Meet our new Regional Sales Manager, Dr. Eva Bladt

Building strong and long-standing customer relationships has always been a paramount objective at DENSsolutions. In efforts to increase our impact in the Nordics, Benelux, the U.K. and Ireland, we needed somebody who could further strengthen our ties with customers and expand our user base in these regions. We have found just the right person to carry out these responsibilities, Dr. Eva Bladt, our new Regional Sales Manager. Eva has a comprehensive understanding of materials science and electron microscopy, as well as a strong interpersonal skillset that allows her to communicate her extensive knowledge with ease. Her role at DENSsolutions is focused on further establishing relationships with our customers in the Nordics, Benelux, the U.K. and Ireland, enabling scientists to tackle their complex research questions using our innovative in-situ solutions. We asked Eva to introduce herself so you can learn more about her education, background and role at DENSsolutions.

Eva’s academic journey

“My name is Eva Bladt and I am 30 years old. I was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium and have lived there my whole life except for last year when I moved to Melbourne, Australia for 6 months. When deciding what I wanted to study after high school, I actually had three options, all of which were exceptionally different from one another: a Bachelor’s in Dance, a Bachelor’s in Medicine and a Bachelor’s in Physics. After months of deliberation, I decided to pursue a Bachelor’s in Biomedical Sciences. Six weeks later, I realized I had made the wrong choice. I discovered that medicine didn’t excite me the way physics did, so I changed my studies and pursued a Bachelor’s in Physics instead. I immediately felt that this degree was a better fit for me.

I graduated with a MSc in Physics in 2013 from the University of Antwerp. During my Physics education, I developed a passion for materials science and electron microscopy. This translated into a Bachelor and Master thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Sara Bals, a true expert in the field of electron tomography. After graduating, I started as a PhD in Sara’s group at EMAT (Electron Microscopy for Materials Science), one of the leading electron microscopy centers in the world. I focused on the 3D structural characterization of functional nanoparticles, particularly metallic and semiconductor nanoparticles. To pursue this PhD fellowship, I received a personal FWO (Research Foundation – Flanders) grant.

After receiving my PhD degree in 2017, I continued as a post-doctoral researcher at EMAT, which was also funded by a personal FWO grant. I mainly carried out atomic structure characterization studies of perovskite nanostructures and 3D thermal stability investigations of metallic nanoparticles. During my post-doc research, I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to perform a research stay at the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy in Melbourne, Australia, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Joanne Etheridge. During this research period, I focused on the 2D and 3D characterization of twinned metallic nanoparticles. This was a truly unique experience both on an academic and personal level.”

A new career path

“Although I’ve been a part of the academic world for quite some time now, I decided it was time for me to embark on a new career path. Moving away from academia was definitely not an easy decision, as nanoscience is undoubtedly where my passion lies. However, I couldn’t deny that I was longing for some change in my life. I wasn’t quite sure exactly what role I was searching for, but I knew it had to allow me to stay close to the field.

“I knew right away that this position was meant for me, not only because it allows me to stay close to the field of nanoscience, but also to exercise my passion for communication.” – Dr. Eva Bladt

When searching for positions a couple months ago, I came across an opening for Regional Sales Manager at DENSsolutions, a company whose solutions I was highly familiar with already. During my thermal stability studies, I worked extensively with the DENSsolutions Wildfire solution, an in-situ TEM heating system that has always impressed me, particularly for its extreme stability even at high temperatures. I knew right away that this position was meant for me, not only because it allows me to stay close to the field of nanoscience, but also to exercise my passion for communication. Aside from conducting research, I have always enjoyed communicating and presenting my results and have done so at various international conferences.

I think that my background in materials science and electron microscopy is of high value to this role particularly because I am able to understand customers’ specific research needs. This will allow me to step into the mind of the customer and better address their needs, ultimately enabling them to perform more meaningful research studies. I am really excited to be getting in touch with scientists in different fields and hope to expand DENSsolutions’s customers base with satisfied customers who will achieve ground-breaking insights using our solutions.”

Thank you for reading this article. If you would like to know more about Eva, don’t hesitate to contact her via email or LinkedIn.

Discover Eva Bladt’s Wildfire publications

Quantitative 3D characterization of elemental diffusion dynamics in individual Ag-Au nanoparticles with different shapes 

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