Zhaoliang Hou

I started at The University of Edinburgh in 2014 for the 2+2 in Geology. I started during the third year of study. I chose Edinburgh not only because of the 2+2 education scheme but also because the study of Caledonian in Scotland is the origin of modern geology, and every structural geology textbook mentioned this place. I wanted to see the local geology in person. When we got interviewed by Hugh Sinclair in China, he said that we would have two chances to go to the Highlands for field excursions, firstly, a visit to Inchnadamph to look at the geology and do independent work mapping there. The second field excursion to Kinlochleven to do some totally independent structural mapping. So I applied for the 2+2 education program.

Before I was enrolled, I passed the IELTS test, but I found using the English language really difficult after I came to Edinburgh. The language of everyday life is very different to what I learned in preparation for the IELTS. I found that very tough in the first semester. My friends and I spent a lot of time reviewing and going back to the handouts, recordings of the lectures and reading the suggested readings. It was very tough not only because of the language problems but also the different education system and learning style to what I was used to. I wasn’t used to studying independently as much as we did. 

The incredible thing that supported us all was lecturers like Simon Harley, Florian Fusseis, and Alastair Robertson were all supportive in replying to questions by email and giving advice in further reading. The Student Support Coordinator, Emma Latto and my personal tutor, Geoffrey Bromiley, were really supportive with this too. One time, for the sedimentology course, we went to Tom Challands’ office, and we spent the whole afternoon talking to him about the subject. The staff were all very patient and helpful in helping us to understand the course content. All of this support was helpful and made me feel prepared for the fourth year. It taught us teamwork, independent study and prepared us well. I built a lot of my skills during my undergraduate study.

I was a demonstrator in structural geology in my fourth year. This was another challenge as I had no experience in teaching, so I needed to explain lectures and practical methods to new 2+2 students. I wanted to help students studying the 2+2 who were in a similar position that I was in during my third year. During my MScR, I was a demonstrator for several different things, it was my second time being a demonstrator, and I was much more relaxed.

In 2018 I took a gap year; during this time, the most important thing was writing a research proposal to compete for a PhD fellowship funding for my further study. During this time, I took a field trip to Northern China and established a relationship with a professor from China, The University of Geosciences (Beijing). Our continuous cooperation from then on ended up with very lovely outcomes. 

For example, here are two publications I was involved in:

Read my 'Fluid-rock reactions' publication

Read my 'Machine learning prediction of quartz forming-environments' publication

I am currently completing a PhD at the University of Vienna. My current research, funded by Glock Health, Sciences and Research GmbH, focuses on clinoptilolite (zeolite) microstructures and fluid-rock interactions. Due to the unique property of clinoptilolite to absorb heavy metal materials, we are hoping to use it as a raw medical material to absorb toxic metal materials and clean the body. So we are using our geological knowledge to understand detailed clinoptilolite chemical properties and microtectonics and explore the natural metal absorption processes that occur in this rock material, which is essential for pharmaceutical research.

In March 2020, we had a strict quarantine, and we couldn’t go to the university to use the equipment. We did everything at home and discussed progress via zoom meetings. Eventually, we could come back into work to continue working as it was urgent to ensure we could continue our funding. Every day, I was back to the university for almost three months afterwards to do my experiments, day and night, working long shifts to catch up. Once we had caught up, we went back to a regular working timetable following this and gradually pushed forward. Covid had other delays too, we submitted a paper for publication in December 2019, and you would usually get a reply in two months; we didn’t get a response until May 2020. It has taught us to be more patient and more highly efficient.

Be more active in your studies, connect and use all the chances you can to learn. Reading, self-learning, and contact your lecturers and ask them questions as it will facilitate your progress. For prospective researchers, it will be an adjustment to change your role from student to a researcher - be positive and patient, it comes, but you can meet a lot of failures, interruptions, etc. Relax and learn to grow from each of these failures and interruptions.