life as a phd student
DESCRIPTION
My presentation for the incoming group of PhD students in Business Administration on the kick-off day at the Stockholm School of Economics.TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Life as a PhD student
Zeynep Yetis-Larsson28 August, 2013
Stockholm School of Economics
1
![Page 2: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Who am I?• B.S. degree from Bilkent University, in
Industrial Engineering in Turkey.• Exchange student at University of
California, Berkeley for a year. • M.S. degree from Eindhoven University of
Technology, in Operations Management and Logistics in the Netherlands.
• Visiting scholar at Tsinghua University, China for a semester.
• Switched to social sciences.• Have been studying at SSE for 2 years now
with Robin Teigland. PhD student in Business Administration, in the Marketing and Strategy Department.
• Research in open innovation, specifically looking at the role that entrepreneurs play in open source communities.
2
![Page 3: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
In the beginning• I was quite confused about quite a
lot of different issues.
• “What is your research question?” • “Don’t worry, it is good to be
confused!”
• Process of learning and restructuring your thoughts.
• Important to be able to move on! • Go with something even if you are
confused.
3
![Page 4: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Purpose of your research
• Why is your research important?
• Always ask yourself “So what?”
• Idea of research gaps is dangerous.
• Might be better to work with “major/big” problems.
4
![Page 5: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Monograph or Collection of articles?
• This is a question that will be asked a lot.
• I think this is mainly a personality choice. Also depends on your research.
• Articles --- good when in the job market, you get recognition, easier to track your progress, etc…
• Monograph --- it is easier to make the whole piece consistent throughout.
5
![Page 6: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Research since Day 1
• I have been a lucky PhD student.• I have not seen a lot of other PhD students do
this. • It is important to read and build up a good
theory base, but it is still possible to write early on.
• Don’t let anyone discourage you!
• Takes a lot of time to publish!
6
![Page 7: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Courses• Courses are introductions.• They introduce some of the major
theories in the field. • Same with methods. You get a
basic understanding of what the method is about and what you can do with it.
• If you want to get a deeper understanding of a theory or a method, better to do an extended course.
• You make good friends in Uppsala and in other places
7
![Page 8: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Conferences/Doctoral Consortiums
• Conferences are great for networking.
• More about networking than getting “amazing” feedback on your paper in your session.
• Got to know a few people like this, whom I work with at the moment.
• Planning to attend a doctoral
consortium this year.
8
![Page 9: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Summer Schools
• Summer schools are great and intensive!
• You get to know people well.
• You get the chance to discuss your research in detail.
• Summers schools are like a mixture of courses and conferences, but better than both!
9
![Page 10: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Year Abroad
• Exchange & visiting semester/year I did have been the most memorable part of my studies and of my life.
• Will be going to ETH, Department of Strategic Management and Innovation, Zurich, Switzerland.
• You can always find people who are interested in your research.
• Don’t be shy to contact people!
10
![Page 11: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Funding/Grants
• Used up all my academic travel funding through SSE the first year.
• Important to find other sources of funding for academic travelling!
• Funding from Handelsbanken, Hedeliusstipendium and Sweden-America Foundation (Swedish citizenship required for the latter one).
• Scholarships through SSE for long research stays.• There are many foundations that give out scholarships.
11
![Page 12: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Power of Networking
• Like in every walks of like, networking is also important in academia!
• The impression you get from reading a paper by someone is very different from what you get when you meet him/her in person.
• Do summer schools, do conferences, do a semester/year abroad!
• It’s important who you work with!12
![Page 13: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
13
![Page 14: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
14
![Page 15: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
After PhD?• Important to have an idea of what you will be doing, at least what you want to do
after you graduate.
• Getting an academic job is not easy!
• Good to leave home university for, at least, a while.
• Should be able to answer “What is your research program?”
• Grant writing experience is important!
• If you plan to continue in the industry, working knowledge of Swedish is very important!
15
![Page 16: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Questions?
16
![Page 17: Life as a PhD student](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022042715/559709921a28ab9f2f8b47f5/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Please fell free to contact me for questions & comments!
Zeynep [email protected]
https://twitter.com/zyetis
http://se.linkedin.com/in/zeynepyetislarsson
http://www.slideshare.net/ZeynepYetis/
17