Olivier Michaud and Kaan Mika (from left to right)
So, there you are, having obtained your Master’s degree in the Biological Sciences, allowing you to authenticate yourself as “Biologist” whenever that turns out to be necessary or simply seems advantageous, given the situation. What next? Doing a PhD as a first step towards a magnificent career in science? It is tempting: you’ll do research that no one has ever done before – making a unique contribution to the sum of human knowledge – and be rewarded with the prestigious qualification of Philosophiae Doctor, authorizing you as a specialist in the field of the natural sciences and philosophy, mind you. But if you decide to start a PhD, better prepare yourself for a stage in your life where overwhelming enthusiasm and merciless disillusion can be dangerously close to one another. Not a few beginning PhD students – following their first experimental success at the bench – have pictured themselves at some podium in Stockholm in close proximity of the Swedish king…only to find out, a few days later, that another research team has already published the same stuff. What does it mean to do a PhD at the CIG? Let’s ask Kaan Mika and Olivier Michaud.
Link to the complete article: http://cigreport.genomyx.ch/phd-students/