Life as a PhD student

In their own words, former PhD students describe life as a PhD student at the Department of Anthropology:

Birgitte Romme Larsen: Basis for experience

"In your three year time as PhD students you get to do a personally designed extended fieldwork in whatever part of the empirical and thematic globe you are interested in, you get to teach engaged undergraduates in your topic, and you get to supervise and do examinations."

Kasper Tang Nielsen: Everyday inspiration

"The Department has a pluralistic research strategy, which I find very inspiring. To be presented with research topics that are quite different from my own challenges me everyday to think about my own research from new, and often rather unexpected, perspectives. I think - and hope (!) - that this enables me to come up with interesting, or perhaps even original, insights and conclusions"

Lotte Buch: A total, social experience

"The heterogeneous group of engaged, deeply committed and curious individuals at the institute means that going to work is as much a personal experience as well as a professional one. Not a day goes by without a friendly face in the door to my office poses a question, reminds me of lunch or just says good morning. To use a well known term by one of the discipline’s founding fathers, Marcel Mauss; being a PhD student at the institute to me is a total, social experience. And a good one."

Herbert Muyinda: Attention, availability, efficiency

"As a person from a different academic setting in a developing country, I have enjoyed and benefited from the very high level of attention and the time committed to my work by the Professors. They read my work on time and give advice whenever I need it. The availability of books and the efficiency of the library is amazing. You get allocated an office with all the requirements and the institute premises and facilities can be accessed all the time. It is possible to work up to late in the night as public transport within Copenhagen is very efficient and the streets are safe." 

Hans Lucht: Challenge and nice surroundings

"You have a chance to pursue your interest in anthropology and to take the project in challenging directions in ongoing discussions with your fellow students and the senior staff. This is both an exciting and an exhausting process. The Faculty of Social Sciences
is placed in the centre of Copenhagen, which is great if one likes to have a stroll around the town, or in the nearby botanical gardens, to clear one's head."

Bjarke Oxlund: Social platform with a good gender balance

"Every effort is made in the PhD group to promote a social platform that will assist the individual candidate in creating the right space for him- or herself.
Age-wise, the PhD group roughly spans people in their late 20s to people in the mid 40s, and the group is characterised by a good gender balance." 

Catrine Christiansen: Specific competence

"When doing research on African issues, particularly in Uganda, the Department of Anthropology is a tremendously good place to work because of the competence amongst the permanent staff and other PhD students."