Marion’s PhD journey

Today we are putting Dr. Marion Dellinger in the spotlight as she is defending her PhD ! Congratulations Marion!

A New Life Accomplishment

On November 29th, Marion will defend her PhD thesis titled “Eco-evolutionary processes in personality and spatial cognition of Arctic charr morphs (Salvelinus alpinus)”. She studies fish behaviour (more particularly their personality traits and how they navigate their space), how they evolve, and the factors influencing them. Her PhD was done at the University of Hólar and University of Iceland.

The inspiration for research

Growing up, Marion wanted to be many things. A writer or a painter, a bailiff, English teacher or translator, a vet (which she is now but prefers to be in research) and eventually, she settled on being a researcher at the age of 15. Marion had always been fascinated by the interactions between animals and their environment. She wanted to understand why animals (humans included) behave the way they do, and why some behave differently than others.

PhD life is both rewarding and challenging in many ways

Marion’s favorite part about doing her PhD is that she got to be very crafty and creative when designing a new experiment. One of the biggest challenges is the financial precarity once the funding contracts end. However, she is grateful for the experience and getting to work with many new people, and eventually became good friends. As a tip for graduate students, she recommends starting with the paper writing process and thesis right from the beginning. Do not procrastinate, even if you write only a few lines every week.

A message for future graduate students and scientists

Advice that she would like to give to people who are in the field of work is that you don’t have to stick to the Bachelor-Master first steps. I’m the living proof of this. Explore the areas/jobs you feel like, do internships in all sorts of research labs to find what kind of science you enjoy the most. And when you feel ready, you can always come back to a PhD program, wherever your path has led you before that.

Enjoyments and plans for the future

Marion is now continuing in a postdoc in behavioural and evolutionary ecology. Outside of work, she is planning a marriage with her partner next August, and plans to adopt a dog someday. On her time off she enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons, traveling, playing the guitar, and singing.