Marcos del Pozo Banos, Senior Lecturer at Swansea University Medical School, shares his inspirational journey into research with us.
What did you do before joining Swansea University?
I did a BSc and an MSc in Telecommunication Engineering, followed by a BSc in Intelligent Systems and Numerical Application in Engineering and a PhD with the same name.
What sparked your interest in a research career?
As far as I remember, I have always been interested in science and technology. I loved putting things apart (radios, fans, computers) and pretending to be a scientist. As a child, I loved documentaries. On TV, my favourite characters were the geeky ones (Pak from The Fruitties, Donatello from TMNT, Spiderman, MacGyver, etc.).
If any, what challenges have you faced in your journey into research?
Three years into my training, I fell in love with neuroscience, computational neuroscience, and AI – fields not strongly taught at my university at the time. So, I did a 1-year ERASMUS at the Helsinki University of Technology, where I took all the courses I could in these fields. In the process, I not only trained in the subjects I loved, but I also learnt English.
Then there was the issue of running out of money midway through my PhD, right in the middle of the Great Recession in Spain. I started applying for research jobs, planning to continue my PhD in my spare time. I secured a position at the Department of Psychology at Swansea University, doing something closely related to my thesis, which I was even able to integrate into my own research. This went on to help me secure a position at Swansea University Medical School, which led me to where I am today.
However, looking back, I am not sure these were big challenges.
I always had my family’s support and good senior academics as my mentors – people I’ve been able to shadow and learn from and who have supported me.
What type of research have you worked on?
I started working on biometrics. Mostly face biometrics (identity, age and sex recognition), but also in medical and biodiversity applications. My PhD thesis was also on biometrics, exploring the existence of a task-independent signature in the human electroencephalogram.
After that, my research has focussed on self-harm and suicide prevention and children and young people’s mental health.
What areas of research interest you?
I am really passionate about mental health data science, a combination of the subjects I fell in love with as a university student.
It allows me to explore the human brain and mind through mental health and to do so by applying machine learning algorithms and other cool technologies. To top it all, the work I love is helping to improve people’s lives.
I hope the future holds more of this, with an even wider reach and impact on society.
What advice would you give to someone looking at a career in research?
To find the subject that really sparks your curiosity; to observe your seniors, identify the good ones, and learn from them; to never stop studying and learning; and to be prepared to work hard.
The Population, Psychiatry, Suicide and Informatics group (PPSI) at Swansea University and team leads on DATAMIND and Adolescent Mental Health Data Platform (ADP) projects. DATAMIND and ADP are two of the 12 Centres of Excellence based in Population Data Science at Swansea University.
