“Starting an academic career is not really a childhood dream for most people. I am no exception. As a fourteen-year-old, I dreamed of becoming a pilot. Little did I know that, a decade later, I would start a PhD in air transport economics.”
During my Bachelor studies, I discovered that the economic and management aspects of air transport are at least as exciting as the idea of flying itself. While this insight changed my life path from the cockpit closer to the back office, it was eventually my Master’s Thesis supervisor who persuaded me to consider a PhD position at the department of Transport and Regional Economics.
After some months of hesitation and a few discussions with friends and relatives, I decided to take the dive. And a deep dive it was, but I haven’t regretted my choice ever since. Four years later, I am co-teaching the course that once stimulated my passion for air transport economics. Passing on my passion to others.
Part of a community
Doing a PhD for me was a life-changing experience. It brought me to places and people to which I would otherwise not have had access. It created opportunities to develop different kinds of skills, but also to grow as a person. While I love to spend time alone in my office (or in the Swiss mountains from time to time), digging into the literature, looking at graphs of a dataset, struggling with statistical models and the interpretation of their results or just philosophising on new ideas, the PhD life can also feel lonely at times. You run into yourself sometimes, facing your limitations and realising how many things you don’t know (yet).
At those times, it is essential to remember that, as a PhD student, you are part of an academic community. While your academic peers might be working on other topics, the challenges they are facing are, in essence, not so different. It’s important to share views with like-minded people. It benefits your research, opens your mindset and helps you to realise that there is more to working in academia than sitting behind a desk.
“Working in academia is more than just a job; it’s a lifestyle.”
Get involved
The current pandemic reminds us that we should not take our community for granted. It does not stand by itself but needs driving forces to keep it together. It’s something on which we continuously need to work. During a (semi-)lockdown, this might be even more challenging.
“At different occasions during my PhD trajectory, I tried to pay modest contributions to such community building. I, for example, took up (and still am taking up) a role within the young research network of the faculty, co-organising events bringing young researchers together over department boundaries.”
Since my early PhD days, my colleagues have also involved me in the organisation of events bridging the Belgian aviation community with the academic community (first the ATRS World Conference in the summer of 2017, later via our air transport colloquium). I think that engaging in such activities is not only rewarding for the community as a whole but also enriching as it creates new opportunities for personal growth. I would recommend all PhD students to participate in such initiatives.
PhD in lockdown
The pandemic itself has also had its impact on the last months of my PhD trajectory. Most of the chapters of my thesis have been written during the lockdown. The lockdown was challenging, but perhaps also benefited my thesis writing. With not many possibilities to do anything else, all my time and energy went to writing. Write, eat, sleep, repeat. While my internal defence was entirely online, I was lucky enough to have a hybrid public defence, unfortunately without the usual festivities.
Luckily the pandemic has brought my thesis subject again on the political agenda making my research as relevant as ever. This in itself is rewarding, knowing that after four years of hard work, you can not only pay a small contribution to academic literature but also to public debate. No festivities needed.
Sven Buyle is part of the research group Transport and Regional Economics. Follow the group on LinkedIn for the most recent updates.