{"id":51793,"date":"2025-10-09T11:52:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T09:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/en\/?post_type=news&p=51793"},"modified":"2025-10-09T12:03:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T10:03:21","slug":"creating-knowledge-for-society-the-challenging-and-rewarding-phd-journey","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/en\/news\/creating-knowledge-for-society-the-challenging-and-rewarding-phd-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating knowledge for society: the challenging and rewarding PhD journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cThe University of Luxembourg now has 1000 PhD students<\/em>\u201d, started Prof. Jens Kreisel. \u201cThey are <\/em>the <\/em>powerhouse of our research and also of the innovation in the country<\/em>.\u201d Around him were five PhDs alumni, former laureates of the Rolf Tarrach Prize. Today, some of them are working in a startup, on an ERC grant or the at Cour administrative. Through their PhD, they chose to address key challenges of todays and tomorrow\u2019s society and committed to a career path that would inherently change their way of reflecting and working.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fatima Chaouche (Award Winner 2020 \u2013 PhD in Law), started the conversation looking back what doctoral studies enabled for her, on a personal level. \u201cDoing a PhD has completely changed my mind, who I am<\/em>. It gave me the confidence, the resilience and the patience to digest feedback. I had to accept being challenged and critiqued. It was important to make you and your work better, while also understanding that you are not defined by your work.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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\nOvercoming criticism to improve and move forward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

V\u00e9ronique Cornu (Award Winner 2019 \u2013 PhD in Psychology), illustrated this with a tough experience. \u201cMy first paper was rejected after peer review. This critical feedback is something I had to learn to deal with. As a human being, it is very hard to take it, but in the academic field it is essential. I revised my paper and wrote a better draft. It was published and is now my most cited paper<\/em>.\u201d She is now a clinical neuropsychologist at the Centre pour le d\u00e9veloppement des apprentissages (CDA) for children and adolescents with learning disorders. She also collaborates with the University on research to connect clinical practice with scientific progress. Unexpectedly, her research now impacted her own, personal life. \u201cAs part of my PhD, I\u2019ve developed an application for young children to <\/em>learn mathematics without language<\/em><\/a>, so that we have no language barriers, which is very important in a multilingual country such as Luxembourg. This <\/em>app<\/em><\/a> is now used all over the world, and my little daughter is also working on it in preschool<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSurprising conversations, impactful discoveries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn research, often what we find isn\u2019t what we were looking for<\/em>\u201d, continued L\u00e9o Perrin (Award Winner 2018 \u2013 PhD in Cryptography). One must accept to deviate from the initial path, a level of uncertainty and potentially more U-turns or dead ends until, at last, their efforts pay off. His work at Inria focuses on symmetric cryptography and is currently supported by an ERC grant (ReSCALE), continuing the path started during his PhD. \u201cAnd that happened to me several times in my career<\/em>.\u201d Mads Weber (Award Winner 2017 \u2013 PhD in Physics), insists on the power of discussions. \u201cA lot is about connection with people. The feedback that I got in moments that were important. The freedom of off-topic discussions can lead you to the right direction, help you to carry on, and to concrete successful research<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nStarting a PhD in the middle of a career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most start a PhD directly after a Master, but some do it beside their job, in between a job, and even after retirement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was working for 20 years in the private sector, before I decided to do something completely new and a PhD<\/em>\u201d said Carsten Ullrich (Award Winner 2021 \u2013 PhD in Law). \u201cMy supervisor was younger than me, and it helped me to start fresh. Developing my sense of curiosity was what helped me pushing the envelope<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMany people are asking how we can educate people if we do not know what the jobs will be in 5- or 10-years\u2019 time<\/em>\u201d, said Prof. Jens Kreisel.
\u201cWe need more than specific disciplines such as law, sociology, or physics. Being able to write, to analyse, to contextualise, to criticise and accept criticism. This will be important for any job tomorrow. This is the hidden curriculum: skills that make a difference later<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\nThe hidden curriculum: essential skills for the future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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For the former award winners, these skills became essential to continue their thesis. \u201cThe process shapes how you think, work and approach a problem<\/em>\u201d, described V\u00e9ronique Cornu. \u201cProject management and the ability to work independently are also skills that I acquired during my PhD<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe further you advance, the more you acquire these skills and in-depth knowledge, you start to see where the problems are immediately, what really needs to be answered<\/em>\u201d, echoed Fatima Chaouche. \u201cThese four years has been a great preparation to work at the supreme administrative court in Luxembourg, where we have to solve very complex tax cases that have never been solved before<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For V\u00e9ronique Cornu, these few years have a lasting impact on society. \u201cNowadays, I am working with children with learning difficulties who struggle to learn math. What I\u2019ve studied over years in theory lets me support them in practice<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Doctoral education at the University of Luxembourg offers a creative academic environment and state-of-the-art infrastructure. The ecosystem is designed to support doctoral students to produce high-level research and further their careers, whether in academia or in the industry. Through an information portal<\/a>, holders of a Master\u2019s degree can apply to vacant doctoral positions<\/a> or propose their research project from scratch at the Doctoral Schools and Programmes<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

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\nDiscover also…<\/h2>\n\n
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  • \n \n \n \n Admissions for doctoral candidates <\/span>\n <\/use><\/svg> <\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \n \n \n \n More about doctoral education <\/span>\n <\/use><\/svg> <\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":341,"featured_media":51797,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"featured_image_focal_point":[],"show_featured_caption":false,"ulux_newsletter_groups":"","uluxPostTitle":"","uluxPrePostTitle":"","_trash_the_other_posts":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"news-category":[14],"news-topic":[],"organisation":[238,233],"authorship":[341],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCreating knowledge for society: the challenging and rewarding PhD journey - University of Luxembourg<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n