Are you looking forward to pursuing a postdoc career in the USA? Are you living in Europe, but dreaming of a long-term career in the USA? Are you looking forward to pursuing a postdoc career in the USA? Then this is an excellent episode for you as Tina Persson and Thalyana Stathis extensively discuss the application strategies for a postdoc position in the USA.
Thalyana Stathis is the Associate Director of the Office of Career and Professional Development for postdocs and PhD students at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in NYC. As a career advisor, she supports hundreds of students and postdocs in each stage of their career planning. She also directs workshops for career exploration and navigating the job market for all academic and non-academic career paths.
Tina and Thalyana talk about the common mistakes that many PhDs do when applying for a postdoc application. One of the great tips from Thalyana is about how to use your current network to reach out to your future research lab/company. Thalyana also provides many tips regarding the different visa options.
If you have any questions about how to apply to postdoc positions at MSK, how to contact faculty members you are interested in working with, or how to learn more information about different labs at MSK, please feel free to email Thalyana Stathis at stathist [at] mskcc.org or connect with her on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thalyanasmithvikos/).
Listen to this episode to know more about this in detail.
For the transcript, please click here: https://phdcareerstories.com/pub/tstathis
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”[On average,] one farmer commited suicide every 30 minutes in India”, Aditya Parekh remarks as he talks to our host, Tina Persson. This fact is what changed his mind and sparked his interest in changing that reality. He knew he wanted to help them.
In this episode, Aditya shares his journey and challenges in the academic transition from Oncology and Molecular Biology to Sustainable Farming in the School of Design at Anant National University, India.
Aditya followed his gut when it came to making major career decision after his Postdoc. During his later half of PhD and while pursuing his postdoctoral research, he developed a consuming passion for changing the high number of suicides committed by Indian farmers. Aditya trusted his gut and made a unique transition to Sustainable Farming as an Assistant Professor. His goal is to connect the student community with farmers and sustainable farming practices, to help the farmers with diverse solutions, and to create awareness of their situation. Alongside, he also finds motivation to help young researchers in their career journey, through talks and meetings. If you want to know more about his challenges and this unconventional transition, make sure to listen to this episode!
For the transcript, please click here: https://phdcareerstories.com/pub/aparekh
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Am I fit for a PhD? My experiments are going nowhere. Will I see the end of this PhD? I only have academic experience, how will I find a job in the industry?
Have you ever been in these situations? Our guest Marisa Pereira had asked herself these same questions, but today Marisa has successfully completed her PhD and transitioned to the biotech industry as a Project Manager. She also is the co-founder and owner of pic.cell, a unique company that designs textiles inspired by microscopic images.
In today’s episode, Marisa shares with us the highs and lows of her career path. She addresses how she overcame the snags during her PhD, how she started her brand pic.cell, and how - after 2 years of Postdoc experience - she landed in the biotech industry. Throughout the episode, Marisa shares many tips not just to survive but also to thrive while doing a PhD.
Last but not least, Marisa shares a vital piece of advice “....enjoy the journey. PhD is only a part of your life. In the end, what is interesting, is the knowledge that you [gained] as a professional but even most important as a person.”
If you want to learn more about Marisa’s story, listen to this episode now.
For the transcript, please click here: https://phdcareerstories.com/pub/mpereira
PhD Career Stories is now on major social media channels. To receive more content regularly, follow us on YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and our Website.
Kathleen Champlin graduated with a doctorate in Contemporary American Literature from Ball State University in Indiana (USA) in 2015. Currently, she is an online writing tutor with Pearson's Smarthinking and a copyeditor for several companies.
In this episode, Kathleen will provide an example of a disabled PhD's career transition in the humanities. From her story, you can learn how her disability impacted her academic and professional paths and how she was able to overcome the many barriers that came up along the way.
Kathleen will also share how her love for the written word has been a driving force throughout her journey and how she hopes to contribute to a world without ability barriers.
Enjoy listening!
For show transcript click here:
https://phdcareerstories.com/pub/odduft04
PhD Career Stories is now on major social media channels. To receive more content regularly, follow us on YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and on our Website.
In this new episode, Adriana Bankston tells us about her career story. Adriana is a Principal Legislative Analyst at the University of California Office of Federal Governmental Relations in Washington, DC, where she serves as an advocate for the university with Congress, the administration and federal agencies.
Adriana grew up in a family of scientists, which made her interested in pursuing a research career. She earned her PhD in Biochemistry from Emory University and later on she managed to transition into science policy through a number of volunteering opportunities. While exploring the several options, she became interested in academic training and the connection between science and society and got involved in organizations that work on training the next generation of scientists. Along the way, she held some leadership positions where she built her brand in science policy coupled to training activities and got involved with non-profits that advocate for early career trainees. This has opened a new avenue to her to connect federal policy to university research and training the next generation of scientists. And made her realize that it is a path for her!
Finally, Adriana shares key skills and qualifications that one needs in science policy:
Interested in policy and science? Listen to this episode to get insights into policy roles and skills for a career path in science policy. Maybe it will also be a path for you? Enjoy listening!
The interviewed author expressed their personal views and not the views of their employer.
For show transcript click here: https://phdcareerstories.com/pub/z2hfd5ou
PhD Career Stories is now on major social media channels. To receive more content regularly, follow us on YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and on our Website.
In this episode, João tells us about his career story and professional journey, holding several roles in different Life Science fields and different countries. He talks about the reasons that led him to do a PhD, as well as the opportunities and challenges encountered along his path.
He closes the episode sharing valuable tips:
To know more about João’s story and the opportunities in the Life Science fields, please listen to this episode.
Welcome to a new episode of PhD Career Stories. In today's podcast, Dr. Rui Cruz tells us about his career path and how he went from doing a PhD in biomedical sciences to starting up his own company, called Connecting Biotech. He also shares with us valuable tips and lessons he learned along his journey.
Looking back, I view my PhD as a process of self discovery, a process that allowed me not only to recognize my limitations and strengths, but it also allowed me to work on those weaknesses and strong points.
To know more about Rui’s story, please listen to this episode. If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone willing to share his story, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Enjoy listening.
Welcome to today episode where Dr. Evelina Kulcinskaja tell us the story of her transition from academia to industry. Evelina received her PhD in biochemistry at Lund University in 2015. After that she did a 2-year post-doc at the University of Nottingham, UK, doing research on biocatalysis. She now works as a lab manager at a pharmaceutical company, taking care of day-to-day operations in a laboratory that does analysis by mass spectrometry.
Evelina will also share with us some reflections on her journey, as well some useful tips and tricks for researchers in different stages of their careers.
”As a PhD student, I learned lots of transferrable skills, such as compiling and sorting information, written and oral communication, negotiation with your supervisor, team work in the group, as well as a broad range of laboratory skills.”
If you are curios Evelina’s story and get some tips, please listen to this episode. If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy listening!
Welcome to a new podcast in PhD Career Stories. In today’s podcast, Dr. to be Natalia Bielczyk shares her journey from her homeland Poland to the Netherlands and the different steps she took to become an entrepreneur. Natalia is just about to get her PhD in Neuroscience at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior in Nijmegen. In 2018, she launched a foundation, Stichting Solaris Onderzoek en Ontwikkeling, that offers free consultancy to early career researchers interested in self-development or search for new careers in industry. Furthermore, in 2019, Natalia established, Ontology of Value, a company that helps researchers to develop careers beyond academia. She also wrote a book entitled “What is out there for me? The landscape of post-PhD career tracks.“ Natalia brings us to a journey of self-discovery and recalls how she navigated herself from academia towards the open job market to finally become an entrepreneur.
Academic CV: https://www.nataliabielczyk.com/archive
Stichting Solaris: https://stichting-solaris.github.io/
Ontology of Value: https://ontologyofvalue.com/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082YCHJHP
To know more about Natalia´s journey, listen to this episode. If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone, please don´t hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy listening!
Dr. Ulrikke Voss has a PhD in medical sciences from Lund university, and and has been working as a postdoc and associate researcher at Lund university for 6 years. She just decided to quit the academic career and start her new journey, both mentally and physically. In this podcast, she shares her story and the first steps of the preparation of her adventure.
Ulrikke is currently a blogger, where where she shares her curiosity and love of science, describe a life in academia with reflection, and humor describe falling and regaining her footing. She also has started her youtube channel where she will share the interviews with amazing scientists while walking in the nature.
If you are curios Ulrikke’s long journey, please listen to this episode.
If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy Listening!
Dr. Naresh Thatikonda, a senior scientist at Cobra Biologics shares his story and about his transition from academia to industry. Naresh did his undergraduate study in India and continue his education in Sweden. He has a PhD in Biotechnology, from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. His plan was to pursue an academic career but after PhD, he changed his mind and started his career in industry.
If you are curious about Naresh’s transition from academia to industry , please listen to this episode. If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy Listening!
In this episode, Dr. Sabine Englich shares her career story from the perspective of a coach and tells us about the essence of developing a satisfying career. Dr. Sabine had been a science manager in the Max Plank institute for over 20 years. After retirement, she started her coaching career and currently she is helping young PhDs to fulfill the transition from academic into the professional life.
To know more about Sabine’s story, please listen to this episode. If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy Listening!
In this episode, Dr. Svante Hedstrom will tell us about his story and about his transition from academia to industry. He will also share with us some reflections on his journey and how important it is sometimes to leave our comfort zone. After his PhD, Svante followed the path of “least resistance”, which was postdoc-ing. With time he realized that it was not the best path for him and thus decided to leave academia. He is currently working as a chemistry specialist at a private company in Sweden. He will also tell us about how it is to work outside academia.
To know more about Svante’s story, please listen to this episode. If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy Listening!
Dr Kate Evans, Founder and Director of charity called Elephants for Africa, shares her story and tell us how her passion and interests in elephants shaped her career.
Kate is an award winning behavioural ecologist and conservation biologist who conducted
her PhD ‘The behavioural ecology and movements of adolescent male African elephant in the Okavango Delta, Botswana’ through the University of Bristol. With over 20 years of experience as a field biologist throughout Southern Africa on a variety of species, she has a solid understanding of the challenges of large mammal conservation, the complexities of conflict and the importance of stakeholder relationships.
Kate is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter and a member of the IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group, Elephant Specialist Advisory Group and the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre.
If you are curios how Kates interest shaped her career, please listen to this episode. If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy Listening!
In this podcast, Dr. Ben Hartwig shares his story and lessons he learned during his PhD. Dr. Ben Hartwig is a German scientist, entrepreneur and actor. He studied genetics at the Max-Planck Institute in Cologne, specialised in Epigenetics and aside he toured with Germany’s biggest improv theater, Springmaus, for the past six years. He has performed, directed and created close to a thousand shows on five continents. Three years ago, he founded his own company Neuroblitz to combine science and applied improvisation in workshops, speeches and seminars.
If you are curios how Ben successfully combined his analytical and creative side together, please listen to this episode. If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy Listening!
Sonia Jaeger is German-French psychologist, psychotherapist, and PhD.
She has been living a location independent life as a digital nomad for the past four years while working as an online therapist, providing online counselling to expats and other globally mobile clients in German, French, and English.
After finishing her PhD she decided to take a break and travel the world. However, instead of returning home afterwards she decided to start an online private counseling practice and has been traveling the world ever since.
In 2018 alone she went to (and worked from) 12 different countries, from Australia to Europe all the way to Latin America. Currently, she has not only started to mentor other psychotherapists who want to work online but also facilitates workshops that broach the issues of mental health while living globally.
Matt Hotze graduated with a doctorate in Environmental Engineering from Duke University in 2008 and he is currently Administrative Director at Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Engineering Research Center.
From his story, you will learn how almost failing the GRE exam brought him to the managing position he has now and how to apply business principles in academia and life.
Matt also shares his experience with the dual-career challenge that many PhD couples face after their graduation and offers good advice on how to find a job and keep a relationship at the same time.
In this episode Pearl Osirikeshares her story and some of the most important lessons she has learned during her PhD so far. Pearl is a biochemist with an interest in drug discovery and infectious diseases. She holds a first-class degree and a masters degree from the University of Benin, Nigeria, where she also serves as an Assistant Lecturer. Currently, she is a second year PhD student of Molecular and Cell Biology of Infectious Diseases at the West African Centre for Cell Biology and Infectious Pathogens at the University of Ghana.
Pearl is passionate about teaching and research and she is excited to share her story to motivate and inspire others.
To learn more about Pearl’s story, please listen to this episode. If you also have a story to be told or if you know someone, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy Listening!
For complete show notes and a transcript of the podcast, visit www.phdcareerstories.com.
In this episode two member of PhD Career Stories podcast team, Alice and Nika, talk about their experience during PhD, earned skills and their career after PhD. They also talk about how they joined PhD Career Stories podcast.
Alice is currently working in the healthcare organization in Sweden and She believes her PhD skills like “science communication” helped her to get to her job.
Alice also shares what she has learned during coaching seasons by Tina Persson; “It helped me not to be stuck at some point and think a bit forward to see that one experience doesn't build all your personality…”.
Nika is going to start her new career path as postdoc at Columbia University in New York City. She believes one of the major skills that she learned during her PhD is scheduling meetings from all over the world with a time difference.
In this episode you can also listen to Alice and Nika ‘s tips regarding job interview as both have gone through many job interviews before getting their dream jobs.
<p>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:</p>
<ul>
<li>www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories</li>
<li>www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod</li>
<li>www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories</li>
Michalina Lewicka-Yammine's passion for Neuroscience evolved during her master degree at the Jagiellonian University and her exchange studies at Uppsala University which led her to a PhD degree at Karolinska Institute in Developmental Neuroscience.
After graduation, her passion for marketing got her engaged with three startups and establishing her own consultancy firm. At Karolinska Institute she worked as a course leader and later as a project manager at the Alumni Office.
Throughout that journey Michalina gained many new experiences as well as gave birth to two children, and found her way to balance between being a mother and delivering and performing at work.
Nowadays, Michalina is raising two kids, running a freelance consultancy and has a full-time job as a product manager at Spiber Biomaterial - all powered by the stamina and resilience gained from motherhood.
Connect with Michalina on LinkedIn.
I'm still having my own company and doing some small projects. On the side I’m working fifty percent for a biotech company and fifty percent on maternity leave. As I said, don't give up! Try it! And see if it's for you and if you don't like it, try something else and try from a different angle – try to find your balance and what suits you the most.
Dr. Michalina Lewicka-Yammine, mother, freelancer and product manager at Spiber Biomaterial.
Transcript
Welcome to PhD Career Stories, the podcast about career paths inside and outside academia. My name is Rui Cruz and I am very happy to introduce Michalina Lewicka-Yammine to you.
Michalina works as a Product Manager specialist for a biotech company located in Sweden and in today's podcast she will tell you how she transitioned from her PhD in Developmental Neurosciences to the world of marketing.
During this process, Michalina started her own consulting company and worked in different startups, while at the same time she gave birth to two children.
Michalina will share with us important insights on the demanding challenges of being a mother while having the need to deliver and perform at work.
Michalina's story shows us that with resilience, stamina and support from people around you, it is possible to have a healthy balance between career development and motherhood.
We hope that her story will be inspiring to you and that you enjoy this episode of PhD Career Stories!
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Hi my name is Michalina Lewicka-Yammine and I would like to share with you today my career story and how I got my PhD and why.
I'm coming from Poland and during my master thesis in Krakow I decided to go for a student exchange and that was basically my first step to start thinking about the research projects.
I have to say I really enjoyed my time in Uppsala (Sweden) after one year exchange I decided to stay and take an internship project at Uppsala University where I shared my passion for science with three really nice people and basically due to them, due to Dan and Daniel who were my supervisor and colleagues who were following me during the project, I re-discovered that I would like to do a masters degree to take a PhD.
I graduated in June and searched for a PhD position... Now I know that June and July in Sweden are not the best months to get in touch with anyone. In September I was pretty frustrated about it but then it's kind of be up and start going and I had some interviews.
I was lucky and happy to secure a place in Ola Hermanson group at the department of Neuroscience in Karolinska Institute and that's how I started my ride and with the PhD life in December 2013 if I'm not wrong.
I have to say it has its ups and downs but I was really lucky I had a boss who let us experience science and really struggle ourselves, it was a bit more “lets you swim” approach if you need guidance he will try to help you but he will not really tell you what to do which makes me learn a lot and let me experience, troubleshoot and don't give up.
I acquired a lot of skills, really valuable skills, I had also great colleagues in my group and as well as the neighbouring groups who were really open for discussion for troubleshooting together. I was really lucky that I met people who were really inspiring.
We made a lot of cool things together we were involved in some association, PhD associations, we were teaching. I enjoyed teaching a lot.
I made a PhD in development of neuroscience based on stem cell and biomaterials which was pretty cool because during that time there were people not only from karolinska institute but also from KTH which is a technical university as well as Linköping University so I had a bit of more discussion between scientists, researchers as well as engineers who are working with a different biomaterial which is really cool way to perceive the projects and communicate with people who talk all the same thing but in a different way.
The big advantage will say was about to travel. My boss always send us for some conferences and had a really good network.
Which allows me to build my own network which I found it really valuable later on and not only for your future career but also for choosing or finding your options deciding what would you like to do after the PhD.
As every PhD I had my ups and downs.
I have to say that I had some doubts like “Is it really for me?” but I'm one of these people who acts if I started I really want to finish it. I don’t like unfinished projects.
Overall I have to say it was really good time I learn a lot.
And it was definitely valuable even the down parts where project didn't work out and something went been totally wrong and you discovered it after few months of work and it's basically worth nothing differently teach I am kind of being more persistent to decide. Okay something didn't work but many other things went as planned.
It was very happy by the end. I would say the solution ends up really good
Meeting people from different backgrounds, different groups and different cultures help me not only to build up my friendships but also my research and continue with my research.
It helped me to build my social skills, networking skills and communicating science it was really important and still is really important for me I was involved in a nonprofit organization which helps communicating science to the general public'
we had several events around Stockham city to show them what really researchers do and how daily work works and how the research that is perceived at Karolinska institute could be implementing in their live because I think it's a pretty big gap between what we do as researchers and whqt general science knows about research.
It was a lot of fun, a lot of extra work which was not really counted as my PhD time but it was definitely a really valuable lessons, going for meetings with some kids to elderly people and talking about stem cell research about development in neuroscience to them.
As by the end of my PhD time I wasn't really sure what I would like to do. I have seen one position that a professor who was presenting at Karolinska at one of the meetings, she said that they are searching for a postDoc and that sounds pretty cool.
I applied, I went for interviews in London and the plan was to move out in March, April to London to start a PostDoc there.
Overtime plan had to change and had to be changed because in January I discovered I'm pregnant and in one way it was really a blessing I was already married for over two years and we wanted to have kids. However discovering that you're pregnant while moving out to a different country that's your project doesn't really include maternity leave for the first year changing a country where you're not really cover by the social benefits for the first year was a bit tough choice to do but for me being a mother was really important so I decided to stay in Sweden.
I continue for a short time in my old group of projects just two or three weeks before the due date I stopped working as a researcher.
And I went on maternity leave but then I decided that well to kind of keep an eye open and see what I can do that if really academia is a choice for me.
I was really lucky because my husband open a company at that point and they wanted to market a bit around and he asked me if I could help them to share some information on social media so I said looking into that taking some courses online searching for some tips in reading and I discovered that in fact marketing it's not such a far fetched form of neuroscience. In marketing you use a lot from neuroscience and knowledge that we obtained
Like high tracing is really commonly used for advertising and following human brain and things and total behaviour changing this is all based on the research, purely neurobiology research.
I really liked it and I started up by doing the marketing for xxxx and I had to say that it went very well.
They get a pretty good coverage after being a year on the market as a company they were covered by a NewYork Times.
They get really good funding and it was a really cool way to work with a team at the same time being a mother.
I work mostly from home I basically did a lot of things on my phone while breastfeeding or having a walk with the kid.
I discovered that even though before I was really good multi tasking I had good time management and I was pretty adjustable in the sense of being able to adjust to the situation Being a mother teach you that in a different dimensions and so after my maternity leave mission to lay I continue working for a small start ups and helping with marketing and trying to find a way to revive markets research in which platform they could set up and work with.
I worked a bit too with a customer service support which is really good because it helps to see that stuff which for us is really clear and obvious they are might be not as easy to see for the other in the sense that maybe for me the bike is red but someone else see that the bike is lila or pink. Sometimes it's really hard to get on the same page with the customer and to understand them from a different perspective.
After working in a small company I decided to apply and be a teacher back at Karolinska institute and teach a marketing course.
That was pretty cool experience I worked for two years having a marketing course and a project management course as well as a practical placement courses.
That was Master level courses
It was again really resourceful, a good way to apply my knowledge and testing it out in a different field as I said before I like teaching during my PhD time and teaching by yourself, being in charge of the course about the budget and financing it's a totally different difficulty but you have to handle with.
It was really interesting, however after a while decide to move out with in Karolinska and go to Alumni office and try to see how we could get the alumni more involved and more visible for the benefits of Karolinska and it was again a really cool team, a really good experience.
Learning the structures of a big organization such ad Karolinska It was really beneficial for me to see how many different coins have to get together so how many different balls have to the jungles at ones and some parts of departments can take decisions.
Which is totally different when I was working in small companies, small start ups really have like five max ten people team versus a hundred people who are management who have more regular meetings it's not like we just write what's happened, let's talk...
I have to have a meeting with more structured way due to the size of the organizations.
I became pregnant and we bought a house at the same time, the houses a delay and it's going to come at same time as my second baby, it’s a baby boy.
Two months before my due date I get a phone call from them from my colleagues I was collaborating with during my PhD time,testing to biomaterials and she told me that their companies trying to go public and start selling and they need someone to help them up with a marketing.
When we talked on the phone and she was describing the position I was “Gosh this is my dream job”. It is marketing, doing marketing for a biotech company. For a product which in fact I know really well because I was involved in the early stages of the research and partly I feel like I'm definitely want to go and talk with them so I did.
It was a bit funny because when I entered I was like two months in due dates.
So it definitely could see it I was pretty huge at the time and my belly was sticking out much more in front of me.
I Didn't say much in the beginning and it was basically me who brought it up to the table telling them that yes the positions sounds good I would definitely be interested however yes my due date is soon
We decided to all have a moment to think about and we talk to each other a week after. I was really thrilled that they decided to give me a phone call with the suggestion that they're interested and they are flexible for me to start working soon after my delivery but I could work out from home.
Help them up from a more distance things or bring the kids with me to work and I think this is a brilliant way because we are nowadays living in Sweden at least me I'm living in Sweden and I think Sweden is very open for having kids, for having kids at work and for females working with a kid in an office it's not a big surprise and maybe some people still feel this with weird but many people don't see it as a problem and I end up pretty lucky to be in a company which says it’s okay this is totally okay with my four months old baby discovering the voice and kind of giggling on a side when we are having a conversation and discussion.
It’s definitely hard for me to juggle my maternity leave together with my work plus having a ‘four and a half years old which is full of ideas and active little girl which is definitely cannot stay in one place and play she's too active for that. It was also pretty tricking in the sense that I had to unpack the house, furnished the house and try to set it up and find time for myself.
Which is definitely not so easy I thought that having one child definitely change my world and teach me a lot. Change my understanding of being a flexible and time management. But having second one basically you have to learn it again from scratch you have to experience it in a different way.
Because the responsibility increase as you progress in your family life as well as your career.
So the flexibility has to increase in some way too it is definitely hard, especially for me for a person who likes to have few plans, structure and doesn't like surprises.
Having two kids is full of surprises.
Definitely work and motherhood can coexist.
And you can have it all and there are moments where everything under the plan.
If it feels like whoa, it's just too good to be true and know that soon something is going to go down or can go wrong.
And this could be like a easy thing that it's a flu season and then one of the kids can get sick or bring a virus and the little one just have a running nose but you get a forty degree fever and you can’t move.
You don't really have an influence on that.
I'm really happy and really thrilled that I have a partner,l friends and family who are really helpful.That can really rely on.
And so this is not only my duty and my skills to juggle with all. We share responsibilities really well with my parents and my partner of taking care of the kids and taking care of the house or helping each others and a daily basis.
I think this is a huge blessing for me.
I know everyone don’t have this on a daily basis.
I read some studies that forty three percent of highly qualified women decide to leave the carriers for having kids and I think that definitely does not an option for me I'm too active person, I always do a few things once.
As being a full time my mom at home, It's not really my thing I would definitely get a bit frustrated I mean I need things which are more stimulating and more pushing up from behind and challenging a bit more.
As much as I love my kids and I love spending time with them.
I need the kind of more intellectual stimulation, some kind of me time.
That's why I always try to stay updated with museum, theater, cinema. Try to read maybe now I have not so much time for reading but I switch to the audiobook and I’m listening at least in the way when I drop the kids to preschool, or driving to work or taking the bus or the train.
And so it's really really good time which you can use it for this kind of stuff.
I have to say that at first when I was signing up the contract and it was like literally six weeks before the due date I was really afraid of how it's going to end up because how the little one didn't show up today, I was a bit afraid if he has a colleague or maybe I have a post partum depression or maybe I would not feel well or you know there's a tones of thought running in your head especially when you are pregnant and you see everything pretty black.
But in the end I was really happy at all clear it up well.
My son is an amazing baby, a really happy baby. I started to work in february mostly from home.
Nowadays we are going more and more to the office and try to be at least once or twice a week in the office, having more personal meetings with my colleagues and discussing about product launch, the website and updates and things like that. I work a lot by night and this is again pretty good that I'm an evening person.
I am not a morning, I don’t like to wake up in the morning, so in the morning I just rather do things on autopilot and in the evening when the kids are sleeping in that house is basically under control and I have time to sit down and focus and continue with my task and fulfill my duties as an employee.
I definitely can say that especially nowadays with all the digital media and digital appliances which you can just take along with you and you can reply to email on the playgrounds when the dotter is playing and the son is sleeping in the pram.
You can keep an update with your website and keep in touch with your company and colleagues. It is definitely possible to have it all.
Having family and having jobs at the same time. It's not easy and sometimes it's a bit messy, complicated and overwhelming but in the end I think this is a life it's not really easy peasy.
There are times up and down, I have to say that overall I fing my life really satisfying even though it is challenging but as I said before, I like challenges I definitely enjoy it
more when it's more.
I prefer the challenges than have it a bit boring.
I think this is for all of the females who are thinking like well should I try it or should I not try. I would prefer to try something and say okay this is for me or this is not for me than just sitting and thinking about what would it be if
So if you have a doubt about being a mother and having a career life, Give it a shot!
It's always better to say and okay I tried it didn't work out than to be later on fifty or sixty and thinking it would have been so cool if I would have done it like that twenty years ago.
I don't like speculation, I think that's kind of my research nature coming up in it.
I prefer to have facts so.
I tried it and I see if it works or not.
In many ways I think work is the center of our lives.
Even though from my family is super hard for me. I wouldn't be able to provide for my family if I wouldn't have my work too because I need the balance between family time and work time which is a bit of my own time.
Which is the time I can really plan and predict because when you're at home you cannot predict with two small kids which is really resourceful you cannot plan your day.
I definitely learn a totally new set of skills even though I was good in time management and I was pretty flexible. I learned it in a new dimension because the life taught you a lot of things in a different time and maybe not times which you have definitely not plan it and it could be from illness to day off at school because they have some planning or schedule and so you have to deliver the unexpected.
Juggling few balls at the same time it's pretty, it’s really challenging.
The work life balance is hard I still managed to find some time for myself.
When my daughter was two I started dancing again I like dancing this is my thing, that's relax me.
I joined a group which is started class and we are dancing modern Jazz.
We were lucky because we not only compete on a national level, we got to the second place in Sweden we went for the international competition competed for Sweden and got a third place which felt really cool especially for me because I'm Polish and I was dancing in the Swedish national team and we get a third place
It felt pretty weird also showing that the workplace nowadays it's so open, it’s so multicultural people moving and changing, adjusting to different situations.
I think we all should have our dreams and hopes in some way try to follow some plans but also take all the punches that comes on the way trying new possibility not to be close mine but pretty open to new options and suggestions.
Because I think if I would just chose just a career or just the motherhood I will feel excluded from the outer part.
I can see that at least for now I can say for myself it's definitely possible and it was definitely possible for my mother, she kept her career and two kids in the home when I had really caring parents and the small of the cake at home and she managed to succeed in her career so I think that especially nowadays when the world get more open for that working mothers. That it's even easier and it's a pity not to try.
I'm still having my own company and doing some small projects. On the side I’m working fifty percent for a biotech company and fifty percent on maternity leave
As I said, don't give up! Try it!
And see if it's for you and if you don't like it, try something else and try from a different angle – try to find your balance and what suits you the most.
Take your life in your hands and then don't give up if it doesn't work out.
Just try something new.
Moving to marketing after PhD in neuroscience wasn't maybe to most obvious choice I soon found it a great choice and great solution for me especially nowadays when I work as a product management and biotech company where I can combine my research knowledge, my scientific skills combined with the marketing skills and try to communicate the product to the scientist which are our first customers, I find it really cool I find it is a good reason to wake up in the morning and continue it.
And that is it for another episode of PhD Career Stories.
As always, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us by commenting on our blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. If you like what we do, please subscribe to our show on iTunes or Spotify. So that’s goodbye for now, but we will be back with a new story for you in two weeks time.”
Key words: motherhood, maternity, career balance, family life, private life, PhD, marketing, neuroscience, teaching, alumni.
Anne Schreiter advocates for researchers and scientists. At the German Scholars Organization she and her team offer guidance and programs to help PhDs on their career path – in academia and beyond. In this episode Anne talks about why she believes in planned coincidences and what question turned out to be the tipping point for her career.
Anne holds a PhD in Organization Studies and Cultural Theory from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Berkeley. She studied Communication in Social and Business Contexts and Sociology in Berlin before embarking on a year long adventure in China.
Today she lives and works in Berlin again.
You can connect with Anne on LinkedIn and Twitter. She shares posts on science policy, leadership topics, and occasionally also on the odd and curious.
Whether you want to become a professor or do something else, it helps to make yourself visible and heard. And after a while you won’t have to chase opportunities, but instead they will present themselves to you.
Dr. Anne Schreiter, Executive Director at German Scholars Organization e.V.
Transcript
Hi, I am Paulius Mikulskis from PhD Career Stories. It is my pleasure to introduce Anne Scheiter. In today's podcast Anne gives tips how to set yourself up for a successful career even when you do not know where you want to be in 5 or 10 years.
Hi, my name is Anne. I hold a PhD in the social sciences and have been working in the non-profit sector for the last 4 years. Today I’d like to share two pieces of career advice that have proven true for me on my professional journey thus far.
Number one: Answer the question how much you are willing to suffer for a career in academia.
Asked by a career counselor shortly after I finished my PhD, this question really hit me. It triggered me to actively question my career and life choices and forced me to figure out what I really wanted - because, quite frankly, during my time as a PhD student I never really thought about the next career step. I somehow drifted into my program and later into the great opportunity of being a visiting postdoc at the University of California Berkeley. I guess I really loved the atmosphere in academia, I loved the exchange with tremendously smart people, and the flexible lifestyle. But soon the doubts crept in, and this crafty question made them very obvious. I wasn’t so passionate about my research that it outweighed the disadvantages of an academic life, such as instability, a narrow job market, moving around a lot, you name it. I wanted to live in Berlin, I felt that I wanted my work to have an immediate impact, and I was more interested in hands-on tasks. However, for many PhD students and young postdocs such as myself back then, academia is the only path they’re familiar with - even though statistically, academia is the alternative career for PhDs. Questioning my priorities in life helped me to make an informed choice. Once I knew that the hardships of an academic career were not for me, I could then lead my energy towards pursuing another path. If however a career in academia is the right thing for you – go for it! But make it a proactive and informed choice. I can also highly recommend the TED talk by Ruth Chang on how to make hard choices.
Advice Number two: You don’t have to know what you want to do in 5 years – but you can set yourself up for lucky coincidences.
I am currently executive director of a non-profit that supports scientists and researchers who want to pursue a career in Germany – either in academia or in other sectors. My team and I do that by offering career coaching, facilitating career workshops, and developing and managing programs that fill gaps in the current funding landscape, for instance a leadership academy for academics, or a boost fund that supports independent and flexible research for postdocs. We’ve been building a network of PhDs, who work in all sectors, and are able to connect them with those researchers who are about to take the next step in their careers. I really like this job because it combines many things that I enjoy doing, while interfacing with a diverse intellectual community.
5 years ago, after having talked to the career counselor at UC Berkeley, I would have never guessed that I’d do what I do today. However, in retrospective the outcome wasn’t all pure chance and luck.
During my PhD studies I also worked as a research assistant. Back then I learned that I really enjoyed organizing workshops for fellow doctoral students, I enjoyed being an advocate for young researchers as representative on the university board, and that I was good at building and fostering networks. I felt more at home giving talks and managing people than evaluating data and writing on my own. That didn’t change while doing my postdoc.
After I decided to look for a job outside of academia, I started to gather information on how to transition into another sector. I found resources in the United States, but hardly any in Germany. So I set up a blog about career topics and experiences for job searching beyond academia in German. Gaining traction with online visibility, I then conducted a bunch of informational interviews on life beyond academia, and landed some side hustles moderating panel discussions and writing. At the time, I was also working part time organizing a leadership program for students at a non-profit called Common Purpose. I got this job in Berlin after doing quite a bit of homework on how to build a CV and letter of motivation that appeals to the world outside of academia. Importantly, I highlighted my transferable skills and strengths, demonstrating what I could bring to the table in a non-academic sector with an academic background. There was trial and error in this process - before landing this job, I was rejected for positions I thought I was qualified for, but not having the right work experience wasn’t really helping that much.
However, only a few months after I got my foot in the door of my first non-academic job at Common Purpose, I received a call from a headhunter asking if I was interested in a leading position in a research management-related non-profit. As a sociologist with hardly any work experience in the sector, I was not at all used to getting this kind of call. Apparently someone working at the organization had suggested me as a potential candidate after talking to me at a conference and following my blog. I was curious and went through the application process. I honestly thought that I wouldn’t stand a chance of getting the job due to my lack of experience. But to my surprise, I did get an offer. I was intimidated at first by this new role – I’d never led a team before, never was responsible for the finances of an organization, or raised funds other than my own stipends. However, I quickly realized that my previous training had prepared me at least enough to learn these skills on the fly, and I find myself constantly learning on the job. This is a „transferable“ skill I carried with me from academia into my new role – analyzing problems, solving them in real time, quickly adapting my thinking to new information – that comes with PhD training regardless of the specific field. More important than the hard skills are communication and problem solving skills, the ability to deal with uncertainty, as well as understanding my target group of young academics.
To sum it up, whether you want to become a professor or do something else, it helps to make yourself visible and heard. And after a while you won’t have to chase opportunities, but instead they will present themselves to you. And by the way, I have no idea what I’ll be doing in 5 years. But I look forward to finding out.
I hope you enjoyed the podcast. Feel free to contact us on all the usual social media channels, have a great rest of your day and see you in two weeks!
Fabian Taube studied Environmental and Health Protection, Chemistry and Education during his Bachelor and Master study at the Umeå University in Sweden and in 2003 he received a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry. After that, he continued experimenting with different subjects and had two postdocs - one at the Department of Chemistry, Environmental and Biogeochemistry and another at the Dept. of Teacher Education in mathematics, technology and Natural Sciences.
He also worked as an occupational hygienist at Sahlgrenska University hospital and from 2012 he is employed as a specialist in preventive medicine at the Swedish Armed Forces Centre for Defense Medicine (SWE CDM).
<p>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:</p>
<ul>
<li>www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories</li>
<li>www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod</li>
<li>www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories</li>
Aoife O Dwyer was born and raised in Ireland where she did an undergraduate degree in Genetics and Cell Biology, followed by a PhD in Immunology. Two weeks after her PhD was awarded, Aoife moved to Melbourne, Australia in search of her first Medical Science Liaison job. Today, Aoife still works full time as a Senior Medical Science Liaison in Melbourne, Australia. In 2018, Aoife published "Medical Science Liaison - The Ultimate Step by Step Guide" and founded MSL Consultant to help PhD graduates transition from academia to a medical science liaison position in the pharmaceutical industry.
In this podcast Aoife tells about why she almost quitted her PhD and where she found motivation to stay and finish it. She also shares with the listeners what challenges she encountered on her first MSL position.
<p>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:</p>
<ul>
<li>www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories</li>
<li>www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod</li>
<li>www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories</li>
<li>www.linkedin.com/company/phd-career-stories</li>
</ul>
Data Scientist is often called “the hottest job of the 21st century”, but what makes it so attractive? And how can a PhD-graduate transition into this field?
Chris Armbruster, a PhD graduate in Sociology from the Lancaster University, spent two years at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy studying the emerging R&D and innovation landscape in Europe.
Later he has moved “from innovation research to doing innovation” and first worked on rolling out digital infrastructures for the Max Planck Society, and then dived into start-up life in a variety of roles encompassing digital technologies, customer-centric business models, and product development.
Today he is a Director of Community Development at The Drivery - the mobility innovators' club in Berlin, which goal is to push for innovation in the mobility sector, e.g. autonomous driving, electric kickscooters.
His key mission is to cover the shortage of talent for Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, more specifically for roles in Data Analytics, Data Science, and Machine Learning in Europe.
He writes a blog on Medium about Data & AI field and professional opportunities and drives the “10,000 Data Scientists for Europe” initiative, which we can be found on Eventbrite, Meetup, and Facebook.
<p>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:</p>
<ul>
<li>www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories</li>
<li>www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod</li>
<li>www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories</li>
<li>www.linkedin.com/company/phd-career-stories</li>
</ul>
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.
<p>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:</p>
<ul>
<li>www.facebook.com/PhDCareerStories</li>
<li>www.twitter.com/PhDCareerPod</li>
<li>www.instagram.com/phdcareerstories</li>
<li>www.linkedin.com/company/phd-career-stories</li>
</ul>