“A job that lets me grow in many ways”
Marthe Nehl, Doctoral student
“ISM is so many things and first of all a group of very different people with different disciplinary backgrounds, research areas and experiences. As for now, that has been very enriching and, despite the communication being mainly digital at the moment, I am glad for all the unexpected situations in which I encountered friendly and supportive colleagues.
My research is rather a niche at the department and addresses processes and practices of organizing in the cultural sector. With a focus on Europe, I am especially interested in the everyday practices of self-organized and independent organizations, in their ways of engaging, but also contesting, policy making, and the question of how all of these aspects come together in cities, as the spaces we collectively use and inhabit.
One week is never like the other. What I learned is that healthy routines make room for good work to happen and my challenge is basically to keep them up. While I am mainly alone at home in our small apartment, I am glad to have digital hang outs several times a week with changing but familiar faces to co-write, discuss each other’s work in progress, or simply to fulfil social needs. It is good to feel that we are all in this together! And overall I am grateful to have a job in these times, and especially one that lets me grow in so many ways.”
“This is an interdisciplinary research environment. Being a doctoral student in such an environment is challenging as much as rewarding!”
Rui Liu, Doctoral student
"Simply put, I study how people consume health. I am interested in the formation of various grey zones in our everyday life. A typical working week for me consists of some hours of teaching or supervision, and many hours of reading and writing. If there are interesting research seminars coming up, I will try to make time for them.”
“I love working and studying in such an international and interdisciplinary environment, and although being a PhD student can be challenging, it is also very rewarding!”
Micol Mieli
“My main research area is tourism and in particular tourists’ relationship with technology. Right now I am studying the role of smartphones in the tourist experience. I am really interested in research methodologies and trying to experiment with different methods in my research. I love working and studying in such an international and interdisciplinary environment, and although being a PhD student can be challenging, it is also very rewarding!
The past week has been a rather typical week for me: on Monday, I worked on a paper I have to write for a pedagogical course I am taking. In our PhD we are encouraged to teach and take courses to build our pedagogical portfolio. On Tuesday, I worked on my thesis: transcribing interviews and reading articles for the paper I am currently working on. I am writing a compilation thesis, which means that the final thesis will be a collection of four published articles and a “kappa”, right now I’m working on the third article. On Wednesday, I attended a Board of Department meeting. I am PhD representative at the Board of Department, which regularly meets once a month to discuss all kinds of matters related to the management of the Department. On Thursday I was teaching in two seminars, where I discussed the topic of research design with master students. On Friday I usually work on whatever is left to do for the week, and in the afternoon all the PhDs from the department have a Fika meeting, where we drink coffee and chat about our weeks and plans for the weekend.”
”At ISM we have a great international PhD student community that supports each other!”
Annabell Merkel
“Being a PhD student can be quite a challenge sometimes, but at ISM we have a great international PhD student community that supports each other! I really like to exchange with my peers from the department. Many senior colleagues are also really open for exchange and advice on various topics. Since we are an interdisciplinary department one can find researchers from a variety of backgrounds, expertise, and research topics. I´m part of the research project “Marine food resources for new markets” that spans across two faculties and three departments at Lund University. Within the project and also in my thesis I´m researching the consumer perspective on new food resources and people’s ideas and notions about algae and seaweed.
A week as a PhD student can look very different, depending on your to-do list. Sometimes you take a course yourself as a student and are busy with writing an assignment, other times one can have a lot of meetings with colleagues to plan upcoming teaching activities. My favorite is having time for research and when I can spend hours reading, thinking, analyzing my data, and writing. I´m also engaged in The Social Science Doctoral Student Council and spend time working with different councils and boards of the University to represent the PhD students.
“I like that the department involves PhDs in everyday life rather well – we are invited to research seminars, involved in meetings, where the future of the department is discussed, and it is just nice to always be able to have a cup of coffee and chat about research with senior colleagues here.”
Aurimas Pumputis, Doctoral student
“Over the two years I have been a doctoral students at ISM, I have received really nice support from the administration and department leadership, whether it was about funding for necessary courses, having my office equipment moved to my home address during pandemic, support in teaching development, or other questions. I like that the department involves PhDs in everyday life rather well – we are invited to research seminars, involved in meetings, where the future of the department is discussed, and it is just nice to always be able to have a cup of coffee and chat about research with senior colleagues here. Doctoral studies here are often intense, but also rewarding. We are also a friendly and active group of students – whenever possible, we try to organize a writing retreat or PhD working day-trip. We share our texts with each other in seminars, encourage each other and give feedback.
I write my dissertation about tourism, particularly involvement of technological platforms in tourism industry. This means researching the role of global corporations that run those platforms in organizing exchanges between tourists and hosts, as well as how technology is used for organizing and carrying out travel. I touch upon some interesting questions about corporate control of consumers’ data, changes in (digitalized) consumer culture, and our relation with algorithms that run digital platforms we use when traveling.
My weeks at this moment are rather similar – reading and writing are the main tasks I have every day at the moment. However, they change depending on what I work on. I write my dissertation as a compilation of articles, and at the moment I am focused on writing an article. I might start my day with a few hours of writing, then spend some hours looking for and reading relevant sources for further text. When involved in teaching, I spend more time on preparing for lectures and seminars, as well as grading. If there is a lot of teaching, this can take almost the whole time of the week, but I still try to give some time to my own text every day. If I am attending courses myself, coursework can be full time.
Meaning that most of the week is dedicated to learning whatever the course is about – whether it is theories, methodologies, or courses about teaching. And of course, there are the nice weeks when you collect, analyze and write up your data. Some of the nice touches are planning (and attending) conferences or courses in other institutions. In our department we finish the week with a Friday Fika, where PhDs meet (currently online) to round up the week and chat a bit.”