Profiles of doctoral candidates      Many roads lead to promotion

Shiva Stucki-Sabeti works on her dissertation in bursts. Sometimes, she’s at it morning, night, and even on holiday, and sometimes her PhD sits on the back burner for weeks at a time. It’s not easy, but feasible thanks to flexitime at the HSLU. Shiva also tries to leverage thematic synergies between HSLU projects and her doctoral project. «That means I regularly have to turn down other exciting projects,» says Shiva. Her interests are as broad as her education, which is why she made a conscious effort to develop a dissertation project in which she could immerse herself.

She also benefits from the HSLU’s peer support network. Her colleagues at the Competence Centre for Public and Nonprofit Management are interested in the subject of her dissertation and happy to provide feedback. «That's extremely valuable and allows us to advance each other’s research,» she says. Not least of all, Shiva gets to experience the virtues she studies for her PhD—cooperativeness, openness, humility and generosity—in real life.

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Moreno Frigg is interested in equity funds or, more specifically, in the performance of equity funds and fund managers. Even more specifically, he wants to find out how best to predict it using Machine Learning. Moreno now pursues his PhD at the University of Neuchâtel, benefiting from the HSLU’s attractive employment scheme for doctoral students with a workload of 0.7 FTE, 0.2 FTE of which are earmarked for the dissertation project.

However, he finds the financial incentive less important than the freedom to study a subject he’s interested in and that he enjoys exploring. «You really have to be into a research topic to do a PhD,» says Moreno. The workload on top of his role as a research associate at the HSLU is significant. And there are the occasional setbacks. «I’m sure every doctoral student is going through a rough patch at some point,» says Moreno. But of course, there are highlights, too. For example, him being invited to present his research at various finance conferences. «It's my dream to eventually make my findings accessible through a product for everyone wishing to invest in the stock market,» Moreno says, eyes fixed on the horizon.

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It was a large dataset from a research project that first prompted the idea of a doctorate. «It contained so many exciting questions I wanted to answer,» says Adriana. She then searched for a doctoral supervisor and found an ideal candidate at the University of Eindhoven. She wrote an email but was initially turned down. «The professor didn’t realise at first that I’d be providing my own funding,» she continues, laughing. The young researcher wrote a follow-up email and managed to convince her future supervisor in a phone call. As part of her PhD project, she has been studying e-commerce algorithms with multiple objectives ever since. «It is a bit of a niche topic,» Adriana admits with a smile.

She is now employed under the doctoral student employment scheme, meaning that 0.2 FTE of her contractual 0.7 FTE workload are earmarked for her dissertation. The remaining 0.5 FTE are dedicated to the Institute’s research projects. Adriana says that balancing HSLU projects and her dissertation can be challenging: good time management is a must. However, the scheme also gives her maximum independence. Adriana points out another advantage of pursuing a PhD at a university of applied sciences: «It’s great to know that all my research at the HSLU is of practical relevance.» After all, theoretical models alone don’t explain how the world works.

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After her studies in health management in tourism in Austria and gaining several years of research experience at the HSLU’s School of Business:, Lisa Fickel is now a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Tourism and Mobility (ITM). Her doctorate entails participating in clinical studies on Alpine retreats, spas and green exercise, which she finds very rewarding, professionally: «It’s a niche topic of great societal significance. In Switzerland, you can’t study health tourism at all.»

She was put in touch with her doctoral supervisor by a lecturer at the ITM. Lisa applied and was accepted to the programme. Now, she had to balance her role at the HSLU and her duties as a doctoral student somehow. «I think the situation would have been easier to handle if I’d started my doctorate straight after becoming a research associate,» she says. Her recommendation for young researchers at the HSLU is therefore to «start thinking about a PhD sooner rather than later: it’s easier to plan your steps and integrate them in your professional day-to-day in a way that’s realistic.» 

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«I like the mix of applied projects and the foundational research for my dissertation,» says Noah, though he admits that working with different types of content and correctly allocating time can be challenging. Officially, 2.5 days of Noah’s 0.7 FTE employment are earmarked for HSLU projects and one day for his dissertation. The remaining 1.5 days are free time he can use for his PhD, as well. «I’m employed under a special scheme for doctoral students,» he specifies. «For me, that works really well,» Noah adds, lauding the HSLU’s doctoral programme for its efficiency. Drafting regular reports for his project partners is part of his applied research. They form the basis of publications he will eventually use in his dissertation. «Ultimately, I think that the doctoral title is proof that I have the skills to build new knowledge,» says Noah. The fact that this knowledge might directly benefit schoolchildren in Lucerne makes him happier than the title itself.

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People analytics denotes data-driven decisions within HR. One of the subjects of Ines’ research, a logistics provider, noticed an increase in work accidents. A data analysis revealed that they tended to happen within a small time window in the morning. Specifically, they occurred when workers had to lift heavy items while their muscles were still cold. The logistics provider has now rolled out a warm-up programme in the mornings. «It’s the kind of thing you can derive from a data set,» says Ines, who herself doesn’t even engage as much with the data. Her perspective on the subject is sociological in nature. «The social dynamics that people analytics reveal are extremely interesting,» she says. The scientist is in the process of becoming an expert in this field. «Pursuing a doctorate gives you the opportunity to attend lots of conferences, immerse yourself in the literature and build a network around your topic,» she points out happily.

Ines now works as a research associate, finishing her doctorate at the Institute of Management and Regional Economics (IBR). In addition to her dissertation, she is increasingly involved in other projects, for instance on topics such as gender and sustainability. «The IBR makes sure I get to work on projects that suit my interests,» Ines says, adding that the advantages of working on projects other than one’s PhD are worth highlighting: «My ties within the Institute are much stronger now. It feels like I’ve arrived.»

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