microplanet | Edo Danilyan

Preparing for Graduate Studies Overseas: Applications, Funding, and Mentorship

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0700

This mentorship session was delivered as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program (GAP) at Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), with faculty members and researchers.

Topics Covered

How to identify funded MSc and PhD positions in Europe and beyond
Understanding evaluation criteria and what selection committees look for
Writing effective emails to potential supervisors
Scholarship landscapes: Erasmus+, FWF, DAAD, and others
Strategic self-presentation: CVs, motivation letters, and research proposals
One-on-one mentoring session with participants

This was Day 3 of the UMM sessions as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program.

Storytelling with Data

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0700

This session was delivered as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program (GAP) at Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), with faculty members and researchers from several departments.

Topics Covered

What makes a compelling data story?
Thinking visually: beyond pretty charts
Common mistakes scientists make when presenting data
Real-world examples of data visualization in research
Choosing the right chart for your message

Key Takeaways

Good data visualization is about clarity
Always start with your audience in mind
Use visual hierarchy and layout to guide attention
Tidy data and the grammar of graphics make your life easier

This was Day 2 of the UMM sessions as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program.

Why Do Cells Grow the Way They Do? Probing Microbial Growth Laws with an Automated Open-Source Bioreactor

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0700

This session was delivered as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program (GAP) at Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), with faculty members from several departments.

Topics Covered

Why do microbes grow the way they do? Fundamental growth laws and their implications
Resource allocation strategies in microbial cells
Introduction to automated, open-source bioreactor systems
Hands-on laboratory demonstration: setting up and running a bioreactor, collecting and interpreting real-time growth data

This talk combined theoretical foundations with a practical lab component, giving participants the chance to interact directly with bioreactor hardware and see microbial growth data being generated in real time. The discussion extended into a thoughtful exchange about research approaches, studying overseas, and possibilities for scientific collaboration.

This was Day 1 of the UMM sessions as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program.

CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0700

The Global Ambassador Program (GAP), launched by the Scientific Committee for Equal Opportunities (SCEO) of the Cluster of Excellence MicroPlanet, supports international trainees who have overcome educational or socioeconomic barriers and enables them to strengthen scientific links between the CoE and their home countries. This outreach program was carried out over six days across two partner institutions in Indonesia, combining scientific dissemination, practical skill transfer, and structured academic mentoring.

At the partner institutions, students and faculty identified opportunities to expand training in computational biology and reproducible analysis. The program introduced open-source workflows and offered practical guidance on funded graduate programs and academic applications.

The program was delivered at two institutions, with three full days of activities at each.

Day 1 – Economic Principles of Microbial Growth: Allocation, Trade-offs, and Quantitative Models
Introduction to microbial growth kinetics, bioreactors, and the integration of computation in microbiology, drawing from MicroPlanet WP 7.1 research themes. Around 200 students joined in a hybrid format at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), and it turned into a lively discussion about microbiology, research, and career paths in science. The session at ITS was delivered together with Catalin Rusnac from Replifactory.

Day 2 – R for Biologists: Data Wrangling, Visualization, and Reproducible Analysis
Participants worked through an R exercise covering data cleaning with the tidyverse, visualization with ggplot2, and reproducible reporting with R Markdown, introducing a code-based complement to menu-driven analysis tools such as SPSS.

Day 3 – Preparing for Graduate Studies Overseas: Applications, Funding, and Mentorship Session
We went through how to find funded MSc and PhD positions, what selection committees look for, how to write emails to potential supervisors, and the scholarship landscape (Erasmus+, FWF, DAAD), followed by one-on-one mentoring.

At Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), we held sessions with faculty members from several departments. The discussion covered similar topics and turned into a thoughtful exchange about research, studying overseas, and scientific collaboration.

On the last day, I returned to my hometown and visited my old high school. Standing there again, but this time sharing my journey as someone who left, studied abroad, and is now doing a PhD, felt quite emotional. It made me reflect on how far the journey has been, and how important it is for younger students to see that pursuing a university degree is possible.

To measure the impact of the program, participants completed a self-assessment questionnaire before and after the sessions (scale 1–5). The results are summarized in the dumbbell chart below.

Day 1 (Guest Lecture) showed modest gains in kinetics knowledge (3.65 to 3.89), economic trade-offs (3.63 to 3.90), and quantitative models (3.43 to 3.78), reflecting increased conceptual exposure.

Day 2 (Technical Workshop) saw improvements across all four metrics: R familiarity (2.90 to 3.50), data wrangling (2.73 to 3.35), reproducibility (3.02 to 3.38), and data visualization (2.67 to 3.38), indicating meaningful skill development during the hands-on session.

Day 3 (Graduate Preparation) recorded the largest shifts. Confidence level jumped from 2.00 to 4.36, application document knowledge from 1.91 to 4.36, program identification from 2.18 to 4.45, and scholarship awareness from 2.55 to 4.00. Participants reported higher confidence and knowledge after the session, although the questionnaire measured self-perception rather than independently tested learning.

Partner Institutions

Institution
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Surabaya
Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), Malang

This experience reminded me why science outreach matters.

Standing in front of students and early-career researchers like me, I wanted to show that a path in science, even the unconventional and messy kind, is something real and within reach. I am grateful for the chance to represent CoE MicroPlanet, and it meant a lot to come back and reconnect with the communities that shaped where I started.

The Journey from Vienna to East Java

11,000 km by air. 610 km by road. Two weeks across three cities.

The journey began with a roughly 21-hour flight from Vienna to Surabaya, about 11,000 km with one stopover. We arrived on a Sunday and hit the ground running. Starting Monday, we spent four days at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), delivering the program back-to-back through Thursday.

On Friday we packed up and drove about 100 km south to Malang, roughly a 2-hour drive through East Java’s countryside. The sessions at Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) ran on Monday and Tuesday of the second week, covering similar ground but with a different audience of faculty members and researchers.

Then came the longest road leg, Wednesday we drove another 210 km east from Malang to Bondowoso, about 4 hours through the mountains and beaches. After a day of settling in and reconnecting with the town, the final session took place on Friday at my old high school. In total, the program covered roughly 11,610 km.

Work With Me!

I’m always open to:

Collaborations on outreach and capacity building
Guest lectures or workshop invitations
Mentoring partnerships

Let’s connect and chat!

Some Documentations

Sharing session with high school student in Bondowoso

UMM Day 1 - Showing participant how the bioreactor works

ITS Day 1 - Bioreactor setup and hands-on session

ITS Day 1 - Over 200 participants consisting bachelor's and master's student

POV during the session at UMM Malang

ITS Day 2 - R workshop and bioreactor development

"Huh, this used to be working?!"

Preparing for Graduate Studies Overseas: Applications, Funding, and Mentorship

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0700

This mentorship session was delivered as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program (GAP), addressing structural barriers that prevent Indonesian students from accessing international graduate programs.

Topics Covered

How to identify funded MSc and PhD positions in Europe and beyond
Understanding evaluation criteria and what selection committees look for
Writing effective emails to potential supervisors
Scholarship landscapes: Erasmus+, FWF, DAAD, and others
Strategic self-presentation: CVs, motivation letters, and research proposals
One-on-one mentoring session with participants

This session recorded the largest self-assessment shifts across the entire GAP program. Confidence in applying for overseas programs jumped from 2.00 to 4.36 (out of 5), and scholarship awareness rose from 2.55 to 4.00. Participants reported higher confidence and knowledge afterward, though this reflects self-perception rather than independently tested learning.

This was Day 3 of a three-day program at ITS as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program.

R for Biologists: Data Wrangling, Visualization, and Reproducible Analysis

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0700

This hands-on workshop was delivered as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program (GAP), walking students through scripted, reproducible data analysis in R.

Topics Covered

Data wrangling with the tidyverse ecosystem
Data visualization with ggplot2
Reproducible reporting with R Markdown
Shifting from click-based tools (e.g., SPSS) toward scripted, transparent workflows
Practical exercises using biological datasets

It matters because undergraduate biology education at many Indonesian universities still relies heavily on click-based software, which obscures analytical logic and prevents students from understanding how results are constructed or reproduced. This workshop aimed to bridge that gap by introducing open-source, reproducible tools.

This was Day 2 of a three-day program at ITS as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program.

Economic Principles of Microbial Growth: Allocation, Trade-offs, and Quantitative Models

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0700

This guest lecture was delivered as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program (GAP), an outreach initiative by the Cluster of Excellence MicroPlanet at the University of Vienna. The session was delivered together with Catalin Rusnac from Replifactory.

Around 200 students joined in a hybrid format, and the session turned into a lively discussion about microbiology, research, and career paths in science.

Topics Covered

Microbial growth kinetics and the economics of cellular resource allocation
Trade-offs in microbial metabolism: growth rate vs. yield, speed vs. efficiency
Quantitative models for understanding microbial behavior
Introduction to bioreactors and computational approaches in microbiology
Research themes from MicroPlanet WP 7.1

This was Day 1 of a three-day program at ITS as part of the CoE MicroPlanet Global Ambassador Program.