Close sidebar Home » Services and Admin » Academic Service » Doctoral Programme » The EUI Experience Open sidebar menu #MyEUIExperience - EUI Ph.D. Researchers' Testimonials Department of Economics Department of History and Civilization Department of Law Department of Political and Social Sciences Department of Economics Is there anything unique to the EUI that has positively impacted your training as a researcher? Answer: From its people to the location, the EUI is an extraordinary place to pursue your Ph.D. Located in the Tuscan hills outside Florence, it provides the perfect environment to minimize the distractions of the city and focus completely on your studies. But at the same time, it also offers Florence's magnificent renaissance art and architecture. Wandering around its streets is indeed a wonderful way to recharge your batteries! Hard to beat that, right? Anyhow, it is the EUI community that really makes this place special. Researchers, professors and other EUI members come from many different countries with a bag full of international experiences. Juan Castellanos Silván, EUI Department of Economics researcher, from Spain Is there anything unique to the EUI that has positively impacted your training as a researcher? Answer: The Economics department is unique in its combination of a demanding, top-tier Ph.D. programme and a family-like atmosphere. During the first year, we are rigorously trained in the main areas of Economics: micro, macro and econometrics. it is an intense time, with a tight schedule and frequent examinations. This experience creates a strong group spirit among your classmates and a feeling of self-fulfillment at the end of the year. Thanks to the small size of the department, the camaraderie is shared across cohorts and it also extends to the faculty, who are always approachable and happy to discuss ideas with you. Marina Sanchez del Villar, EUI Department of Economics researcher, from Spain Is there anything unique to the EUI that has positively impacted your training as a researcher? Answer: It takes a village to become a researcher. Research is a path full of uncertainties, but in the right company it can be a very empowering journey. At the EUI I found many brilliant and caring people who made all the difference to me: colleagues who became friends, inspiring mentors, and a stimulating environment for both my professional and personal growth. Giulia Caprini, EUI Department of Economics reseacher, from Italy Department of History and Civilization Is there anything unique to the EUI that has positively impacted your training as a researcher? Answer: The fact that the EUI is an institution almost solely geared towards Ph.D. research makes it an ideal environment for conducting your research. Staff and librarians go above and beyond to help you, and that removes a lot of barriers and bumps in the long road of a researcher. Workshops, research missions, conferences, you name it - the support is there. Any idea you have, you will surely find a way to make it happen. The institutional support is a luxury that I had not encountered anywhere else until now. The opportunities are endless! Ana Maria Spariosu, EUI Department of History and Civilization researcher, from Romania How have you grown as a researcher since you started at the EUI? Answer: Since I started my Ph.D. in History three years ago, I have changed significantly as a researcher. Analysis, debate and public speaking are just some of the skills that I have acquired and improved during my experience at the EUI. But I have also evolved as a person, getting to meet new and interesting people, sharing experiences at the privledged environment that the EUI is. But it is not just the EUI. Doing a Ph.D. here also means spending four years of your life in Florence, an amazing city open to different ideas, with rich cultural and gastronomic offers, to name just two. To sum up, my EUI experience has enriched me on both the professional and personal levels, which I think is essential to become a good researcher. Pablo Cañón García, EUI Department of History and Civilization researcher, from Spain What aspects of the EUI have been particularly beneficial for your work? Answer: At the EUI I have experienced such a supportive and engaging work environment. Professors refer to us as researchers rather than students and from the start of my time at the EUI they have treated me as an expert in my field, which has built my confidence in myself as a historian and in my academic career. It is amazing to be surrounded by so many researchers at the same stage of their academic careers and to broaden our learning and horizons together. The international nature of the EUI as well as the seminars and working groups means we are exposed to many different ideas and perspectives. Our seminars and working groups organised and led by researchers themselves are also a great environment to share and discuss ideas and perspectives. Discuss my research with other researchers has helped to shape and improve my research project and my writing and I have used both my professors and fellow researchers as sounding boards when I need to talk through an idea or decide which angle to pursue in my research. At EUI I have never experienced competitiveness but rather a collaborative atmosphere where we are genuinely interested in each others' research and support and encourage each other. Michelle Louise Toxvaerd Graabek, EUI Department of History and Civilization researcher, from Denmark Is there anything unique to the EUI that has positively impacted your training as a researcher? Answer: At the EUI I have greatly benefited from departmental and research seminars. Stimulating readings and discussions allow researchers to become familiar with the most important issues, debates and methods within different historiographical fields, and these new perspectives have positively impacted my own work project. Training is complemented by conferences and a whole set of optional courses designed to enhance your linguistic and academic skills. In my view, what is unique to the EUI, besides its exceptional location, is its vibrant community, consisting of people from different countries and backgrounds, willing to share their knowledge and experiences. In this environment not only will you receive very enriching feedback from professors and peers, but even more importantly, you will forge lasting friendships. Roberto Antonio Larrañaga Domínguez, EUI Department of History and Civilization researcher, from Mexico Department of Law What aspects of the EUI have been particularly beneficial for your work? Answer: For me, the EUI is the right place to do academic work. A vivid community of top-class scholars, interdisciplinary seminars particularly designed for Ph.D. studies, a well-structured programme and beautiful Tuscany prove to be a great combination for a Ph.D. researcher! You cannot get bored here, but you can still focus on your work. You find great peers-to befriend and bounce ideas off of. And nowhere else would you have the chance to establish such a strong genuine and supportive relationship with your supervisor. [...] Prepare yourself to expand your research horizons, and for countless opportunities to improve your academic language and management skills! Wojciech Giemza, EUI Department of Law researcher from Poland What aspects of the EUI have been particularly beneficial for your work? Answer: The EUI is at many levels, a unique place. Here you will find a very lively and engaging academic envioronment, which will allow you to develop an accurate sense of critique. Besides, you will also encounter a very helpful and united community, that will not think twice before helping you, whether professionally or personally. At the EUI you will find a second home, and have the support and freedom needed to produce the best research you can. With an extra benefit: doing all this while staying in the green hills surrounding Firenze, and enjoying the incredible Italian culture. Ines Lameiras Azevedo, EUI Department of Law researcher, from Portugal Is there anything unique to the EUI that has positively impacted your training as a researcher? Answer: The EUI is really a unique place to study. As does any top university, it opens up a world of opportunities for its researchers and promotes high-level scholarship. However, it is through its academic environment that the EUI proves to be different from any other academic institution in the world. As soon as you arrive, you sense that the EUI's philosophy is to promote a friendly and supportive environment. You are here to think and develop as a person, not just as an academic. The community at the EUI helps you grow this way, through a non-competitive process of academic debate, workshops and horizontal discussions. This researcher-oriented environment allows Ph.D. researchers to be free from the pressures of success and to focus solely on improving themselves and their research. The EUI is truly a place to think; the kind and supportive environment makes it all possible. Francisco De Abreu Duarte, EUI Department of Law researcher, from Portugal Is there anything unique to the EUI that has positively impacted your training as a researcher? Answer: I think the entire design of the EUI is very unique, which was the reason why I came here in the first place. I was intrigued by the idea of a multicultural community and the possibility of a close relationship with my supervisor, which I had the feeling would be missing in other Ph.D. programmes. As expected, the EUI did not let me down. However, the EUI's interdisciplinarity has had the greatest impact on me in my first year. Coming from a purely legal background, I did not expect the positive influence the exchange with researchers from other fields could have on my mindset and way of thinking. Interdisciplinary discussions in class settings as well as over a coffee on the Badia terrace challenged and helped me develop as a researcher. Annika Frosch, EUI Department of Law researcher, from Germany Department of Political and Social Sciences What aspects of the EUI have been particularly beneficial for your work? Answer: I came to the EUI with a broad project knowing I would have to narrow it down during my first year. For this I found the wide selection of seminars across faculties beneficial, as these provided me with the opportunity to learn new methods and theories. I was particularly pleased as many of the seminars offered during my first year related directly to my topic, which helped clarify my approach. The opportunity to discuss my topic with my peers and professors from different academic and personal backgrounds has been most valuable for my work, be it during seminars, in the cafeteria or even the EUI gym. These conversations have taken my thesis in a more dexciting direction. Anne Sofie Nielsen, EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences researcher, from Denmark Is there anything unique to the EUI that has positively impacted your training as a researcher? Answer: The EUI is a unique place in many ways, not only in Europe but worldwide. It is a small research institute that has only Ph.D. students and post-docs, who work with top scholars from across the world and have the opportunity to engage in intelectually stimulating and culturally diverse debates and activities. The thing that has most positively impacted my training so far has been the very small size of non-mandatory seminars, which allows researchers to discuss in-depth seminal works in the field, and the substantial attention and time supervisors give to their advicees. Spending one-two-three hours every other week discussing my research with my advisor - a top name in the field - has been the rule until now. Marius Ghincea, EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences researcher, from Romania How have you grown as a researcher since you started at the EUI? Answer: Starting a Ph.D. at the EUI was an adventure about which I felt both very excited and also slightly intimidated. I had many ideas about my research topic and I was keen on diving deeper into political science research. But I was also afraid that my ideas wouldn't work out as planned, which I guess are somehow common doubts when you start a Ph.D. Especially in the beginning, it was figuring out day-by-day how academic life works. Thus, it felt and still feels like growing a bit every day to develop my research further. The EUI has been a great place that offers many opportunities to help me determine which ideas a feasible. There are seminars and workshops which provide general input. But also having face-to-face or zoom chats over a real or virtual coffee with one of the professors or other researchers is common to help your research grow. Rebecca Kittel, EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences researcher, from Germany Page last updated on 04 February 2021