My journey takes me from Paris to Lille to Vienna, from pure mathematics to machine learning and biomedicine. I took a leap into the unknown with three children and have no regrets. The Wolfgang Pauli Institute (WPI) was a tireless catalyst and source of support throughout.

Vienna is different The science system in Austria is different from that in France. For example, the FWF offers more opportunities for projects to finance oneself. On the other hand, the processes are increasingly nerve-wracking and time-consuming. I am fortunate to be able to work at the WPI: at the WPI, the rules serve the scientists and not the other way around. As a single mother, I receive a lot of support and enjoy freedom, respect, and protection from an often hostile academic world.

Not all waltzes The dance of the majority of researchers after their doctorate is a “postdoc limbo,” from one temporary position to the next. I am relatively well off in this respect: I have a permanent position as a “Maître de Conference” in Lille, and in this position I am on leave to work at the “Institut CNRS Pauli” in Vienna, where the WPI provides me with ideal support and I can finance myself with FWF projects. This provides me with partial financing – I cannot afford a car, and the next grant is always a lottery.

Everything is in flux With the massive use of “artificial intelligence,” a revolution is also underway in science. University education and research must change significantly, which is particularly difficult for Austrians, who are fond of tradition. I have been on the move my entire academic life, changing institutions, adding machine learning to pure mathematics, and, thanks to WPI, also making the leap to medical applications. I see an opportunity: in the race for excellence grants and professorships, bubbles have formed that are based more on arguments of authority, old boy networks, and more of the same. AI can help to reduce these bubbles and ensure that independent research into truly new ideas counts again.

Alice Barbora Tumpach studied at the elite French university Ecole Normale Supérieure Ulm, wrote her doctoral thesis at the Ecole Polytechnique, and began her career as a so-called pure mathematician in the field of infinite-dimensional geometry. Since 2019, she has been living and researching at the WPI in Vienna as part of the “Inst CNRS Pauli.” She represents the official organizer of the Science Ball, the Wolfgang Pauli Institute.