Maria Perreira is a Portuguese researcher with a biochemistry background, who moved to Sweden in 2011 to do a Master’s project. Her interest for stem cells and regenerative medicine led her to a PhD in Stem Cell Biology, which she finished in December last year. Very early in her PhD, she realized that a career in academia did not suit very well with her personality and interests, and she started looking for opportunities to switch to the industry. Today, Maria is a research scientist in a pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.
In this new episode, she shares some tips and tricks on how to facilitate the transition from academia to industry, as well as some advice on how to navigate the selection and interview process successfully.
<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>
In 2011, after his PhD in Marine Microbiology at the Max
Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Dennis Fink started a company on science communication (get back to episode #20 to hear more!). Six years later, he changed his path again to become a social media expert at one of the biggest biotech companies.
In this episode, he tells about the tasks of a social media campaign manager and the skills required for this job. He also shares his thought of why it is important for scientists to be active on social media.
“As a scientist, you should not be scared about the use of social media. Actually, contrary to this, you should use social media, you should use career networks, because it will make your life easier, especially, your professional one.”
Dr. Dennis Fink, Campaign manager and social media channel expert at QIAGEN GmbH, Germany
<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>
Today marks the PhD Career Stories' two year anniversary - hurray! Of course we want to celebrate this great occasion and for this we have prepared a special episode featuring the team behind the podcast. With the excellent guidance of the Founder Tina Persson, we discuss matters such as 'Why do we think this podcast is so important? What learnings and insights have we gained so far? What are we expecting from the future?'
Press play and hear all about 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:
Two years into his PhD studies, Matthias Antonin realised that he needed a plan B. Although doing a PhD at first seemed as the most logical step after his undergraduate studies in biochemistry, he now found himself more enthusiastic when brainstorming opportunities to found a company, than when performing research. He therefore signed up for economics and psychology studies at the distance learning university FernUniversität in Hagen. A transition that later on landed him a job within sales and marketing at Roche Pharma.
In this episode, Matthias will tell you about his journey from being a PhD student to working at the Startup Program Marketing & Sales of Roche Pharma. He reflects over the differences between distance-based and campus-based studying and the importance of networking outside of the academia to land a job in the industry.
Keep an open mindset and if opportunity doesn't come to you, create your own opportunity.
- Matthias Antonin, Marketing & Sales Trainee at Roche Pharma
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:
Luca Forcucci is an artist and scholar of Swiss and Italian citizenships based in Berlin. His research observes the perceptive properties of sound, space and memory exploring the field of possibilities of the experience. In this context, he is interested in perception, subjectivity and consciousness. Since twenty years, the research observes also his own nomadic situation, as well as his work in various global contexts (Brazil, China, South Africa, Mozambique, USA, Europe and Switzerland). He considers the eyes and ears of the beholder in such contexts as integrally part of his thought. A great influence is the late American avant- garde composer and musician Pauline Oliveros and her concept of deep listening expanded to all what is humanly possible to listen to.
Forcucci achieved a PhD in Music, Technology and Innovation from De Montfort University in U.K., and a MA in Sonic Arts from Queens University of Belfast. The research was also conducted at the University of the Arts of Berlin, INA/GRM (Institut National d’Audiovisuel / Groupe de Recherches Musicales) in Paris while investigating at Bibliothèque Nationale de France François Mittérand. He is regularly invited to lecture in universities (University of Limerick, USP São Paulo, UFRJ Rio de Janeiro, URC California, UdK Berlin, ZhDK Zürich, EPFL Lausanne, SIVA Shanghai). He has an extensive background in architecture.
The artworks are presented worldwide on a regular basis (Festival Multiplicidade Rio de Janeiro, Red Bull Station São Paulo, 30th Biennale of Sao Paulo with Mobile Radio, Akademie der Künste Berlin, Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh, The Lab Gallery San Francisco, Venice Biennale with Swatch Art Peace Hotel, MAXXI: Museum of XXI Century Arts Rome, Rockbund Museum Shanghai, House for Electronic Arts Basel, Museum of Fine Arts Le Locle). The compositions are released on Universal, Crónica Electrónica in Porto and Subrosa in Bruxelles. Forcucci have been nominated in the arts at The World Technology Summit in New York, and was the first artist in lab in residency at the Brain Mind Institute at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
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:
Johanna Dutton is the Biomedical Engineer that after 10 years in industry decided to return to academia to pursue a PhD. She is also the Founder of Think Likely Resumes Service, a service providing do's and don’ts on how to design a CV or resume for industry as well as interview coaching.
In this podcast Johanna will share her best tips and tricks on resume writing. We will learn how we can make our application letter and CV stand out and why it’s important to demonstrate other skills than the academic ones. She will also provide key points on what to include as well as exclude from the resume in order to convince the hiring manager or recruiter to meet up for an interview.
You need to be able to show that you have other skills and abilities that make you a competitive candidate.
- Johanna Dutton, PhD Graduate and Founder of Think Likely Resumes Service
Johanna earned her BS in Chemistry from the University of Connecticut and an MS in Analytical Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then worked as an analytical chemist for almost ten years at Eisai before accepting a position as a formulation scientist at Novartis Vaccines, now GSK Vaccines. Currently, Johanna is a PhD Candidate in the Joint Program of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State. She spends some of her free time reviewing and editing resumes for students that want to transition from academia to industry.
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:
Martijn Bijker was born and raised in the Netherlands where he did both his Masters and PhD in immuno-oncology. In 2007 he moved to Sydney, Australia to start his postdoc at the Garvan Institute and 4 years later transitioned to the pharmaceutical industry where he consecutively worked as a Medical Science Liaison (MSL) with Abbott, AbbVie and Amgen.
He quickly realised that like him, many other PhD/Postdocs struggled to find good information to prepare themselves for the transition from academia into the pharmaceutical industry. This inspired Martijn to found his own career and coaching company.
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:
We are very happy to welcome Lina Tengdelius back to the show, this time to provide us with a tips & tricks-themed podcast on how to find a job after a PhD. In this episode, we learn more on how to structure our CV:s in the best way, what to write in a motivation letter and how to perform successfully in job interviews.
Dr Lina Tengdelius holds a MSc in Chemistry and a PhD in Materials Science with specialisation in Thin Film Physics from Linköping University, Sweden. She recently transitioned from academia to a role as a Consultant Manager at Dfind Science & Engineering. She works with recruiting people with a science background and reads a large number of CVs from PhDs every day.
"If you can’t motivate why you want the job more specifically than writing that it sounded interesting, maybe you don’t really want the job?"
- Dr Lina Tengdelius, Consultant Manager at Dfind Science & Engineering, Sweden
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:
In this episode, Tina Persson interviews the associate professor Erik Alexandersson from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Alnarp (SLU).
Erik has a background in plant molecular biology, and he is currently studying the interaction between potatoes and pathogens, as well as potato defense mechanisms both in the laboratory and in the field. He is also leading a project on biofortification of cassava. Half of the time Erik is the director of PlantLink - a collaboration between Lund University and SLU to strengthen plant research in Southern Sweden. For a couple of years, he had also worked as an in-house editor at BioMed Central publisher in London before he decided to come back into the academic career.
Erik will reflect on his career choices and discuss with Tina how the series of life events may lead to the dream job and what you need to sacrifice for it.
“Dare and make the step, and move between environments, and going between countries. Because, I think, you learn and develop so much from seeing different systems. So if you have the possibilities, do not hesitate. Make a move!”
- Dr. Erik Alexandersson
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:
Dr Magnus Eneberg defended his PhD thesis Beyond the Product - Enabling Design Services in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises at Lund University in 2015. After working as a controller for a couple of years, Magnus returned to academia by studying theory architecture and design management. The latter led him into projects that had a focus on innovation with a design perspective. Currently, Magnus holds a position as a researcher, lecturer and project manager at KTH - The Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm.
In this episode he will tell you about his journey from being a PhD student to working as a service designer in a public organization within healthcare. Magnus reflects over the differences between academia and the “real world” and how one can translate ones academic skills to the skills one need to work in a company or organization.
Becoming a PhD student gave me the opportunity to explore not only the subject area of design, and innovation, organization learning, but also myself. Digging into the ontology and epistemology - it was great time to look at how I view the world, to put words on who I was or who I am.
- Dr. Magnus Eneberg, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
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:
Our guests today are the Max Planck Alumni Irene, Maria, Sneha and Arnold, whom we met at the 2nd Max Planck Symposium for Alumni and Early Career Researchers in Berlin in early September last year.
In one of the breaks, we got the chance to sit down with these inspiring people to discuss the importance of keeping in contact with peers through your alumni association. We also talk about how events such as the Max Planck Symposium for Alumni and Early Career Researchers can broaden your horizon on possible career opportunities after a PhD and also help build a network that bridges academia and the industry.
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:
In episode #44 of PhD Career Stories, we are very happy to welcome Professor Wolfgang Nellen to the show. Professor Nellen was born in 1949 in Velbert, Germany, and has during his academic career worked in USA, Germany, Jordan, Japan, Sweden and Indonesia.
As of June 2015, Professor Nellen holds a Johann Gottfried Herder Fellow of the DAAD and is currently working as a Guest Professor at Brawijaya University in Malang, Indonesia.
Listen to his fascinating life story in which he generously shares his experiences and thoughts on moving on from student to professor and how that changes your duties.
Interestingly the interviews were like a traveling circus. It was almost always the same applicants but each time one less, this one had won the previous position. Even though we were competitors it was a rather relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Everyone was quite positive that he or she would make it sooner or later. This is probably very different today and much more tuff.
- Professor Wolfgang Nellen, Guest Professor at Brawijaya University in Malang, Indonesia
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:
In this episode, Johanna Havemann will talk with an expert in scholarly communication and publishing Jon Tennant. He will tell us why he has decided to join the Open Science community, what are the main challenges on the way to alter the traditional publishing system, and share his tips how to contribute to the open access culture being a PhD student or a young researcher.
Jon finished his award-winning PhD at Imperial College London in 2017, where as a paleontologist he studied the evolution of dinosaurs, crocodiles, and other animals. For the last 7 years or so, he has been a fervent challenger of the status quo in scholarly communication and publishing and became the Communications Director of ScienceOpen for two years in 2015. Now, he is independent in order to continue his dino-research and work on building an Open Science MOOC to help train the next generation of researchers in open practices. He has published papers on Open Access and Peer Review, is currently leading the development of the Foundations for Open Science Strategy document and is the founder of the digital publishing platform paleorXiv. Jon is also an ambassador for ASAPbio and the Center for Open Science, a scientific advisor for Guaana and ScienceMatters, a Mozilla Open Leadership mentor, and the co-runner of the Berlin Open Science meetup. He is also a freelance science communicator and consultant and has written a kids book "Excavate Dinosaurs".
Don't miss out on any of our PhD Career Stories podcasts. Subscribe to the show in a way that suits you and say hello to us on social media!
In episode 42 of PhD Career Stories, Anestis Dougkas returns for a tips & tricks-themed podcast. In this episode, we learn more on how you can prepare for an international career and become part of the global workforce.
Dr Anestis Dougkas is the researcher that take on the daily challenges in order to create a healthier world by making nutrition accessible. Currently, he is a Researcher in nutrition, health and eating behaviour at the Centre for Food and Hospitality Research at Institut Paul Bocuse, Lyon, France. He graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece with a four-year B.Sc. degree in chemistry with specialization in biochemistry and food chemistry. He then continued his studies and received a M.Sc. in food science and nutrition and a Ph.D. in nutrition, within the Nutritional Research Group at University of Reading, UK. His Ph.D. work focused on the associations between consumption of dairy products and the risk of obesity. Specifically, he undertook epidemiological research and human dietary intervention trials, which investigated the effect of dairy on appetite regulation. In 2011, he got a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Food for Health Science Centre, Lund University, Sweden.
Don't miss out on any of our PhD Career Stories podcasts. Subscribe to the show in a way that suits you and say hello to us on social media!
Gizeh Perez Tenorio is an Associate Lecturer within experimental oncology and Online Facilitator in the Open Networked Learning courseat Linköping University. She also collaborates with Didacticum as PBL tutor where her key interest lies in incorporating technology to some of her courses, to support her colleagues in enhancing their digital literacy.
In today’s episode, Gizeh shares her career story and how she, after studies in Cuba, Sweden and the United States landed her current position as an Assistant Lecturer in Experimental Oncology at Linköping University in Sweden. Welcome Gizeh!
Dr Lina Tengdelius holds a MSc in Chemistry and a PhD in Materials Science with specialisation in Thin Film Physics from Linköping University, Sweden. She recently transitioned from academia to a role as a Consultant Manager at Dfind Science & Engineering. She works with recruiting people with a science background and reads a large number of CVs from PhDs every day.
Listen to her exciting story on how she landed her current position and what her experiences on “the other side” has taught her about the recruitment process. In this episode, Lina also shares her views on how to market yourself efficiently when looking for a job in the Life Science industry.
Tina helped me realize that the personality traits that I had considered to be problems for most of my life could be my greatest strengths, and that I should look for a job that suited my personality instead of adapting my personality to a job that didn’t really suit me.
- Dr Lina Tengdelius, Consultant Manager at Dfind Science & Engineering, Sweden
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:
Alex Rutherford is a freelance data scientist and entrepreneur with a PhD in Physics from the University College London. He has subsequently undertaken post-doctoral work in complexity science and computational social science using computational techniques to understand why ethnic violence breaks out, how large groups of people can work together remotely and how constitutional reform takes place. His work has been published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences and has been covered in the New York Times and Nature among others.
Alex worked as a data scientist for the United Nations in New York for several years applying computational techniques such as natural language processing and network analysis to aid and inform the development and humanitarian work of UN agencies and NGOs. This has included field work in Mexico, Jordan and Brazil, collaborations with numerous blue chip companies, presence at high level UN events and a handshake from Ban Ki Moon. Alex has lived and studied in Coventry, London, Damascus, Boston, Dubai, New York and Silicon Valley and speaks passable Spanish and Arabic.
More recently, Alex is the founder of Data Apparel, an organisation selling custom, ethical clothing that uses the power of data and visualisation to promote empathy and debate among global citizens. He is an active Twitter user and blogger. More information and contact details can be found at alexrutherford.org.
When attending the third Max Planck Career Fair at Harnack-Haus in Berlin earlier this fall, we got the chance to talk to Katrin Franke, Professor of Computer Science and Head of the NTNU Digital Forensics group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
In this episode, we talk to Katrin about her decision to pursue an academic career and the reason why she moved to Norway. We also get to hear her thoughts on networking and how important it is to build a culture of sharing.
Getting a PhD is only level 1 in Super Mario. At level 2, we need to reorientate ourselves.
- Dr Katrin Franke, Professor of Computer Science at NTNU, Norway
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:
Welcome to a special episode of PhD Career stories. Our guests today are Yorick Peterse and Maria Eichel, whom we met at this year’s Max Planck Symposium for Alumni and Early Career Researchers (#MPSAECR) in Berlin, Germany. At this symposium, Maria and Yorick conducted a workshop on Mental Health and also wrote an article about it on the blog of the Max Planck PhDnet entitled The Mental Health of PhD Candidates.
Today, Maria and Yorick will tell us how “normal” it is to encounter mental health challenges during a PhD, which sounds rightfully alarming. There are numerous preventive and coping measures that can ease the situation. Some of these lie in your own hands, some are – and should be – offered to you by the research institution. Let’s hear it from the experts, welcome Maria and Yorick!
When attending the third Max Planck Career Fair at Harnack-Haus in Berlin earlier this fall, we got the chance to talk to Dr David Alich who works at Capgemini Consulting as Principal for Insight & Data. We talk to David about his decision to leave academia, what he wished he had known before he started his PhD at the Max Planck Institute and how he landed his current position at Capgemini.
I was always asking myself this question: Are you working to live or are you living to work?
- Dr David Alich, Principal Insight & Data at Capgemini Consulting, Hamburg
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:
Prateek Mahalwar is originally from India and completed his PhD under the supervision of Nobel laureate Prof. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany. During this time, he studied the cellular mechanism of pigment pattern formation in zebrafish. Beside his PhD research, he was involved in several initiatives with Max Planck Society (MPG) stakeholders as the spokesperson and deputy spokesperson of the Max Planck PhDnet in 2015 and 2014 respectively. He has represented the MPG at several internal and external initiatives like Opencon (a global open science initiative), Early Career Researchers (ECR) advisory board member at eLife, science policy meetings with Science Europe and Open Access Ambassadors program at MPG.
He has been an entrepreneur as well and co-founded two start-ups in parallel to his PhD studies. Currently, he is working as Manager Strategy - Life Sciences at Ernst & Young in Frankfurt. His work includes advising biotechnology, pharma and MedTech companies on investment, product commercialization and digitization topics.
Dr Susanna Bächle is a scientist with a background in Immunology and Virology. Originally from Germany, she has lived, studied and worked in Germany, Australia, Sweden and the US. After graduating with a PhD in Medical Sciences from Karolinska Institutet she moved to Boston (US) to pursue a career at the interface of science and business. At the moment she works for Addgene, a scientific nonprofit organization that aims to accelerate science by facilitating sharing of materials and information. She is passionate about science, innovation, entrepreneurship and global health.”
To me a career path is not a line, it really is a zigzag, and often enough a random looking or even 'lucky' turn to a new job was determined by a meeting, a follow-up email, a networking event which seemed unimportant at the time but ultimately make up the many small necessary steps for shaping your own 'luck'.
- Dr Susanna Bächle, Outreach Scientist at Addgene
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:
Michael Gralla returns for a Tips & Tricks on Career Building, to shed light on what else is important to work on despite your scientific skills. In episode 26 you can hear what motivates him and why he is currently pausing his PhD for is own human capital company.
Linkedin: in/michaelgralla
Website: fby – Find the Best in You.
Twitter: @michaelgralla
My three tips: 1) Become an expert in a discipline unrelated to your PhD project. 2) Get out! 3) Be brave.
Anestis Dougkas is a Researcher in nutrition, health and eating behaviour at the Centre for Food and Hospitality Research at Institut Paul Bocuse, Lyon, France. He graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece with a four-year B.Sc. degree in chemistry with specialization in biochemistry and food chemistry. He continued his studies and received a M.Sc. in food science and nutrition and a Ph.D. in nutrition, within the Nutritional Research Group at University of Reading, UK. His Ph.D. work focused on the associations between consumption of dairy products and the risk of obesity. Specifically, he undertook epidemiological research and human dietary intervention trials, which investigated the effect of dairy on appetite regulation. In 2011, he got a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Food for Health Science Centre, Lund University, Sweden. His research interests are within the area of protein and appetite regulation, obesity prevention and sustainable diets. He is a member of the Nutrition Society, American Society for Nutrition and the Association for the Study of Obesity and alumni of the European Nutrition Leadership Platform.
Don't miss out on any of our PhD Career Stories podcasts. Subscribe to the show in a way that suits you and say hello to us on social media!
In episode 31 of PhD Career Stories, Jenny Zie tells us about her journey from marine research to career coaching and what she has learned along that path.
Jenny Zie finished her PhD at Stockholm University in 2014 and since then worked as a researcher in industry and with competence development at the Swedish Government Offices (Regeringskansliet). Now she is working as a career coach at Uppsala municipality (Uppsala kommun).