Career planning is easy with the right tool. In the EU, such tool is supposed to be the ResearchCOMP … well, I have just made it interactive and useful at https://vladislavivanistsev.github.io/researchcomp.
You can make a self-evaluation of your skills and competences. Then you can copy, email, download the summary to use it in planning your career.
Publishing as chapters in books does now always attract the deserved attention. That might be the case with a chapter I co-authored: R. Cepitis, A. Kosimov, V. Ivaništšev, and N. Kongi, in Multi-functional ElectrocatalystsFundamentals and Applications, ed. V. S. Saji and V. K. Pillai, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2024, vol. 46, ch. 13, pp. 357-374. https://drive.google.com/file/u/0/d/1_oLCbMU6vxPsQe93HitgP-rm6bFSvED_/view
It is worth reading for at least two reasons. First it gives a nice overview of uni-, false, and true bifunctional oxygen catalysis in just one Figure:
Second, it provides a dictionary for theoreticians and experimentalists to allow them to talk about workflows in electrocatalysis:
Join the Double Layer lab-hub as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Latvia!
If you are a post-doc seeking independence through training skills and gaining knowledge in a supportive environment, then this post is for you. That is an opportunity to advance your career through Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) by focusing on competencies – academic writing, research methods, and supervision – essential for succeeding in academia and industry.
I suggest submitting one proposal to at least three calls on 10 September 2025. The proposal is just 10 pages long. The first application is for the MSCA postdoctoral fellowship, which provides funding for up to 24 months of research and training. To get this prestigious grant, one must gain more than 95% in the evaluation, yet passing the 85% threshold already opens the opportunity to be funded through the ERA Fellowship. Moreover, passing the 70% threshold makes you eligible to be funded by Latvia. Even more, there is a Latvian post-doc fellowship. Submitting to all these calls increases your chances of fulfilling your research idea and advancing your career. These fellowships include funds for salary, mobility, research, and allowances described in the following table.
Disclaimer: The data in the table might be incorrect. CCC value is taken form 2024 program. Salary is estimated using this calculator.
| Latvian 1 | MSCA | ERA talents | Latvian 2 | |
| Submission | 16th May 2025 | 10th Sept 2025 | 10th Sept 2025 | March 2026 |
| Decision | Summer 2025 | Feb 2026 | Feb 2026 | May 2026 |
| Start | 6 M after approval | May–Dec 2026 | May–Dec 2026 | Sept–Dec 2026 |
| Threshold / % | tbu | 95 | 85 | 85 |
| Success / % | ≤50 (70 PF) | 15 (1700 PF) | (20 PF) | tbu |
| Link | lzp.gov.lv | ec.europa.eu | ec.europa.eu | lzp.gov.lv |
| Duration / M | 36 | 12–24 | 12–24 | 12–24 |
| Total cost / €/Y | 64120 | tbu | tbu | tbu |
| Total salary / €/M | 3860 | 5990*0.838 | 5990*0.838 | 3860 |
| Net salary / €/M | 2080 | 2700 | 2700 | 2080 |
| Research / €/M | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 |
| Overhead | 6% | 650 € | 650 € | 6% |
| Mobility / €/M | 700 | 710 | 710 | ? |
| Family / €/M | 660 | 660 | 660 | ? |
| Move / € | 710 (+660) | 6700 | 6700 | ? |
| Secondment / M | >2 (mandatory) >6 (optional) | (optional) | (optional) | (optional) |
Why University of Latvia?
Why the Double Layer lab-hub?
Why Vladislav Ivanistsev as a mentor?
Further details
To be considered for the opportunity, you will undergo a pre-selection process based on your CV, project idea, and motivation letter. There are three main eligibility requirements:
For any other further questions, please contact vladislav.ivanistsev@gmail.com
This semester I am co-organising a seminar on computer simulations (3 ECTS, LOTI.05.076). One of the aim is to gather and unite researchers from different institutes. Our common topic is using computers in research, so we are “simulants”, i.e. simulating reality via calculations. Some of core organisers are pictured in the centre, from left to right: Taavi Repän, Tauno Tiirats, Veronika Zadin, and Juhan Matthias Kahk.
My first talk was about running simulations on HPC, e.g. using apptainers. Probably because of free pizza there were two–three dozen of participants from institutes of Chemistry, Physics, and Technology, which is a surprisingly high number for the university of Tartu. It is a great start and I am looking forward to contribute more into strengthening collaboration between the institutes.
Updated colors for atoms in ASE in 2024 look like this:
For POV rendering there are several options: ASE2, ASE3, Glass, Glass2, Intermediate, JMOL, Pale, Simple, VMD. I like intermediate because it does not have an reflection and glare.
1) Just watched Andy Stapleton youtube-video about echo technique for working with chatGPT. After that I have made my list of banned tells for GPT. Here it is.
Vibrant, Bustling, Vital, Out of the box, Underscores, Dive into, Reverberate, Delve, Hustle and bustle, Foster, Labyrinthine, Moist, Remnant, Nestled, Game changer, Symphony, Gossamer, Enigma, A testament to, Indelible, Meticulous, Meticulously, Navigating, Complexities, Realm, Understanding, Shall, Tailored, Underpins, Everchanging, Ever-evolving, Not only, Embark, Designed to enhance, It is advisable, Daunting, When it comes to, In the realm of, Amongst, Unlock the secrets, Unveil the secrets, Diving, Unleash, Harness, Tapestry, In summary, Take a dive into, Analogies to being a conductor or to music, Metropolis, Unless, Arguably, Ultimately, To put it simply, Promptly, In today's digital era, Subsequently, Leverage.
2) Previously I also used this prompt for working with LaTeX codes, but now I simply use texGPT in overleaf for quick drafting.
Start every sentence on a new line. Add line breaks after every 60 characters to make the text easier to read, but do not add these breaks within commented text. Preserve all original comments exactly as written, and do not delete anything unless explicitly instructed. Use British English and simple language, avoiding words that non-native speakers may not understand. Avoid typical ChatGPT phrases like "leveraging" or any overuse of sophisticated words, adjectives, or jargon. Do not use gerunds or adjectives excessively. Maintain the accuracy of content and avoid changes to technical terms.
3) When working within a project, I define instructions like this:
Prohibited words and phrases: I must avoid the following words and phrases, along with their derivatives: However, Additionally, Vibrant, Bustling, Vital, Out of the box, Underscores, Dive into, Reverberate, Delve, Hustle and bustle, Foster, Labyrinthine, Moist, Remnant, Nestled, Game changer, Symphony, Gossamer, Enigma, A testament to, Indelible, Meticulous, Meticulously, Navigating, Complexities, Realm, Understanding, Shall, Tailored, Underpins, Everchanging, Ever-evolving, Not only, Embark, Designed to enhance, It is advisable, Daunting, When it comes to, In the realm of, Amongst, Unlock the secrets, Unveil the secrets, Diving, Unleash, Harness, Tapestry, In summary, Take a dive into, Analogies to being a conductor or to music, Metropolis, Unless, Arguably, Ultimately, To put it simply, Promptly, In today's digital era, Subsequently, Tailored, and Leverage.
I must avoid using "potential" in the sense of showing the capacity to develop into something in the future, because "electric potential" is a variable in Vlad's research. I must avoid "framework" in the sense of a basic structure underlying a computations, because "organic framework" is a material in Vlad's project. I must avoid using "capacity" and "capacitance" in sense of ability to do something, because similar terms are used in electrochemistry.
Recently I have been preparing for an interview for a faculty position. As usual I watched a lot of videos, read some tutorials, chatted with GPT, and talked to people (to whom I am very grateful).
The most insightful video turned out to be by Wenhao Sun UM. See below. It is about having a solid research vision!
Besides I would highly recommend a youtube channel “Life in academia” of a very positive prof. Matthias Rillig.
P.S. Despite preparation, I have not anticipated even a single question.
I am working on a presentation and use AI for the first time to draft some texts.
There are already existing solutions. Like plug-ins for google slides and copilot that works with powerpoint. I am using chatGPT and work in google slides.
Here is how I add some slides through app scripts:
function addSlide() {
const presentationName = "ScientificActivities";
const presentations = DriveApp.getFilesByName(presentationName);
if (!presentations.hasNext()) return;
const presentation = SlidesApp.openById(presentations.next().getId());
const layouts = presentation.getMasters()[0].getLayouts();
const targetLayout = layouts.find(layout => layout.getLayoutName() === "OBJECT");
if (!targetLayout) return;
const titleText = "Bridging Modelling and Scalable Chemical Processes"; // Edit title here
const bodyText = "Assoc. Prof. Vladislav Ivaništšev"; // Edit body content here
const newSlide = presentation.appendSlide(targetLayout);
newSlide.getPlaceholder(SlidesApp.PlaceholderType.TITLE).asShape().getText().setText(titleText);
newSlide.getPlaceholder(SlidesApp.PlaceholderType.BODY).asShape().getText().setText(bodyText);
}
Title and body can be generated by … within a long conversation with my personal research assistants. I enjoy the process because these skills will save me a lot of time in the future, although right now it took me some hours to get this simple code working. I have also used AI to find and download a dozen on logos of universities that I have visited (shown below). And it saved me time to get facts from my CV right into the slides.
This week, I have repeatedly discussed the same topic with many peers: What is the first step in starting a new project? Like … a PhD project. For me, it’s about lowering the barriers that prevent beginning the research in the first place. It is all about setting up the right environment, which I call “infrastructure.”
Sometimes, my infrastructure gets disrupted, which slows me down. For example, my new laptop was a major annoyance for some months already. The fan was running at 100% RPM constantly after a software update. It made me worry instead of focusing on the work. Finally, this Saturday morning, I managed to fix it. I am not sure which solution worked – perhaps it was “fan control” – but now I can calmly work in silence.
Additionally, while troubleshooting, I learned more about my CPU and GPU setup. Interestingly, my laptop has two types of CPUs (performance and efficient), totalling 10 cores and 12 threads. I added commands for GPAW Python to run my DFT calculations on 4 and 8 threads accordingly. Yes, I enjoy running tests on my laptop before syncing them via Git and running them on an HPC. Also, I have finally set up the second build-in SSD to store large amounts of data. Hurray!
alias gw8="taskset -c 4-11 mpirun --use-hwthread-cpus -np 8 --bind-to core python"
alias gw4="taskset -c 0-3 mpirun --use-hwthread-cpus -np 4 --bind-to core python"Calculations run twice faster in 4 performance threads than in 8 efficiency ones!
Feels so good when an infrastructure works for you (and not the other way around).
P.S. The problem returned in a while. This time I installed ProcessLasso to set CPU affinity of most of the processes to energy efficient CPUs.
Optimising even simple intermediate on metal surfaces might be tricky. They tend change the adsorption site. OOH also very flexible in changing geometry. Thus, some optimizers get stuck (like BFGSLineSearch) while others just crush (like GPMin).
Here is my test with OCPCalculator and EquiformerV2-31M-S2EF-OC20-All+MD (on 1 CPU in Google Colab). Optimisation of OH on Pt(111) is simple.
Here SciPyFminBFGS failed and other optimizers ended up with the same structure, shown below.
Optimisation of OOH on Pt(111) is challenging. GoodOldQuasiNewton, FIRE, FIRE2, MDMin, and BFGSLineSearch (QuasiNewton) do not converge in 95 cycles (which I set as a maximum number of cycles). GPMin, SciPyFminBFGS, SciPyFminCG, and LBFGSLineSearch failed.
