A community to carry you through

When we decided to discuss the “welcoming internationals” theme, Mert Erginkaya was among the first names that came to mind. Mert has been a close friend for over six years, and I’ve always felt he represents the Champalimaud Foundation (CF) community at its best. This piece is his story and, in a way, a bit of mine, because I was lucky enough to be part of Mert’s CF journey.

Mert grew up in Türkiye, where he studied and became curious about neuroscience. One day, a teacher mentioned a new place in Lisbon, the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, and Mert decided to check it out. He was instantly drawn to the “multiple groups doing neuroscience research at different levels and with different models,” which gave him the freedom to explore. When he came for a doctoral interview, he was blown away by the centre, the people, and the city. “If they’ll have me, I’d love to join this institute,” he thought.

And if you reached this point, you already know he did, in 2012, to be exact. Mert was so eager to come that he moved to Lisbon a few months early for a lab rotation. “Everything was new,” he recalls. “Portugal was new. Lisbon was new. CF, the PhD, neuroscience, everything was new. So having those few months at the very beginning definitely helped me ease into the transition.”

When we talked about his first months at CF, Mert fondly remembered how “people were very open, warm, and welcoming across the institute.” A few weeks after joining, it was his birthday. He hadn’t expected anyone to notice, but he was surprised by “a group of people who came together to celebrate, have fun, and hang out.” That small gesture stayed with him, as he was not expecting to have a group of friends or that feeling of belonging so quickly.

Some years later, this friend group had grown, and one of his favorite memories was Portugal winning the Euro Cup in 2016. He was watching the game with people from different countries, and when Portugal scored, everyone went wild. “But not even two minutes later,” he laughs, “I saw a couple of Portuguese friends sitting down, looking pensive. I asked what was wrong, and they said, ‘This is it. It’s never going to happen again.’” Mert was struck by this nostalgic pessimism, a very Portuguese characteristic, he now realises, of missing something before it’s even over.

Speaking of sports, one of my favorite things Mert helped create was the basketball group. When he arrived at CF, one of the first things he did was to find others who also liked the game. He met Inês Vaz, also a PhD student at the time, and together they started weekly games open to everyone, no matter the skill level, a spirit that makes the group special to this day. Mert’s patience and kindness made newcomers feel welcome, and I know it, as this group made me start playing and appreciate basketball to this day. He says proudly, “The best part is that 11 years later, it’s still going strong, which is an amazing feeling.” And we're always happy that he still joins the games whenever he visits Portugal.

It’s clear that this basketball group (and other sports and social groups at CF) play a huge role in helping newcomers, especially internationals, feel at home. Mert pointed out that these initiatives began with significant early support from the research directors and principal investigators, which helped them grow and make a real impact on the community.

Of course, not everything was easy. Mert recalls the challenges of bureaucracy and language, which were eased by the support units, something he still appreciates today. But the most challenging part, he says, was what he called the “pit of despair”, that moment most PhD students face when experiments fail, motivation fades, and self-doubt settles in. Thankfully, he had the support of his supervisor and thesis committee, who encouraged him not to be afraid to change direction when things weren’t going according to plan. Yet, what truly carried him through was the community itself. “Seeing senior PhD students go through the same pit of despair and then come out strong, finally defending their theses, gave me confidence.”

That sense of support, both from peers and seniors, is something Mert will always cherish. He describes CF as “a place where you feel that you’re part of a group who thinks science is cool and wants to do good science.” Whether you need a reagent, a paper, or advice on an experiment, you know you’re just an email away from someone willing to help. As Mert puts it, “Those little things really add up and make you feel like you’re part of a big community that truly tries to do science together.”

Today, Mert is a postdoctoral researcher in Germany, but he still deeply cherishes his memories of Lisbon and CF. When asked about the future, he hopes one day to have his own research group and build a similar sense of belonging. “I’d be very happy,” he says, “if I could foster the same type of community, not just in my lab, but within the institute, wherever I may end up.”

Mert Erginkaya, Former PhD Student in Neurosciences at the Champalimaud Foundation, Current Postdoctoral Researcher in the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg, Germany

Text by Ana Rita P. Mendes, Communication & Events Manager of the Champalimaud Foundation's Communication, Event & Outreach Team
 

Full 20 Years, 20 Stories Collection here.