Why am I studying a PhD? The Interdisciplinary Meetings of Predoctoral Researchers are back

Around 400 training researchers participated in the fifth edition of JIPI
Around 400 training researchers participated in the fifth edition of JIPI
Academic
(13/02/2017)

"Great innovations are done by you youngsters", with these words, the Rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Elias, encouraged training researchers who participated in the fifth edition of the Interdisciplinary Meeting of Pre-doctoral Researchers (JIPI) last February 9. This is the main meeting for PhD students from all fields of knowledge in Catalonia and it is organized by and for pre-doctoral researchers from Catalan universities and research centers and Catalan associations.

Around 400 training researchers participated in the fifth edition of JIPI
Around 400 training researchers participated in the fifth edition of JIPI
Academic
13/02/2017

"Great innovations are done by you youngsters", with these words, the Rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Elias, encouraged training researchers who participated in the fifth edition of the Interdisciplinary Meeting of Pre-doctoral Researchers (JIPI) last February 9. This is the main meeting for PhD students from all fields of knowledge in Catalonia and it is organized by and for pre-doctoral researchers from Catalan universities and research centers and Catalan associations.

“To have more open doors”
Among the training researchers of the UB who presented their research at the JIPI Meeting, Amilcar Vargas explained the research carried out at the Faculty of Geography and History, about social participation on the management of archaeological goods for global heritage. Vargas said he opted for the PhD to have the chance to have more academic studies and “not being rejected for not having a PhD” but he admits there is a big uncertainty after finishing the studies. His objective is for the research results to “change public policies and apply my results to the management of my countryʼs archaeological sites, in Mexico”.
 

&“To continue with my academic studies”
Lucía Puebla, who started her doctoral program on Construction and Representation on Cultural Identity given at the Faculty of Philology, says she chose this option because she has always been passionate about literature, and these studies seemed to her “a good option to continue with my academic studies”. She chose the UB for her tutorʼs support and the “offering of research lines and promotion of innovation”. She also thinks there is a lack of support and institutional recognition of the doctoral studies, especially in Humanities and Social Sciences.

 

“The chance to learn and work at the same time”
Sergio Posada, Oriol Lamiel and Alberto Figueroba are finishing their doctoral studies in the program of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry. Sergio Posada says the doctoral studies give you the chance to “do research and work at the same time you are training. This is hard to do with other jobs”. Posada thinks it is “exciting to know there are universities outside Spain that think UB doctors are good”. But, regarding the uncertainty and future conditions of the research career, he thinks it would be good that “our rulers gave us this recognition”..

“Itʼs time for me to give science something back”
Oriol Lamiel, who is writing his thesis, thinks the PhD “is a change, you go from studying what others do, to being the one carrying a research out, you are the one getting into a field and that is a very important personal fulfillment”. “After everything other people gave during the years -adds Lamiel- now itʼs time for me to give science something back”. Despite his eagerness, the researcher admits there is a lot of time wasted in bureaucracy and that takes some research time.

“The doctorate is very vocational”
Alberto Figueroba, also finishing his PhD, says that “the doctorate is very vocational. If you choose that itʼs because you are certain of what you want to do. But when you finish you will feel rewarded”. For him, the doctorate is “the culmination of education over a lifetime”..


Young researchers coincide in their will to continue their research studies at the University of Barcelona or other research centers. Joan Elias remembered, related to the universityʼs generation line, “the crisis has been a horrifying situation and now that we are in a process of identity construction, young researchers play an essential role”.