My Academic Journey

New students are moving in with the help of their parents. Starting next week, my colleagues get back to work and tomorrow I move to Denmark. The semester starts officially in September. Did you know that our campus is a great place to haunt some Pokemons? They are the reason why I have been spending many hours on campus - even though I'm on holiday! Domus Botnica in the sun light. "Auringon lapsi", the Child of the Sun The sea is a great neighbor.  Fabriikki in the spot light.  Place that I found after spending couple of years on campus. Inner yard between Teknobotnia and Fabriikki. Here will soon be lots and lots of bikes. Building in the front is Konttori. A part of Puuvilla -houses.  Sunbaths on campus. How about studying outside..?  Ready for the semester? 

The spring is turning into summer and my calendar is happily filled with work trips. Today, I went to Otaniemi that is in Espoo (a city by the side of Helsinki). We had our project group meeting at the office building of VTT that is also coordinating our project. Additionally, Carter was present through Skype. It was good to have many members of the research team sitting by "the same table". Even though, I woke a 2.5 hours earlier than I'm used to, I manage to do a lot of work during the travel from Vaasa to Helsinki. Which is crucial for the next week's conference. From Helsinki, I then took a bus to Otaniemi.  After the meeting, I got a ride to Ruoholahti, Helsinki, from where I walked to the station. It is always a pleasure to visit Helsinki, my old home city. It has developed so much during the time I have lived in Vaasa (soon 6 years). Helsinki is more international than it used to be. The city is also more and more like Stockholm and other notable ...

Yesterday, the funding decisions of South Ostrobothnia Regional fund became official. I am very thankful for the funding, first one for me, which will enable my research exchange at the Aarhus university during the next fall. I was excited but also nervous when waiting to be called to collect the certificate. But when I heard "Kauppatieteiden maisteri Eklund Carita" I just stood up and walked to the stage - like automated. Unlike I had feared, I didn't stumble and soon the next person was also coming. Afterwards, I picked my favorite painting in the ballroom of the city hall of Vaasa and we immortalised that smile.  Photo credits: Jan Gustafsson Also the local newspaper Pohjalainen noticed this event held in the city hall of Vaasa. My colleague Siru Lönnblad and I made it to the front page - like many others. Another friend asked about the just received funding: "It does feel pretty nice doesn't it?" It feld fabulous to be trusted like this.  ...

The cake, day after. Our favorite emeritus professor Juha Tolonen turned 75 years last Friday. To celebrate, we surprised him with a cake and small gift yesterday. Professor Vesa Annola hold a speech that almost made Tolonen to cry. In the end, we tried to sum 7.5 points of Tolonen down but that turned on 10 amazing characteristics of him. First of all, he is interested in Russia, classics and relating multiple areas of study. He responded that the university of the sixties was notably better than the current university in one aspect. Students didn't need to hurry with graduation and they were encouraged to study multiple subjects. Nowaday, graduating fast and being expert in one small area are valued too much. Prof Annola also noted that Tolonen is additionally a professor educator: He has supervised many and acted as an opponent for many.  And what was the gift? Ten lunch coupons that he may use only in our company.  This morning, we were surprised by SN...

Jette Nordam, ambassador of Denmark The theme of this weeks has been the Nordic countries. There were many open lectures during tree days in the university of Vaasa. On Monday, the ambassador of Denmark hold a speech about similarities and dissimilarities of Finland and Denmark. As the Danish is in written form sometimes possible to confuse with Swedish, I thought that the speech would be in Swedish or English. Well, it was in Danish, I couldn't follow much. I understood that she expected all participants to study the Nordic languages as a major subject so I think that her expectations were exceeded as someone outside showed up. Denmark is really interesting in all aspects: business models, branding (many expensive brands), education (famous universities), labor markets (really good unemployment benefits that run quickly off) and culture (the Danish food and beer are amazing). Even the language is cool: it is almost like Swedish and almost like German but non-understan...

This Morning was pretty but cold. The university of Vaasa is celebrating the Nordic Week, Nordiska veckan, and that is why we have the flags of all Nordic countries in front of Tervahovi. For Finns, and probably for all people in Nordic countries, the weather has big impact on the mood. During the winter, there are days when we could see the sun for couple of hours or less (but we are inside working at that time). So the sun is really appreciated. Here, you can see photos of one part of our university this morning. Tervahovi and the flags Views from our office So pretty outside, so warm inside. Tritonia in my mind. The lobby of Mathilda (student lunch restaurant).

Why is the simple act - simply starting to write - so hard? I have read many hints and the best so far has been the "How to write a journal article in 7 days" that I made a challenge . I found a suggestion of how to end your day at work. It would be good to clean your desk and write down things that you need to continue on the second day. This practice of using sticky notes actually works well for me. I like to write down what I need to do during the week and then before leaving home, I like to write down where I was. So, when I come back, I can pick easily the task that is still under process. The most important part of this practice is that it supports me to relax during the leisure because I can be sure to remember what I need to do. A note that I wrote to myself once: "update the estimation table and work with the introduction and write about learning by exporting literature". As the data was updated, I was worried that the results would change dramatically, wh...

In Finland, you need to pass entrance examination before you can start studying at an university. Then you will obtain a study place either for bachelor degree or for both bachelor and masters degrees. There are, however, some exceptions. If your math grades are good, you may get a study place in mathematics or if you get enough points from your matriculation examination, you might get a study place from technology without an extra exam.  In business studies, you need to take the entrance examination. The nice part is, that in some universities - like the university of Vaasa - the first year students choose their major subject in the late spring. Thus, the students have more time to think what really interests them. This week, the departments were "recruiting" students: Telling them why to choose subject X. Our supervisor, prof Piekkola, having a speech This year, marketing had copied our idea of legendary Pre-Christmas party, which offers discussion topics ye...

Yesterday, the plans for research exchange took big steps. The Doctoral School of the university of Vaasa arranged an info-meeting concerning all the international possibilities that we PhD students can take advantage of. Our international coordinator Juhani Moisio listed all gateways to abroad and Virpi Juppo listed possible places to apply for travel grant and reasons to do a research exchange. We also got advice for 1) when to start 2) where to start and most importantly 3) talk to your supervisor.  They also noted that the process is different if you work for the university of Vaasa. This is my case. As the plan is to stay two semesters, I need to check: HR supports this exchange (supervisor, project cordinator and host: check) the social security taxation personal expatriate insurance expatriation travel plan register at the destination country (in Scandinavia we don't need visas)  And funding for the spring term (my contract ends in December)   HOUS...

Happy women's Day! To celebrate strong women, here is a speech of Nadia Jaber, who explains outside Academia options and tells her PhD career story. Just like her, I have searched online for different kind of career advice that resulted as activating this blog, following couple of blogs and buying a career advice book. The book tells about how to get a tenure track job. However, some outside academia options are starting to sound enlightening. It is going to be interesting to see where I end up, but here Jaber describes how much PhD students need career advices - and how to provide them to yourself: The Economist published a the glass-ceiling index . If you put 100% weight on education cap, Sweden and Finland are on the top. Indeed, when I started my PhD journey, half of the new PhD students in Finland were women. In our economic department, 75 % of PhD students that are present at the university are women. However, the professors and assistant professors are all mal...

Today was the deadline to submit the conference paper. I left the office very late but managed to take some photos on the way to work. We are proud of our campus and it is usually named as the most beautiful campus of Finland. The university of Vaasa is just by the see. Some of the buildings are old industrial buildings and the rest ones are new.  The environment and the atmosphere are some of my main reasons to continue the studies, even after the master's degree, at the university of Vaasa. I believe that this is one of the best places to develop own thinking.  The morning was freezing but incredibly beautiful The university of Hanken is just cross the water The library hiding from the see behind the trees. Domus Bothnica Domus Bothnica The view from our room.