Welcome back to Microbiome Insights, we will offer you a chance to get to know a Microbiome Insights team member on a deeper level. We hope to show you the faces of the people you will be working with and the human element behind the now virtual interaction. For our fifth Team Insights, we want you to meet Karl Moran.
You can connect with Karl on Linkedin here.
Hello Karl, thank you for taking the time to do this. Just to start off, when did you start at Microbiome Insights?
A: October 2017.
What do you do at Microbiome Insights? Describe your role?
A: I am responsible for finding new clients as well as being the main point of contact for our existing clients. If a client has a good experience from the beginning to the end of their project then I will have done my job well. I manage a team of three but work closely with all other departments, especially with our lab team and bioinformaticians.
How would you describe your job to a bunch of five-year-olds?
A: I make sure everyone is busy, happy and getting along together!
What interests you most about the area of the microbiome?
A: The fact that microbes are everywhere and thus they have the potential to impact so many different processes and systems on Earth.
What’s the best advice you can give to someone who just started their career?
A: Find a job that you are interested in where you feel like you are doing meaningful work, whatever that means to you.
What are your passions outside of work?
A: I like all sports, especially rugby, music, and good/all food.
What was a memorable highlight of your rugby career?
A: Definite highlight was winning two All Ireland League medals with Clontarf in 2014 & 2016.
What’s your secret talent that no one knows about?
A: I have just bought a coffee machine so I'm currently working on my barista skills!
If you could get a new skill in 10 minutes, what would it be?
A: Learn Spanish. I have tried and failed to learn it on a couple of occasions so it would be nice to skip the hard work.
How have you made the most of your time working from home?
A: I was used to working from home pre-COVID but recently I've been good at getting out for a walk before work and during lunch.
Now that you've settled back in Ireland, what's it like working this remotely.
A: It was a quiet start, since the country was largely locked down from when I arrived here in December until recently. On the work front it took a little time to adjust to having clients and teammates spread across multiple time zones but I'm in a good routine now. Being able to jump on a teams or zoom call makes connecting pretty easy.
What’s the hardest part about working remotely from Europe?
A: So far the first few months have been great. We're getting a huge amount of interest from companies and researchers in Europe so being on a similar time zone to them has been a big help.
What’s your favorite music genre?
A: According to Spotify it's Electronica, followed by Hip Hop and Rock.
If you could make any fictional creature real, which would you choose?
A: Definitely Gandalf, because he's just an all around legend.
It's always a pleasure carrying a conversation with Karl, which you may know if you've worked with us in the past. We're happy to have him leading the front in our expanded activities in the European sector!
