PhD Career Stories

Elvira Ganic, a PhD graduate from Lund University's Stem Cell Center, shares her journey from academia to a role in industry as a Regulatory Affairs Specialist. She discusses the significance of a growth mindset in job hunting, making the process more enjoyable and less daunting. Elvira emphasizes the importance of adaptability and actively tailoring applications to specific roles. She also provides insights on navigating rejection, encouraging listeners to learn from each experience and stay motivated on their career paths.

We are joined by Chris Humphrey who is a project manager and careers consultant, and the founder of the popular careers website Jobs on Toast. Chris originally completed a PhD in Medieval Studies at the University of York, before leaving academia for a career in the private sector. Over the past 15 years Chris has worked in the areas of technology, transport, financial services and sustainability. Today he works as a project manager for a leading sustainable bank. Chris is passionate about helping people with their careers and personal development. He has given numerous careers talks at universities in the UK, Ireland and the US, and has taken part in live Q&A events on The Guardian’s website, and for jobs.ac.uk. In 2012 Chris Humphrey founded Jobs on Toast in order to raise awareness amongst Masters students and doctoral graduates of the abundant career opportunities outside of higher education. His motto is 'If I can do it, you can do it’!' In this episode, Chris will introduce the range of careers that are available to PhDs in the financial services sector. He will also provide some tips and tricks for how to break into this line of work. 'You don’t need to have a finance degree to get a job in the finance industry - certainly I didn't!' - Dr. Chris Humphrey, Project Office Team Leader and Careers Consultant For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the podcast, visit www.phdcareerstories.com. You can also find us on social media: www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories www.linkedin.com/company/phd-career-stories  

The job search period that comes after the PhD hardly can be called “fun”, “exciting” and definitely not the one “to enjoy”. It is the time when you question your achievements, re-assess your skills and talents, restlessly scout job-boards hoping to find a “fit” to your unique set of skills, attend exhausting interviews, and, inevitably, face numerous rejections before you get that one job. In our new podcast, Elvira Ganic argues that shifting your perspective can make this process bearable and even joyful. Elvira received her PhD from the Stem Cell Center of the University of Lund. After her defense, through the career coaching sessions with Tina Persson and the long job searching process with 27 interviews, she landed on the position of the Regulatory Affairs specialist at a pharmaceutical and medical device company in Malmö in Sweden.   In this uplifting episode, she tells what she learned on that way - how coaching changed the way she sees herself and her skills, what the transferable skills actually are, how to stay open-minded when looking for a position and why the transition period is an important life phase that you should fully enjoy and learn from it. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the podcast, visit www.phdcareerstories.com. You can also find us on social media: www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories www.linkedin.com/company/phd-career-stories

Today you will have a chance to get to know Kajsa Hallberg Adu, who was born and raised in Sweden and nowadays lives and works in Ghana. Kajsa Hallberg Adu is a lecturer in Communications, Leadership, and Political Science at Ashesi University. She holds a PhD degree in African Studies (University of Ghana) and a Master degree in Political Science (Uppsala University, Sweden). Her research interests turn towards the future as she studies youth in Ghana and beyond, student migration, labor migration, knowledge societies, social media in the classroom, social media in elections, the intersection of internet freedoms and democratization, uses of augmented reality and decolonizing the academy. Outside of her academic career, Kajsa is a blogger and activist.  In this episode, she tells what can help when you want to quit the PhD program, how activism and teaching are excellent companions to research, and what beckons after you have completed your dissertation and finally could sleep properly again. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the podcast, visit www.phdcareerstories.com. You can also find us on social media: www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories www.linkedin.com/company/phd-career-stories

In September 2018 Tina Persson attended the annual Max Planck alumni meeting in Berlin and had a chance to speak with the professor for Applied Mathematics and Physics Dr. Magda Schiegl. Magda Schiegl made her PhD in Theoretical Plasma Physics at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in 1996 and then had a long career in the financial and energy industry. In 2009 she decided to come back to science and teaching, but this time, instead of theoretical plasma physics research, she chose the practical field of Risk Management and Applied Mathematics. She got a professorship position at the University of Applied Science in Cologne and later moved to Landschut, Germany. In this interview, Magda reflects upon how her experience as a PhD influenced her career and shares a tip on how to combine interests for the industry and practical problems with the passion for scientific research and education. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the podcast, visit www.phdcareerstories.com. You can also find us on social media: www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories www.linkedin.com/company/phd-career-stories

Dr. Ali Al-Sawalmih is the director of the Marine Science Station (MSS) Research Institute in Aqaba, Jordan and a researcher on Marine and Coastal Sciences at the University of Jordan in Aqaba since 2012. He has prior 5 years of experience in Germany on Marine Calcification at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG) in Germany. Dr. Al-Sawalmih earned the MSc degree in Physics at Stuttgart University / Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI FKF) in 2004, and PhD degree in marine materials at the RWTH Aachen University and Max Planck Institute for Iron Research (MPIE) in 2007.   “For one who wants to be a researcher first before becoming a director or a manager being organized can save time, can make your work perfect and it can make you avoid mistakes as much as possible.” Dr. Ali Al-Sawalmih

Fulvio Caruso received his Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering in Palermo, Italy with a focus on hybrid inorganic-organic materials for photonics and optoelectronics applications. He joined industry in 2016 when he moved to Lausanne, Switzerland to start working at Novagan, an EPFL start-up company specialised in the nitride technology. In March 2018, Fulvio joined ABB Semiconductors in Lenzburg, Switzerland where he is currently working as a Process Engineer in the metal/PECVD production area for high-power semiconductor devices.   When the PhD refuses to be a pure executor and starts looking both on the detail and the big picture, those are the elements that the industry really would need. And these are the skills that PhDs have acquired during their time at university. – Dr. Fulvio Caruso, Process Engineer at ABB Semiconductors

Girish Kedar was born and brought up in Mumbai, India. For his higher studies, he moved to Sweden in 2009 and since then he studied and worked in different European countries like Sweden, Germany, and The Netherlands. He holds pharmacist degree from India and PhD in Neuroscience from Vrije University, Amsterdam. After a big struggle in finding the right job in the pharma industry, Girish came up with a plan B -- he started his own business and founded The GLOVERK Consultancy, which is based in Amsterdam and provides services to the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. Along with Europe, GLOVERK also has an office in Pune, India. Girish is also a student ambassador in Vrije University and an independent Career Coach for PhD and Post-Doctorate candidates. In this episode, Girish contemplates about mistakes he made that complicated his job search and shares advice on how to avoid them. He also describes how the personal strengths he developed during his PhD helped him in the hard task of starting his own business. “Throughout PhD career, everyone thinks only about two options: either academia or industry. But I believe, PhD is way beyond that -- PhD prepares you for an even harder and better journey, where you can build up your own empire” Dr. Girish Kedar, PhD in Neuroscience, Entrepreneur, Career Coach   For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the podcast, visit www.phdcareerstories.com. You can also find us on social media: www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories www.linkedin.com/company/phd-career-stories

The career path of the guest of our today’s episode is anything but conventional. Dr. Andrew Quitmeyer studied Engineering and Film Making during his master’s degree. The trip to Galapagos deviated his direction and led him to pursue a tailor-made PhD degree at the crossing of Digital Media and Field Biology. Today Dr. Quitmeyer describes himself as a hacker and adventurer, studying intersections between wild animals and computational devices. His academic research in “Digital Naturalism” at the National University of Singapore blends biological fieldwork and DIY digital crafting. He runs “Hiking Hacks” around the world where participants build technology entirely in the wild for interacting with nature. His research also inspired a spin-off television series for Discovery Networks called “Hacking the Wild”. The Digital Naturalism Conference is his largest initiative so far, and is leading him to start his own permanent Art-Science Field Station Fab Lab.   For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the podcast, visit www.phdcareerstories.com. You can also find us on social media: www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories www.linkedin.com/company/phd-career-stories

We are joined by Dr Per Olof Arnäs who is a logistics researcher, podcaster, public speaker, blogger and entrepreneur with an - as he puts it - unhealthy interest in the digitalization of transportation. Per Olof has been working in, around, and with the logistics industry since the late 1980s, both as a professional and as a researcher. He has a MSc in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Logistics from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. He has also worked as a developer building sustainability tracking systems for the freight industry. Today, he is back as a senior lecturer at Chalmers after a long time in industry. Apart from his research, Per Olof is also a podcaster and a keen social media enthusiast. His first podcast (Logistikpodden, in Swedish) is one of the the largest logistics podcasts in Sweden. Together with Lena Göthberg, he also runs the show Podgeek, a podcast about podcasting (in Swedish). During 2018, he will also launch his first international podcast, Logistics Rocks. What is the feeling when you put your hand on the doorknob and enter your workplace? Do you feel happy or not? If not, you should look for something else. - Dr Per Olof Arnäs, Senior Lecturer, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden x