Five tips for your PhD process

If you are one of the around 40 PhD students that have just enrolled at Aarhus BSS, you probably already know that life as a PhD student is both exciting and challenging.

As a PhD student, you get to explore an academic topic and become part of an international academic environment. In short, you have the opportunity to cultivate your curiosity and the topic you are passionate about.

However, there are also many new things to deal with. You need to become acquainted with a new workplace and become part of an academic and social community. You need to figure out how to proceed from your project description and may have to start teaching soon.

At Aarhus BSS, several offers support PhD students through the programme. The school hosts an intro day for new students, you can get help on career planning at AU Career & PhD, and the departments also set up local initiatives.

But what can you do to get the best PhD process as possible? Here, you get five tips from Mathilde Cecchini, who was the chair of the PhD association PHABUSS during her PhD studies. Today, she works as an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science.

1. Believe in yourself and don’t compare yourself to others

There is a reason why you were admitted to the PhD degree programme, so remember to believe in yourself and your skills. Find your own feet in your project and follow your intuition. Be brave and do things in a way that makes sense to you. There is also a strength in doing things differently than everyone else.

2. Ask for help from the very beginning

Don’t think that you need to know everything, and be open about your insecurity. Seek help from your supervisor as well as your colleagues. As a PhD student, you are often unsure whether what you’re doing is good enough, because you have doubts about what is expected of you. You think you need to deliver the perfect result, which you neither can nor should. So ask your supervisor outright what is expected of you.

3. Take breaks from your PhD dissertation

Prioritise participating in events at the department - even though you are busy. This helps provide you with a good network that you can use both professionally and socially. Make the most of having access to so many smart people, and don’t be nervous about contributing to academic discussions. Engage yourself in your workplace and the people around you.

4. Be a good colleague

Remember that although academia may be a competitive place, you are also employed at an ordinary workplace, which should be a nice place to be. Regard your fellow students as colleagues and not competitors - and use and help each other. As Scooter sings: ”It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice,” and that is so true.

5. Remember that you are much more than your PhD

Have a life outside of university where you do exactly what you want. Go for a run, read a book, hang out with friends and family. A PhD can easily take over your life, and it can be hard to separate yourself from the project. However, you are a human being besides being a PhD student, and you will still be that person after completing your PhD - regardless of whether you continue in academia, the business community or the public sector. 

Establish a good working relationship with your supervisor and talk to your colleagues. If you need help, contact the chair of your field committee.

PhD associations

At Aarhus BSS and Aarhus University, there are a number of associations for PhD students, which you can get involved in:

AUPA (Aarhus University PhD Association). ​Read more about AUPA and follow them on Facebook.

​PHABUSS (PhD Association at Aarhus BSS). Read more about PHABUSS and follow them on Facebook.

AU Career PhD & Jr

At Aarhus BSS, you can get good career advice throughout your PhD: 

https://talent.au.dk/career/