PhD Career Stories

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...

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 an...

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...

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 learnin...

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 v...

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...

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 P...

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 wit...

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 biofo...

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 h...

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...

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...

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-...

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 nutriti...

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...

  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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 (MP...

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 nonprofi...

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 d...

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 nutriti...

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 Uppsa...