Maria Dos Santos, Venezuela

• Employment: E-waste Project Manager at KERP
• Scholarship: North-South-Dialogue Scholarship – financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation
• Duration: 2002-2006
• Philosophy of life: "Zusammenkommen ist ein Beginn, Zusammenbleiben ist ein Fortschritt, Zusammenarbeiten führt zum Erfolg" (Henry Ford)

Curriculum vitae

Maria Dos Santos is a professional with a background in environmental management, geochemistry and education. She has work experience in multidisciplinary teams and in different earth sciences disciplines. Currently, she is applying her knowledge and experience together with her communication and organizational skills to manage Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)-related research projects (including collection, reuse, registration & recycling of e-waste) in the industry sector. After completing her doctoral studies at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), she has been working on various projects in soil remediation, environmental management, HSE, energy and waste management.

Reflection

Thanks to the North-South-Dialogue Scholarship programme – financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation I had the possibility to begin my PhD studies at the BOKU in 2002. Without the financial support it would have not been possible for me to study abroad. On Prof. Wenzel’s team I gained outstanding professional experience that I could apply in my future career. Achieving the standards for presenting at international conferences and scientific publications was the main challenge of my work. After finishing my studies, I was able to apply my technical experience (scientific work) in different environmental fields. Learning the German language as well as my efforts to integrate into Austrian culture gave me the opportunity to apply my technical and soft-skills in international and multidisciplinary projects promoting networking and better understanding between developing and European partners.