesigning workplaces

“I did research on how to design hackathons for women. We saw that women on average want hackathons that are not focused on competition but the learning experience that comes with it. Another point was not to organize overnight hackathons, so that people can go home and rest, especially if the childcare responsibilities predominantly fall on them (which is the case for women even 80% of the time in the EU). In addition, we organized preparatory workshops to remove the stigma from hackathons and give women a confidence boost; to say: ‘You are good enough, go ahead and don’t kid yourself’, because women on average are not likely to participate if they feel they are not good enough. We also had mentors present, so women could ask questions and network. And finally, we organized childcare with coding on site to touch generations with this experience. It boiled down to completely redesigning the event format so that it suits typical women. It actually really worked! So the key is to redesign workplaces by asking underrepresented groups, like women, how and where they want to work, excel and feel included and valued. With that you can make a difference!

“My ideal is to build such a workplace that will be inclusive and answer to the demands of women. My recent proposal to Maria Sklodowska Curie Actions Individual Fellowship, which I wrote together with TU Delft, obtained a Seal of Excellence and was on a reserve list. This meant a lot to me and gave me courage to pursue a different research topic that excites me more, at the intersection of artificial intelligence and space exploration, so I left TU Delft and now focus on that.  I want to start my own tech company or a research group and to be a leader for whom women will want to work, especially in STEM roles. 

Believing in yourself and support network

“I deal with uncertainty by believing in myself. I’ve always had faith in myself, though recently I also needed a reminder of that. It is very important to have a support network;  friends, a partner or a career coach, with whom you can discuss your challenges, dreams and ambitions. TU Delft has a career centre with amazing coaches who can lend a helping hand if you want someone to talk to about your next steps, or if you feel stuck and need a push out of the abyss.  

“A women’s network is absolutely important. I joined a DEWIS event and met new female academics; this was very enriching for me at a time when I was working in isolation, sitting all alone behind my screen most of the time. Women are very willing to help other women. Female networks have been instrumental for me to-date; nothing has been more inspiring than the stories of tough women I’ve met along the way.