Meet people at WISE: Erna Delczeg

Start / News / Meet people at WISE: Erna Delczeg

Erna Delczeg is a researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Uppsala University. She earned her PhD in Physics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2012. Her research encompasses a wide range of topics, including alloy theory, magnetocalorics, and the mechanical properties of solids. In 2022, she joined the WISE team as a Research Coordinator.

What is your role in WISE and why did you decide to join WISE?

I am a Research Coordinator at WISE, primarily responsible together with my colleague Daniel Simon, for managing the WISE academic (AP) and industrial (IP) calls. Additionally, I take care of the organization of internal meetings, including the University Representative Group (URG) meetings.

I decided to join WISE out of curiosity about the behind-the-scenes processes of the research funding system. As a researcher, I am used to writing proposals, but I was eager to experience the other side of the equation—the receiving end. Taking on this perspective has been a nice challenge that I wanted to explore.

What is the best versus the most challenging part of your job?

For me, the best part of working at WISE is also the most challenging. There are a lot of things that should be timed. For example, arranging time-lines for calls. That involves ensuring that scientific evaluators and international reviewers are available, meetings are arranged on time, that chairpersons are well-prepared, etc.

What I particularly enjoy is having the opportunity to influence topics and contribute to improving processes, which adds a creative dimension to my role. The logistical aspects of the job are both fun and challenging, as they require careful planning and coordination to ensure everything runs smoothly. What makes my job at WISE very rewarding is the fact that we work as a team and we support each other.

As a researcher yourself, what is the materials science challenge that is closer to your heart?

In my research I worked a lot with energy materials that can be used for example for magnetocaloric applications. Simulating materials through computational modeling often requires simplifying them into idealized model systems. My work involves introducing additional complexities to these models to make them more representative of real-world behavior. For example, incorporating the effects of longitudinal spin fluctuations in magnetic systems is one such effort to bridge the gap between simplified models and the complexities of actual materials.