Life as a PhD student
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Life as a PhD student Zeynep Yetis-Larsson 28 August, 2013 Stockholm School of Economics 1
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My presentation for the incoming group of PhD students in Business Administration on the kick-off day at the Stockholm School of Economics.
Transcript of Life as a PhD student
Life as a PhD student
Zeynep Yetis-Larsson28 August, 2013
Stockholm School of Economics
1
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
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
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
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
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!
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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
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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
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!
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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!
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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.
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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
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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!
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Questions?
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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/
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