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Meganne Christian is training for the ‘coolest job in the world’. It’s a long way from Wollongong for the 35-year-old scientist

In mid-November Dr Meganne Christian was cycling home from her work at the Italian National Research Agency in Bologna when her phone rang.

“I wasn’t going to answer because I was riding,” the Australian scientist says. Then she noticed the incoming number had a French country code. “I stopped everything, just stopped my bike in the middle of the bike path and answered.”