My reasons to do a PhD

Time travel back into the past

When I was little Daria right after high school, I thought to study biology & explore the realms of becoming a Scientist. So I choose to go for a Bachelor in Biology. It was partially a bit painful, cos I needed to study maths, chemistry & physics as well. Yet, I managed, cos I found my passion for plant science & loved to work in actual labs.

So I went to do a Masters in biology, with a focus on Plant Sciences, to make sure that I learned the most about the field I am truly interested in. And again: I realized that I loved working in actual labs. I had a short moment where I did not know if I should do a PhD, but somehow, I also didn’t want to get a “real” job, apply & do anything in that direction, it felt off. For my Master thesis my supervisor sent me to Sweden for two weeks to do very specific experiments. I loved it there in the North, around midsummer, with the endless summer nights.

After I finished my masters, I worked in the same lab I did both of my theses and went to the US for half a year, working in another plant lab to gain experience abroad. Because at that time, I have already decided to do a PhD and also in which lab & country I wanted to do it: I wanted to go back to Umeå, Sweden & do my PhD with the supervisors I had for my two week experiments.

I asked them to take me in & they agreed, even though my primary supervisor didn’t want to have a new PhD student anymore, as he planned to retire in some years. In the end, the year I defended was the year he retired :-).

There were several reasons why I finally decided to do a PhD:

-       I loved to work in the lab, do experiments & solve science riddles

For me it was super exciting to have a question or hypothesis which no one has a clear idea about yet, no real answer is known. To think about experiments that could find an answer was super exciting for me, preparing the experiments, performing them, collecting the data, interpreting them and basically exploring a bit about the world we live in. Composing experimental. Setups, doing experiments & looking at the data felt like solving riddles. And I have always loved doing that, all kinds oof riddles. Science seemed to be an endless riddle to me!

I also always loved plant sciences more & felt that they are kind of the underdog of the science world cos everyone wanted to go towards the medical direction. & I always had a soft spot for the underdog ;).

-       I loved to read & that is something a scientist does all the time

I was a bookworm when I was younger, constantly reading, exploring, borrowing books, buying them & emerging myself in thee world of books. So when I realized that as a scientist I need to read a lot, I loved the idea! To me it was exciting to look for literaturee, explore what others have found out, how it could be helpful for me, if I could use theeiir methods oor knowledge for my questions, maybe modify it, adapt it & geet closer to an answer to my hypothesis. It was like trying to find the right puzzle pieces for my science-riddles that I loved so much.

-       I loved to write my theses and the labbook

I also loved writing when I was younger. Stories, poems, sometimes a dairy, or just expressing my eemotions: I found it beautiful on how words can convey so much & how written words in form of books bring such huge value to humanity. As a Scientist I realized I need to writeee all the time! Reports, my labbook, experimental outcomes, articles, posters, presentations etc. Writing is something every scientist needs to be able to do. So in my mind this was just another skill of mine that I loved, tthat I could apply and use while being a Scientist. I am telling you: I was convinced that becoming a Scientist was the perfect job for me! I never imagined to not want to be one anymore, not do experiments & reveal natures secrets. Ever.

-       I loved the idea to extend my youth a bit by doing a PhD

To me it felt that I would havee to immediately grow up & become a serious adult if I would have to try to find a job in a company after my Masters. Back then, having a Bachelor or Master was not so common & not really clear on what/where/how one could go about that. I also felt that I didn’t want to be super serious yet, I wanted to stay in a playful, enjoyable environment and just do science, make experiments, solve riddles, read & write, not “work” at a company. To me staying at the university, in the academic system felt like I would exteend my youoth a bit more, before I had to settle for a grown-up life, and that was surely possible through doing a PhD. Especially in Sweden, where it took 5 years, because I also was teaching! Something else I always loved!

-       I loved the fact that I could live abroad & have a safe position for 5 years.

After I lived in the US for half a year, I realized that I loved to live abroad & managed it very well, so I was excited to move to Sweden for 5 years. This PhD gave me the opportunity to have a safe position for such a long time and the possibility to establish my life there. I had no idea what I would do after my PhD, but iI knew that I fell in love with Umeå & itt almost immediately felt like my place to be at. For me I was extending my youth with this as well and it felt a bit more at ease instead of looking for a company job, I rather took the challenge to immigrate myself into a new country than looking for a permanent company position and start my grow-up life :-)

So overall, all these reasons, wishes and desires I had were the perfect starting point for me to get into a PhD. Another very important reason was the people I agreed to work with: I loved them both & we got along super well and I loved the institute too. For me the human factor and human-to-human connection is even more important than the scientific topic, because having a good conenction with supervisors and coworkers will make any tricky science-related problem more bearable. The science topic of leaf senescence & the role of mitochondria during these processes was something I loved as well!

That should be it for today :-)! If yoou have doene a PhD, what were your reasons for starting it?

Love,

Daria