PhD in Copenhagen, now rainfall analyst

There is not alot of rainfall in Qatar in the Middle East. But Lan He is now making a model of it. As a hydrogeologist it is a project that is part of her Danish job at the engineering consultants group COWI.

Lan He Xiulan did her research at the University of Copenhagen on the groundwater under the small Danish town of Ølgod, and she finished her PhD in 2013.

While doing research, she always had private sector Danish engineering companies in her sights, she says. Lan is thereby one of the many international PhDs who opt to make a career in this country after finishing their research degree.

Groundwater knowledge

Lan landed her first job at the consultants Rambøll, then moved on to COWI. Two days a week, and on top of her full time job at COWI, Lan is assessing new data related to her original UCPH degree at the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management.

At COWI, the job so far is easier than her PhD, she says.

“It demands less innovation in the sense that the standards for my work are already in place, while doing a PhD demands a lot of thinking for yourself,” she says to the University Post and adds: “But what COWI is getting is my experience in groundwater modelling”.