In this blogpost, Anastasia Manjavidze shares her internship experience at NIVA, Oslo (Norway). Students of the  Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology)  Program complete an 8-week internship each year, the so-called “AMEO”. The AMEO is performed either at an external university, governmental or industrial research institute  where students learn to apply the competences achieved during their study. Students also use this opportunity to travel and explore not only Germany, but also other countries! 

“My name is Anastasia Manjavidze and in summer semester 2023 I had a possibility to be a part of NIVA institute in Oslo, Norway. During my internship, I had the opportunity to participate in ongoing ecotoxicological testing.

During my internship I mostly worked in the bioassay laboratory – either in the main building of NIVA in Oslo or at the Research Station in Solberstrand. Over the course of being part of NIVA, I could shadow and participate in preparation for the experiments in aquatic ecotoxicology as well as in testing itself. Several main tests that we conducted were FET testing, Tisbee experiment, OMICS and AChE tests. Additionally, , I was also taught how to do the spawning of sea urchins, homogenize the tissue, and maintain Daphnia and Hyallela cultures. Furthermore, I was luckyto participate in a setup of the experiment by PhD student from Columbia and testing some new protocols.

The department of NIVA I had been working at was very international; I worked  with people from at least 10 countries and the environment was very friendly and welcoming. The colleagues always tried to integrate me in their activities and made me feel right at home.

It has always been my dream to visit Norway.s Besides working, I could explore the city on weekends. Oslo is quite small and it is possible to visit most sightseeing in a short period of time. I was fascinated how beautiful Oslo was!  Moreover, I had the opportunity to taste Norwegian cuisine!

In the end I would like to say that spending 2 months in Norway had a big influence on me: Firstly, taking part in many experiments that I had only learned about in theory increased my understanding of ecotoxicology. Secondly, I had grown up personally.” 

Here are some beautiful glimpses from Anastasia’s AMEO:-