Valerija Music started as Louise Johnson Fellow

20 December 2023

Photo: DESY, Marta Meyer

Valerija Music has been awarded a Louise Johnson Fellowship by the Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter". Since mid-November, the physicist, who specializes in the field of non-linear crystallography, has been conducting research in a junior research group at the cluster.

Valerija Music studied physics at Universität Hamburg, followed by doctoral studies in Kassel. She is interested in research using X-ray light at modern large-scale research facilities such as the free-electron laser (FEL). Thus, she has specialized in FEL-based X-ray optics and time-resolved gas-phase experiments for the spectroscopic study of ultrafast dynamics in chiral molecules.

For the duration of her fellowship, Valerija Music will join the junior research group of Dr. Christina Bömer, who is a Young Investigator Group Leader at the Cluster of Excellence. Here she will contribute her expertise to the further development of non-linear crystallography. This new method, which combines elements of optical laser spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, holds great potential for gaining deeper insights into the structure and dynamics of valence electrons.

Louise Johnson, the namesake of the fellowship, was a renowned professor of molecular biophysics at the University of Oxford and a pioneer in the field of protein crystallography. She had an outstanding international reputation as an expert in the use of synchrotron radiation in the field of biological research. Valerija Music will now contribute to extending linear crystallography to non-linear crystallography.

With the fellowship, the cluster aims to create excellent conditions for conducting cutting-edge research, identify the potential of young female scientists and support them individually. This fellowship offers me the opportunity to pursue my passion for science in a flexible, diverse and supportive environment that allows me to combine a scientific career and family in the best possible way," Valerija Music is convinced.

The fellowship runs for two years and is explicitly aimed at talented young female researchers in the postdoctoral phase. In addition to Valerija Music, two other excellent female scientists will be supported as part of the program from next year on.