Hieu Nguyen Ngoc, Vietnam

Curriculum Vitae

After his studies in Pharmacy at the Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Vietnam, and at the Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, Hieu Nguyen Ngoc moved to Austria for his PhD studies. With financial support by an Ernst Mach Grant ASEA-UNINET he performed research in the field of Pharmacognosy at the University of Innsbruck and graduated in 2019. His doctoral thesis focused on the phytochemical investigation of medicinal plants used by the Dao ethnic minority in Vietnam and was conducted under the supervision of Univ. Prof. Hermann Stuppner and Assoc. Prof. Markus Ganzera in the Department of Pharmacognosy.

Currently he is working as a lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the PHENIKAA University in Vietnam and as a researcher at the PHENIKAA Research and Technology Institute (PRATI). During seven years in academia and research Hieu participated in multidisciplinary projects in Korea and Austria. His key research skills are the isolation and characterization of natural products from medicinal plants using various chromatographic procedures and spectrometrical or spectroscopic methods, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry and circular dichroism. His research interests include bioactivity-guided isolation of natural products from plant sources and quality control of herbal products.

Reflection

The support by the Ernst Mach Grant ASEA-UNINET gave me the chance to study and live in an European country for the first time. It was such a long journey until this huge milestone in my life and my academic career. For the first time I had access to the cutting-edge technology in my field - phytochemistry -, which I had only seen in the textbook before. I got the opportunity to learn a lot about the contemporary technologies and the prospective developments in my narrow field, which is definitely proving its usefulness being back at my home institution. Regarding social experiences, my first impression of Innsbruck was really positive – I noticed the peacefulness of this city. With only approximately 130.000 citizens, of which 30.000 are students!, Innsbruck is easily ranked as my most favourite city. I loved to stay in a quiet and peaceful town like that, especially as it is surrounded by nature. I also enjoyed living there even though I am not proficient in German: Almost all young and middle-aged people could hold an English conversation with me, even outside an academic institute. This surprised me the most, because it was totally opposite to my experiences in Seoul. Until today I really appreciate that I had the opportunity to conduct my doctoral thesis in Austria with the great support from the Ernst Mach Grant ASEA-UNINET. This is such a precious chance for South-East-Asian students to pursue their academic career in Austria. I do also look forward to establishing close collaborations with Austrian universities and institutes in future projects.