Asal wears many hats in the EMBL Events team. She is our sponsorship guru, taking care of everything from raising money for our courses and conferences to working with different journals and societies for in-kind partnerships. During the pandemic, she was our technology wiz spearheading a project to find a good platform for our virtual conferences. Need any HTML help? Asal has you covered! Last but not least, she is the queen of laughter and her genuinely infectious happiness can be felt for miles (or kilometres!).

At EMBL since: August 2017

Number of organised conferences/courses: I do not organise conferences but since I’ve started, I have leased sponsorships for more than 80 conferences and courses at EMBL.

What is your favourite place in Heidelberg?
The EMBL Campus. When I started my work at EMBL I moved directly to Mannheim, the most time I spent in Heidelberg was at the EMBL campus and I love it. It has a very nice vibe. The EMBL campus is much more than a place for work. You feel that you belong to the community here. There are a lot of different clubs. Before the pandemic we had a lot of social activities and events. Although my commutes from Mannheim with the public transport were not always smooth, it is a nice feeling to start a day at EMBL after a nice bus ride through the forest and walk through the campus full of flowers. I am amazed of the great job of our gardeners.

What do you like most about your job? 
I love being in a scientific community. Even if I am not a scientist I have been surrounded by scientists since my childhood. In my work, I enjoy building bridges between science training at EMBL and the life science industry. I strongly believe that there are benefits for both. Corporate social responsibility is very important aspect. By providing financial support to public research institutions like EMBL, companies contribute to the advancement of basic research and positive developments in society. And companies ultimately benefit from them too. A lot of scientists who received training at EMBL follow career paths in industry. Industry also brings a lot of innovations and solutions that can help scientists in their research.

If you weren’t a Sponsorship and Media Partnership Manger, what would you be?
I wish I were an environmentalist doing some manual work outside. But after finishing my job at EMBL, I will most likely continue raising funds for non-for-profit as I was doing before I joined EMBL.

What is on your bucket list?
I have some social project ideas that I want to realize. Hopefully, I can do it when I have a bit more time.

What is your favourite book and why? 
My favourite book is always the one I am reading at that moment and I always feel a bit sad when I finish it.

What is your favourite recipe? 
I love plov. It is a national dish from my home country Uzbekistan. It is the only dish I can eat every day for weeks.

What is your favourite movie? 
I like movies by Christopher Nolan