Session for PhD-students and supervisors

The vice-dean for doctoral education at LTH, Martin Tunér, welcomed the participants. He explained that the event aims at responding to areas of improvement identified in the tri-annual doctoral and supervisor surveys. He emphasized that the LTH doctoral education should provide the best possible starting point and best set of tools for the doctoral students for their success in life and for our common efforts to solve global challenges.

Migration Issues

Erik Kvist at external relations at Lund university: The presentation provided an update on relevant migration issues for academia. Positive developments are possible for four-year residence permits for PhD students and three-year postdoc contracts that will make it easier for junior researchers to meet the subsistence requirement to obtain permanent residence. Challenges for the academy continue to lie in the new (stricter) regulations for permanent residence permits, long processing times and narrow windows to correctly parry the opportunity to obtain a job seeker's permit (after studies/ research permits). External relations continues to monitor developments in the area of ​​migration law, not least as a result of the political shift in Sweden after the 2022 election.

Recent regulations

Maria Bajuk, Christina Åkerman and Martin Tunér presented recent developments in regulations concerning doctoral education. There are new regulations for dissertations and now one must apply for permission to use digital content or streaming. It is possible to apply for extensions for study periods and employment periods if Covid-19 has led to delays. It is important that any delays and measures to counter delays are documented in the ISP. Participation in student organizations within LTH and Lund University or as an elected student representative is important for improving our university. These positions are grounds for extensions, but they are not part of departmental duties. The purpose of the final review of ISP is to make sure all degree objectives are met, according to the Higher Education Ordinance (Examensmål), at the time for the LTH Rector´s issuance of examination diplomas. The purpose of the midway review is to formatively identify any necessary changes or additions to the education, in good time before graduation, and an opportunity to get an external perspective on the research education. The midway review has been a positive experience among doctoral students and supervisors since its introduction.

The new PhD website

The new PhD-Web at LTH, www.phd.lth.se, was presented by Emelie Stenborg. She explained the motives for its design are The right information, to the right audience, on the right platform. Documents and forms for doctoral students are on the phd web while documents and forms for supervisors are on LTHin. A canvas course is available for all doctoral students to promote interaction, discussion groups and to broadcast events and opportunities.

Where to find help

The new DOMB, Haro de Grauw, presented himself and pointed out that he is always available for doctoral students who wish to discuss issues with someone neutral and outside the university organization. Henrik Palme presented the Teknologkåren, their activities and how doctoral students can get support or become active as student representatives at their departments, LTH and LU. Kristina Forss presented the various types of support, for instance The Occupational Health Services, that are offered for doctoral students at LTH. A common message from all three speakers is that it is always better to reach out for help early to avoid escalation and unnecessary lengthy problems.

Inspiring PhD education @Immunotechnology

Linnea Thörnqvist and Mats Ohlinpresented their views on reasons why the doctoral education at Immunotechnology is regarded so positively in the doctoral and supervisor surveys.

The PhD programme in Immunotechnology operates in the field of biomedicine and typically offers extensive collaborative opportunities with health care, industry, and national and international academic partners. The educational environment's support of student learning is supported by outcomes of doctoral student survey responses. Action research has been used for many years to develop the educational environment. This has developed the focus on formative feed-back and a focus on learning outcomes. Overall, action research can be used as a tool to gain knowledge about one's own practice and thereby the conditions for changing it.

Practical mobility – a journey to wisdom and important new friends

Doctoral student Pei-Yu Wu talked about her mobility at ETH Zurich.

Arranging international mobility is the first step to connecting with larger research networks. The experience is rewarding in terms of introducing your research to actors in the field and reflecting it from a bigger picture. It is also a self-developing process to become an independent young researcher and to have the chance to improve your academic skills and build your network. I particularly appreciated this opportunity to be outside of my daily routine. Go for international mobility if you have a chance; it may change your mindset and future career in an unexpected way.

Christina Grossmann at External Relations at LU discussed how to set up a mobility

The Erasmus programme offers multiple possibilities for mobility as a doctoral student. Funding is provided as a contribution to the costs. Spend time in another great research environment, study courses of relevance to you or collect data for your thesis. Build your professional network for your future career. Use the opportunities for mobility!

Doctoral student session

Start and end your doctoral studies successfully

Three doctoral students, Ilayda Yaman, Oskar Ström and Joana Campos discussed information overload, stress due to not understanding, and how to get on top of it all.

Oskar: As a PhD student, it is easy to struggle with the heavy workload, responsibilities and having to plan your time yourself. Understanding why you are doing different tasks and projects will help you in achieving what you really want. It is easy to waste days or weeks on something and only later realize that you should have reflected a bit deeper on the meaning of the project. Be aware that sleep is crucial for your energy level, attention span, social life, and productivity among other things (see the book "Why we sleep" by Matthew Walker). Make sure to keep good work routines (see the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear) and to take care of your attention (Digital Minimalism) and create space for deep work (see the book “Deep Work” by Cal Newport). Finally, taking mental breaks from work (evenings, weekends and fika) is vital for your well-being and work performance (breathing-work and mindfulness techniques can help).

Joana: At LTH, doctoral education is constructed so that the student is the maker of their own PhD. There should always be good guidance, but the PhD student is responsible for knowing and deciding what is best for their career. This is an advantage and a learning experience! Also, aim for extra-curricular activities that allow you to grow: one for networking, one for personal development and one for well-being.

Ilayda: Networking is a very useful tool to solve problems and for creating collaborations which at the end, will enrich the overall doctoral education. Being a student representative in different boards or departments can help PhD students by creating a sense of belonging to their university. Ergonomics is very important for everyone, starting from the first day at work in order to ensure maximum efficiency and comfort, and minimizing future health issues or injuries. Getting advice on how to improve the working environment of PhD students should be a priority.  

PhD Career, I was once a doctoral student, now I recruit them!

What I am looking for in PhD´s: Mikael Nilsson (Volvo Cars)

It was an honour to present my own journey from being a person that “should never work in the automotive industry” and that had no interest in deep research in my early career, to becoming a doctor myself in 2018.

Today’s automotive industry is a very interesting area where so many attributes are combined to become an attractive product, which right now is in a huge transformation phase from old gasoline vehicles to electric- and autonomous driving vehicles.

To be successful in this transformation, research is needed in many areas and Ph.D. students are an essential resource that contributes to new great ideas! During my presentation I hope that I gave the Ph.D. students this holistic view why research is so important for Sweden and its industries. Also, it is during your research period that you most likely have the highest possibility in your career to form your own future!

Starting my innovation company for the benefit of myself (and the world)

Malin Sjöö (Smile) discussed challenges and opportunities with Lisa at LU-innovation

Trying new things makes you grow. Malin shared her journey from researcher to entrepreneur through an interview with Lisa from LU Innovation, who helps researchers take their first entrepreneurial steps. It gave the audience a glimpse of the life of an entrepreneur and a possible career path for PhD students. It is an amazing feeling to follow your research and see how it gets implemented in the market and used. It is easy to think that when the research is done, your results are close to being applied but there is still so much more to do. If Malin had known all the challenges she would face, she might not have started the journey, but in the end, it was worth every step along the way. Looking back, she is thankful for all the new experiences she had, new opportunities and all the wonderful people she met. Now she is also helping new entrepreneurs at SmiLe Incubator.

Supervisor session

I want  you and me to be successful

Helle Rootzen (andhero) discussed difficult situations and challenges, and how to deal with those to reach success.

Many PhD-students feel stressed and lack motivation. They express that they don’t feel good enough, they feel too slow, and even though they like research they don’t think that they match the criteria for having a research career. The citations come from PhD-students that Helle has coached in a project at the University of Copenhagen. To be a good supervisor you need to reflect on this and realize that you could have a role in how they feel. Diversity is difficult - in the book “Invisible Women “ by Caroline Criado Perez there are many good examples - also from universities. We need to share experiences about this and you as a supervisor should open the dialogue.

Engineering or Research?

Emelie Engström reflects on Design science as a framework for balancing theory and practice in postgraduate education.

In this presentation, Emelie reflected on scientific theoretical issues and how such models and languages can be helpful in doctoral supervision. As an engineering PhD student, it can be difficult to balance practical and theoretical work and to understand the difference between research and engineering. A further complicating factor is that researchers who publish and review papers in the same technical area may do so under completely different paradigms. By reflecting on the paradigm of our overarching research discipline, design science (in contrast to the overarching paradigms of the formal and explanatory sciences), we can be helped to find frameworks for our research work. Emelie shared two models, a design science map, and a contribution lens, which can be used in different supervision situations to reflect on concrete theoretical and practical contributions, as well as their positioning and justification.

The research supervisor we’d like to be

A mutual interview between professor Öivind Andersson and study director Anders Ahlberg.

In this session for supervisors, we discussed aspects of doctoral supervision that we find essential to promote research students. This included communication skills and specifically professional active listening, e.g., the ability to pay attention without interrupting, and to paraphrase what you think you heard in supervision conversations. We further discussed skillful concrete feedback provision, awareness of supervisors as role models, clear PhD project ownership, and inclusion of students in academic networks, including arenas such as conferences.