In the PhD program board, I wish to contribute to create a PhD-experience that both fulfills the position’s role as a safe learning space and its role as a teaching- and research-producing working place. Because a PhD is, after all, a funny hybrid between an education and a job, something I believe we need to acknowledge to create a good PhD experience.
A PhD as a safe learning space means viewing a PhD as an education. In this regard, I would like to work to provide PhDs with the right administrative backup to focus on study and learning. One especially important aspect of PhD as a learning space, is to offer information and awareness of future prospects, be it inside or outside academia. This means giving insight into work opportunities after completion of the PhD, and how to foster a relevant career path.
A PhD as a teaching- and research-producing working space entails viewing a PhD as a job. Regarding the teaching aspects of a PhD, I would like to contribute to ensure that every PhD has access to courses that are relevant for them. If there are too few relevant courses, PhDs should be encouraged to create their own courses together with other faculty members. Moreover, PhDs should feel as much ownership about their teaching activities as they do about their research.
Regarding the research-aspect of the job, I would work to maintain the non-hierarchical inclusion of PhDs in workshops, seminars and conferences. Most importantly, I would want to empower PhDs to own their research by presenting drafts, giving feedback, iterate, and communicate findings, and at the same time know what to expect from themselves and from others.
Personally, I am a PhD-candidate on my first year in an open position. Before I started my PhD, I worked two years in Statistics Norway where I co-established an internal innovation group. At the University of Oslo, I strive to create a learning space for data science in the social sciences, having contributed to establish Coffee and Coding and a new work-focused and cross-disciplinary course on the International Summer School of UiO. At the board, I hope to make the PhD-experience live up to its great potentials as both a job and as an education.