My Academic Journey

I want sincerely thank The OP Group Research Foundation for supporting my desired research topic! The grant distribution occasion was full of warmth. OP is proud of having given a grant to the only Finnish Nobelist in economics and encouraged us to aim high. I am also very thankful to know that the research plan has been read by two to three other specialists than my supervisor and that they found it promising. In the uncertain world of PhD fellow, that means a lot.  Another big joy is the joy for all of our full-time econ PhD students . Saara Vaahtoniemi and Jari-Mikko Meriläinen who each got a grant for one year of research.  Team Econ Vaasa: Meriläinen, Vaahtoniemi & Eklund Worth mentioning is a person who has inspired many (and 100% of Team Econ Vaasa) to study economics, Matti Pohjola, who held a speak at the event thanking OP for being very responsible in financing research when the government is doing the opposite. Indeed, the concept of OP group research...

In the third workshop, we had professors Vibeke Lehmann Nielsen and Carten Jensen to tell us about publishing. They also pointed out that as a young scholars, using time for non-academic writings and presentations is not strategic: they don't count towards tenure. This conflicted a lot with the discussions that I have been following in Finland. Like at the conference in Pori, Finnish professors were telling how scientists should be more openly in social media. Additionally, in our evaluation format there is a place for public visibility.. Maybe I should rethink about blogging? Although, I am not using my "work hours" for writing here - which is why the topics and texts are quite light. In any case, it is something to think about in addition to should I stay (in academia) or should I go (to industry) . a tired doctoral student. The biggest take away from this workshop was cover letter in which you should tell the editor "why this is a must -pub...

The doctoral students of political department had organized a two day seminar far away from campus (although nothing is actually really  far in Denmark). The ride took couple of hours and the place was astonishing. Steffen Armstrong Gjedde told us about using new media. Quite many had a researchgate account and also academia.edu was mentioned. To me, there were several new hints even though I already had had some lectures about it.  ORCID - to make sure your research is linked to you. it helps also with name changes. Mendeley - you can use it for reference organization tool? I better get to know this. CreativeComments - helps to deal with copyrights and to allow the use of your material.  But that's not all! We also received useful links. One of them is  http://www.phdontrack.net/  which has a section about literature review (a part that I find hart). It indeed looks like a good resource. Then,  Altmetricblog  was recommended f...

It seems that the Danes want to celebrate the summer when it is ending. It also looks like as important party as the pre-Christmas parties in Finland. For an introvert like me, it's been a tough week. We had a running team at the Aarhus Motion event on Thursday, Business School's Summer party on Friday and the Summer party of student housing in Vejby on Saturday. Thus, I am now happy to stay at home a prepare for the behavioral economics of education course. BSS Summer Party was totally different from the parties that my university or department arrange. First, the payment method: When bought the entrance, you also pay for food and drinks (partly illegal in Finland). The entrance costed approximately 20 € and included 30 coupons. With 6 coupons you could get a hamburger, with 2 a beer or class of wine and with 3 an ice cream. So, no one needed to buy more of them. Second, it mixed alumni, staff and students. Third, they had three very good bands! I am now a fan of ...

The advantages of the office start to feel normal and - the research is going great! I'm used to having possibility to get a fruit and thus be able to stay later at work. I'm used to the free good coffee. More importantly, the advises and comments that I have got from Carter, who is my host here, have encouraged me to think deeper.  There has also been a lot of social interaction, like a team running yesterday (Aarhus motion).  Today is the summer fest of the Business School and tomorrow is the summer party of the student "kollegium" where I live. I have also made a lot of excursions by my self.  This morning, we had Ismael Rafols from Valencia to speak about his current research ( Exploring (mis)alignments between science supply and societal demand ) of how scientific research supply correspondences to the societal demand of research. In short, research is driven by funding that is affected by intention groups. The solution is not always the optimal one. The...

Have you thought about starting doctoral studies but deadlines for next autumn already passed?  Good news: there is still time to apply in Finland! The deadline for doctoral students is 29 April  ( 31 October 2016  - although the previous link confusingly says 15th of November) in the university of Vaasa. Note: the exact deadline this year is 29.4.2016 even though the other link says 30. April. Here you can find more info regarding the intake. It is also noteworthy that there are other ways to fulfill the language requirement than the test only, see for more: admission The most important part of your application is the connection to the prospective supervisor and your research plan. The researchers are divided into research groups that you can find here . I am part of Intangible Capital Research Group , but we research also macro/financial stability, time series, environmental economics and how people understand economic facts.  But like other universities, ...

Have you also found the amazing low priced external programs (like  LSE ,  Stanford ) and certificates on  Coursera  and  Edx ? Vaasa winter 2016, (c) Jan Gustafsson There is lot of supply but are the programs really seen as good as the internal programs? Presently, I have been trying to find trust-wort opinions about LSE external programs for curiosity. I found an article from guardian but it was sponsored by the program. However, the article underlines that not all clever people can or want to participate in collage life. There are no doubt that combining work and studies is tempting - or a must. And for some intelligent individuals don't get access to the higher education.  Shai Reshef TED 2014  presents a virtual university that solves many of problems in attendance. Even the Economist has raised a thought that colleges have unnecessarily high tuition rates: "Some of its [Harvard] alumni think this ought to be sufficient to scrap...

Vilkaisin äsken erästä vanhaa tekstiäni onnellisuus-projektistani. Nyt tarkastellessa omaa elämää huomaa, miten meditoinnin lopettaminen ja työmäärä ovat jälleen painaneet maanrakoon. Syksyn kulunein sana oli stressi. Jokaviikkoinen junailu Vaasa-Helsinki-Vaasa teki ajantajusta lopullisesti muhennosta. Paljon tuli opittua ja entistä selvemmin tuli selväksi, kuinka vähän sitä tietääkään.  Oppiminen on ihanaa. Ahaa-elämyksen maku on mauista maukkain. Toisaalta tuska siitä, ettei jotain asiaa ymmärrä, on mitä karvaisin. Siitä huolimatta ahaa-elämyksiä  vain jaksaa jahdata. Suuressa luokassa muodostuu vaikeammin keskustelua ja ilman inhimillisen kokoisia harjoitusryhmiä on ymmärtämättömyyden sattuessa vaikea uskaltaa kysyä. Jos kysymys tulee "nieltyä", se voi jäädä vaivaamaan useampia ihmisiä luokassa. Ryhmässä kysymään ei voi pakottaa. Jos opettaja /opetusavustaja on helposti lähestyttävä, kysymyksen pystyy periaatteessa esittämään tunnin jälkeen. Lopussa kiitos seisoo: E...

1. You start to describe familiar things with terms you just read: this coffee max my utility, this roud is quasiconcave here -at point p^0. 2. When you're allowed (by the utility maximizing schedule you planned) to have a pause, you can't stop right away as you're just in the middle of juicy / sexy calculus. 3. You start to enjoy the theory that has no implications to real life, but it is indeed genius. 4. After a while you can't concentrate anymore. You count the hours you have been studying micro. 9 hours in total. No wonder you're tired. 5. In order to minimize your expenditure function e(p,u) while keeping your utility at level u ( same as two hours ago), you relax by thinking about how nicely concave the roud is in your way to home. To be continued.....

Aika se vain kiitää ja toiset välikokeet lähestyvät. Tällä kertaa perustelen kuitenkin, miksi Stanford on hyvä paikka oppia. Ensinnäkin, ympäristö tekee paljon. Kampus on kaunis, kuten Vaasassa ja toisin kuin Mainzissa. Jos kulkiessaan kiinnittää huomiota, kasvit ja arkkitehtuuri ovat erittäin kauniita ja ilahduttavia. Mutta ihmisissä täällä on jotakin erikoista.  Kuten saatatte tietää, Stanford ei ole pelkästään yliopisto. Se on elävä muistomerkki nuorena menehtyneelle Jr. Leland Stanfordille, jonka äiti omisti loppuelämänsä yliopistolle antaen tälle kaiken. Leland Juniorin vanhempien ajatuksena oli, että kaikki Kalifornian lapset voivat olla heidän lapsiaan. Näin jokainen opiskelija on tavallaan täällä adoptoituna ja Stanfordin perheen kasvatusperiaatteet näkyvät. Honor-koodin lisäksi hyvin selvästi erottuva periaate on: "Tee muille kuin haluaisit itsellesi tehtävän". Tämä elää jokaisessa opiskelijassa. Kunnioitus kanssaopiskelijoita kohtaan on aivan eritasolla kuin Va...