Meet the chairperson of the WISE Student Council: Yasmini Portes

Yasmini Portes is a PhD student at Stockholm University and belongs to the group led by Associate Professor Mika Sipponen. Yasmini is the first chairperson of the WISE Student Council.  She has a BSc in Food Engineering, a MSc in Nutrition and Health, and a MSc degree from the Erasmus Mundus master program BIOCEB (Biological and Chemical Engineering for a Sustainable Bioeconomy). Her main research interest is the valorization of industrial byproducts for obtaining biobased chemicals and materials.

Why did you decide to be involved with the WISE student council?

I have always been interested in taking leadership roles. During my first master degree at the Federal University of Goiás in Brazil, I served as a student representative. Later, when I joined the WISE program and had the chance to participate in the WISE Student Council, I eagerly embraced the opportunity to understand what happens behind the scenes in leadership.

I also wanted to strengthen my ability to communicate clearly in public. Although the role of chair typically lasts one year, I plan to remain engaged with the council in some capacity.

What do you do in the WISE Research Council?

Our role is to act as a bridge between PhD students, postdocs, and WISE Research School (RS) management. The council is composed of representatives from all WISE universities. We receive questions and concerns both from students and postdocs as well as from the RS management, which we bring to our meetings for discussion.

In my experience, our input is taken seriously by the RS management. For example, one common complaint has been that people are often too busy to attend events. We suggested announcing them well in advance, giving participants enough time to plan and adjust their schedules. Looking ahead, we will also begin organizing events ourselves.

What is your research topic?

I am working in the SUSMATCHEM group, led by Prof. Sipponen, to develop new organic-inorganic hybrid materials from food industry side streams for sustainable chemistry applications. This is basically finding ways to use the waste from the food industry to produce other products. For instance, I am interested now in different types of films with antimicrobial properties to replace plastics.