Culture & Cultures

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In a world where climate change and pollution are more prominent than ever before, it is important that everyone contributes to minimise their footprint. Research laboratories are some of the biggest producers of single-use plastic waste, and use equipment that are energy consuming and resource-heavy in production.

How can we reduce the impact of laboratories and make the everyday work-life for a PhD student more sustainable? One initiative is the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), which aims to increase the sustainability of labs across the world. The University of Copenhagen has implemented this framework, and to discuss this we have invited Nikoline Borgermann, who initiated LEAF at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences (SUND) at the University of Copenhagen, and Emma Helene Frank Larsen, a PhD student at SUND who has been involved in several initiatives to make the work in her department more sustainable. 

But who is responsible for implementing these changes? Should the University of Copenhagen have more ambitious goals in terms of its footprint? These, and many more questions, we discuss in this week’s episode of Culture & Cultures: Be LEAF!

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A PhD project rarely follows a perfectly straight path. In this episode, we explore how effective project management can help PhD students stay focused, make steady progress, and increase their chances of completing their projects successfully through a conversation with our guest Liv Gish. Liv is a PhD coach that works with students on structuring their projects, managing time, and building sustainable work habits.

From surprising results to changing priorities, we examine how to adapt your plans while staying focused on the bigger picture—and why flexibility is just as important as planning when it comes to successfully finishing a PhD.

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The University of Copenhagen is an international research environment. 50% of PhD students and over 70% of postdocs at KU are from abroad. How does the university help staff coming from other countries, does it matter what country you move from and what should and could you prepare already today if you are starting a job at KU? 

To answer these questions, and many more, we are joined by Züleyha Özden and Kathy Borys Siddiqui, from International Staff Mobility at the University of Copenhagen. Züleyha works as a Senior Global Mobility Consultant and helps international staff navigate the relocation path in terms of visa, registration, permits etc. Kathy Borys Siddiqui works as a Dual Career Consultant and offer career development for international researchers and their spouses and partners.

And we are also joined by Weizhe Wang, who is a PhD student at the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. She will share her experiences about moving to Denmark from abroad, finding a community in Denmark and getting adjusted to the danish culture – both work culture but also culture in general. 

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Not all PhDs are the same — and do these differences matter?

In this episode of Culture & Cultures, we unpack three different types of PhD; academic, medical, and industrial, and discuss how funding models, employment conditions, and external collaborations shape everyday life, expectations, and career paths.

In the episode, we have invited three guests; PhD students Carolina Nerea Corral Yélamos, Karen Hvid and Freja Cecilie Mikkelsen. We discuss research freedom, workload, wellbeing, and who should apply for which PhD type and why.

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A PhD can feel overwhelming long before you even start — and often just as overwhelming once you do. We are here to help!

In this opening episode of Culture and Cultures season 2: The Path to Your PhD, we introduce the podcast and its journey from a passion project about PhD life abroad (season 1) to a full series following the PhD from start to finish in 12 episodes (season 2). We also give a preview of the next 11 episodes and the key topics that shape PhD life.

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