“Don’t do it! You’ll have to write a report every two weeks, they’ll interfere with your work, and you wouldn’t be able to publish!”

That was the advice of a friend when I shared that I was considering an industry-funded Ph.D. position at Imperial College London. From someone whose opinion had always been important to me, that response gave me some food for thought. Should I risk it? Should I leave my comfort zone in chemistry for materials science? In the end, it was my growing frustration of having to write “potential application” in my M.Sci. thesis that convinced me—and I have not regretted my decision since.