
(Ramón y Cajal Senior Research Fellow,UNIVERSITY OF CANTABRIA,SPAIN)
I am immensely proud to belong the ICYS family. Young scientists are well aware that to survive the jump into the void to make research independently under their own themes and make progress they must face, the sooner the better, to explore new ideas under their own risk. For that purpose, ICYS as tenure-track position allowed to me to put in practice divergent thinking with funding and easy-going administrative support. ICYS, as a scientific soup of different countries, cultures and thinking approaches, acted like a breeding ground to boost my career path. Still nowadays I am collaborating with NIMS researchers. Two years ago, we signed a memory of understanding between ICN2, my former institution, and MANA-NIMS. During the last years I had the opportunity to enjoy several business trips to NIMS, and last year a Ph.D. candidate under my supervision was awarded with a NIMS Internship program fellowship for to perform research during few months. She really enjoyed her NIMS experience! Beyond science, I really enjoyed Japanese hospitality, gastronomic culture including Ibarakian natto and Umami flavor, and of course, Onsen in winter times!