Piotr, from Poland, graduated with a degree in Physics from Swansea University in 2012. During a summer internship at Swansea, he developed an interest in nanoscience and nanotechnology. That led him to applying for the Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials (BCFN) PhD programme.

The best aspects of studying at the BCFN was its four-year programme and the community of students and academics. In his own words: “The lectures, workshops and mini-projects in the first year really taught me how to think and act like a scientist. Then, I spent years 2-4 in a research group and worked along some very bright and dedicated people. On top of that, I could frequently attend talks given by the best specialists in their fields who would visit University of Bristol”.

After graduating with a PhD in 2017, he joined NuNano, a start-up founded by University of Bristol academics. The company develops and manufactures probes for atomic force microscopy. Piotr currently works there as process engineer and conducts industrial research and development: “We enable scientists to see things that are too small for ordinary optical microscopes. With our probes, they can carry out experiments on samples like DNA, different bio cells, graphene or carbon nanotubes”