Seven Questions with... Andrea Franchini

What are you studying, why are you interested in this subject and what do you plan to do in the future?

I am at my first year of a PhD in Civil Engineering and my research is about the design of long-span bridges subject to earthquake, wind and blast loads. I’ve always been passionate about bridge structures: they connect people and places, they support the development of societies and they transform the way people plan for and invest in their future. Moreover, I believe they represent an amazing example of human skills in elegantly and efficiently shape our world. After graduation, I plan to move to industry as a bridge engineer; I expect that the knowledge I got during my PhD will help me to keep a connection with the academic world and to deliver more innovative projects.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve done, seen or got involved with while at UCL?

The most interesting activity I got involved in was the workshop “SPERO Discover: Entrepreneurial skills for doctoral students” organised by UCL Innovation & Enterprise. It was the first time I got in touch with the enterprise field in a systematic way and it really opened my mind on further perspectives for my future. The trainers provided useful tools and methods to develop an idea in the best possible way, highlighting the main aspects which should be accounted for and ways to analyse them. It was interesting to see how those competences can be applied to better perform as a researcher, in order to make a strong impact with my work.

Because of the current Covid-19 situation, the workshop was organised online via the Microsoft Teams platform. In my opinion, the online format worked perfectly and the way UCL Innovation & Enterprise organised materials and documents was remarkable. Furthermore, the platform turned out to be easy to use and, at the same time, very powerful in allowing real-time comments or questions, polls and breakout in small working groups. I was personally very impressed by how efficient this last aspect was: communication and ideas exchange worked quite well, eased by the combination of well-organised Word files and the ‘share screen’ function. Nowadays online meetings and discussions are becoming more and more frequent and I think that, above the specific contents, the way this workshop was organised can be very useful and inspiring for future activities and collaborations, even after the lockdown.

I am happy I took this course at an early stage of my PhD. I would definitely recommend it to all UCL PhD students. 

Have you discovered any hidden gems during your time at UCL?

One thing I love about London is that you can find hidden gems mostly everywhere you go. As for UCL campus, I really appreciate UCL’s Flaxman Gallery in the Main Library and the Japanese-inspired roof garden at SOAS, which can be found at the North West corner of Russell Square. 

Give us your top three ways to stay sane while in lockdown:

1. Do some physical exercise every day. Go for a run or do some indoor workouts. There are many apps that help you with full-body workouts even for small spaces.
2. Stay in touch with your family and friends: be creative and find different ways to do the things you used to do pre-lockdown. You can always organise a coffee break or online exercise sessions, play table games, grab a drink, have dinner, or watch movies together. 
3. Focus on the choices you can make now to make things better when life will be back to normal and find some ways to take advantage of the situation. It helps you to keep a positive attitude and to be productive. 

If you were Provost for the day what one thing would you do?

I find particularly inspiring sharing knowledge with people doing research in fields different from mine, both for curiosity and because I believe it is a good opportunity to find innovative approaches to solve problems I face in my research. Therefore, the one thing I would do on that day would be organising an event in which interested researchers from different UCL departments expose a poster about their research. It could be split in several days to give everyone the opportunity to both present and visit. I believe it would also represent a nice chance for networking and for meeting other UCL students, maybe with some food and drinks.   

Who inspires you and why?

I am inspired by people who found a way to make a difference in this world and/or were able to share with others how to do it. Among them, I would point out Steve Jobs, Kobe Bryant and Bao Lianjin (my boss during a summer internship).

The main message I got by watching Jobs’ and Bryant’s speeches is that, in order to succeed, you have to find what you love, to love what you do and to be always curious and enthusiastic about it. Regarding Jobs, what most inspires me are his visionary mindset and his famous wish ‘Stay hungry. Stay foolish’.

As for Bryant, I deeply admire his eagerness to do any possible effort to be the best version of himself (like training at 4am) and that, in order to achieve his goals, he would work harder than anyone else. Bao is the Chief Structural Engineer of a Chinese company called ECADI which designs iconic structures in China. I met him during a summer internship and, for me, he represents the incarnation in an engineer of all the skills and attitudes I mentioned before.

What would it surprise people to know about you?

I hold a master’s degree from a Chinese university (Tongji University in Shanghai), which was awarded as part of a double degree program. Because of that and some other projects, in total, I spent 2.5 years in China, falling in love with this country and its culture. Moreover, it was quite inspiring to get a work experience there (summer internship in ECADI 华东建筑设计研究总院). Now I keep studying to improve my spoken and written Chinese.