Phd Career Stories

In this episode, Tina Persson interviews Elena Itskovich and Ofer Yizhar Barnea. Elena has a PhD in stem cell biology from the University of Cambridge. She volunteers for ScienceAbroad and has hosted the macadamia podcast. Ofer has a Ph.D in Human molecular genetics. He has served 6 years as an officer and ran a RnD team of physicists  and mathematicians. In parallel he is a co-founder of a company that has been growing and evolving for 3 years now.  The main topics discussed in this podcast are the importance of networking and digital presence. Listen to this episode to learn about how to grow your network both online and offline. Important tips for PhDs are to start the networking process early and to leave the comfort zone to be able to expand their network.

Dear listeners, it is with great joy that we welcome you to our new home and to episode 101 of PhD Career Stories. After a year-long pause, we return to podcast publication with a fresh and functional website, in which you can find our entire podcast catalogue conveniently organized in relevant categories. We believe that storytelling is a powerful way to connect with others and to find one’s own path in career and life. We believe that our new website helps us fulfill our ambition of becoming a storytelling channel, where everyone can participate and share their journey and experience, so we can learn and grow with each other. In today's episode, PhD Career Stories co-founder Tina Persson will share with you insights from our journey that resulted in this new beginning, and update you on our plans for the future.  Enjoy Listening!

Welcome to episode 100 of Phd career story, where we have a round table discussion with 9 members of our team. In this episode we talk about the impact that Phd career stories have had on Phds around the world, based on comments we have received. We also talk about what we have learned from Phd stories and working as a team in the last 3 years. This is the last episode for now, but we will be back in 6 to 9 months with the new beginning. Stay healthy!

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. E

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, Welcome Solutions, 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

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!  

In this podcast, Tina Persson, the founder of PhD Career Stories has an interesting interview with Dr. Laura Pozzi, who is currently working as a Scientific Writer for a Swedish Biotech, Atlas Antibodies, in Stockholm. Her role involves content creation and scientific marketing communication. Laura received her Ph.D. in Life and Biomolecular Science at the IRCSS-Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan in 2011.  After her graduation, she joined the Neuroscience Department at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, where she worked as a postdoc until 2017. Her research interest focused on the identification of the molecular aspects of brain disorders. If you are curious about how Laura stepped out of academia and started a new 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!

  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!

This is the second episode of Dr. Francesca Capellini, in which she will talk about the importance of networking in order to broaden your career opportunities.  In her first podcast (#91) Francesca shared with us her career steps that led her to her current position at the italian non-profit organisation Fondazione Umberto Veronesi and how she developed her passion for science writing and science communication. If you have not listened to her first podcast, don’t hesitate to do so.

Welcome to this new episode where Dr. Francesca Cappellini shares her experience about her career path as a scientist. Dr. Francesca Capellini is working as a researcher for the non-profit organization Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, she is also a scientist writer and a science communicator. In this episode, she talks about the common mistakes done while applying for a job or position as well as how she prevailed over those. Would you like to know how she overcame her circumstances? 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, Tina Persson,  the founder of PhD Career Stories has an interesting interview with  Sven Totté, who is a Management Consultant using the knowledge and the skills gathered over 25 years in different commercial and leadership roles in a large variety of industries. He is passionate about improving companies’ performance through organizational and business development, often enabled by innovative technologies. Finding, engaging and keeping the right talent is according to him the most important key to success, hence his deep understanding of the Future of Work including trends like the gig economy. His favorite missions are to build sharper customer experience, implement innovative value-adding services and shape happier teams. If you are curios about gig economy and its definition, 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!

This is the second episode of Dr. Ben Hartwig, in which he will talk about resilience and will share tips on how to stay resilient and how to deal with stress. In his first podcast (#85) Hartwig shared his story and the lessons he learned during his PhD.  So if you have not listened to his first podcast, don’t hesitate to do so. Ben is a German scientist, entrepreneur and actor. He studied genetics at the Max-Planck Institute in Cologne, specialized in Epigenetics and 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. In this episode, he shares four relevant tips. The first tip is to surround ourselves with people who believe in us. The second one is to ask better questions. The third tip is to see the things for what they really are and the last one is Ecother

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, ple

In this podcast, Tina Persson,  the founder of PhD Career Stories has an interesting interview with  Dr. Martin Blaser, who is a postdoc coordinator and co-founder of the Max Planck PostdocNet.  He studied food and nutritional science in Giessen and continued his doctoral study in microbial biochemistry at the University of Marburg (2007). He continued his academic career as a postdoc and project group leader at the MPI for terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg until 2017. During this time he also was a postdoc representative. After spending over 10 years in academia, he took his first step out of academic system and became a career coach, a postdoc coordinator at the Justus Liebig University Giessen and  a co-founder of the Max Planck PostdocNet. “Really the problem is that you focus on the academic track and a lot of people are really having biased idea that they can stay. Which isn't supported by the evidence in reality so much.” Martin Blaser.  If you are curios how Martin step out of academic career and st

 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.