What brings you back to the EUI?
The EUI Alumni Conference! A lot of my cohort will be here, my supervisors will be here, and I haven’t seen them in a while, so I think it is a good time to reunite with the community. And really to go back to that time in our lives when we were here. It was such a wonderful time.
What was your research about?
My PhD thesis was in empirical banking, and I covered several topics, most of which have to do with financial stability. Some of them were deposit insurance, another chapter was on mortgage default and ultimately the last chapter was about the transmission of monetary policy through banks.
How did your EUI experience contribute to building your career?
I think my experience at EUI really contributed. The EUI is geared not only towards academia, but also for people that want to have a career in institutions. And so, at the IMF, what I did here [at the EUI] was really valued when I interviewed to get the job there. The EUI provides you with this very broad base of knowledge that you can apply both to academic research and to operational policy work.
Did you experience any turning points or aha moments during your PhD at the EUI that helped you?
Yes, I think it was the first time that I realized that when you do research, you're pushing the frontier of knowledge. And so sometimes you look to your peers for advice and to your supervisors for advice. But ultimately you have to create your own piece of knowledge. And that's something that I hadn't done before and that I found very rewarding.
What advice would you give, either to current or future EUI-ers?
Be open to different research ideas. Many people, when they start, think they're going to do microeconomics and then they end up doing macroeconomics. You change, your taste for questions evolves. Just be guided by what interests you and what makes you curious and what questions you want to answer.
One thing that really helped me was to take the PhD as a marathon, not a sprint. It's really the grueling work of every day. You're not going to solve all the problems of your paper in a day, but it's really resilience and keeping going. When things sometimes get difficult or you get to a little bit of a corner in terms of research, you just keep going and then one day you have this Eureka moment, and you move forward.
How does it feel to be back at Villa la Fonte?
It is great! It’s beautiful. One thing that I really liked about Villa La Fonte is the sense of peace that you have here. If you look around, you see nature, you hear the birds chirping. That really helps you focus on your research. It's a very peaceful environment, very conducive to research.
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The EUI Alumni Testimonials series offers a glimpse into the diverse paths and experiences of our alumni. Through their stories, we revisit meaningful moments from their time at the EUI and discover how these experiences continue to shape their personal and professional journeys.
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Disclaimer: All information reported in this article reflects solely the perspective of EUI alumni and former EUI members. In no case does this article represent the view of the organisations the interviewees are affiliated with.