Dr. André Luís Diniz dos Santos has recently completed a PhD in modelling of biosphere-atmosphere processes at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, in Brazil. André is also an early career representative for the FLUXNET community. During this podcast André talks about his PhD research and work he is undertaking currently, including the use of Ameriflux data to test the developed model further. André also talks about what inspired him to become a scientist from his early days as well as explaining how he developed his fluency in speaking and writing English and the role of publications in an academic career.  Finally André talks about the importance of coding as a modelling scientists and gives advice for early career scientists.