Post by TobyPost by David HaardtPost by TobyPost by David HaardtPost by TobySo, anyone doing anything wildly interesting this Summer?
If working on my PhD thesis is "wildly interesting", then yes.
Seriously though, I enjoy it very much. Although the weather at the
moment is a constant temptation.
David Haardt
Can't you work at it on the beach, then?
Well I could of course bring my laptop to have access to the
statistical software that I need as well as to LaTeX and electronic
papers/articles...
But the distraction would probably be too high; even in my office at
university it's difficult to work at the current temperatures.
Anyway, I'm sure that I'll have a calm summer soon. Maybe next year.
Or after the PhD. Or after having become lecturer. Or senior lecturer.
Or maybe upon retirement? OK, let's not think about this too much.
David
hehe Will you be staying in the UK long-term or...?
Good question.
The academic job market in economics is extremely efficient, meaning
that there is very strict sorting on quality, with new PhDs having to
apply to many many departments to be able to receive a couple of job
offers.
Just as examples, the average PhD job market candidate in economics in
the US applies to 75 (!) departments, and the economics department
here at Essex has recently hired four new lecturers out of 300 (!)
applications, with all of them having their PhDs from top European and
US departments.
In that sense, choice with respect to location is certainly somewhat
limited in academic economics.
I enjoy the atmosphere here at my research institute very much, both
academically and socially, being far superior to what I know from
Austria. Still, it seems like this research institute is a special
place, with the atmosphere at many of the other departments being much
worse. In that sense I cannot say whether I enjoy it here because it's
in the UK or just because I had luck with my particular research
institute.
That said, I'm flexible with respect to location, so when it comes to
being on the job market in 2006 or 2007 (fingers crossed) I will just
do my best and hope that I'll find a department or research institute
whose atmosphere can compete with the one I'll be used to from here.
David