{"id":1070,"date":"2025-10-15T03:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T01:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/?p=1070"},"modified":"2025-10-14T21:02:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T19:02:25","slug":"drifting-in-the-post-phd-current","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/2025\/10\/15\/drifting-in-the-post-phd-current\/","title":{"rendered":"Drifting in the Post-PhD Current"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Delivering<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five years into my PhD and I still wasn\u2019t done. To be fair, I hadn\u2019t exactly had an easy ride, starting just weeks before COVID lockdowns were announced, becoming a mother in my second year, and trying to build a new model system from scratch (Pipefish and their male pregnancy are adorable, but they don\u2019t always make life easy). My work was trial and error, and it took me more than a year just to find a story worth telling. But eventually, the words came together. I had a draft for my first chapter. It was written! Only\u2026 was it enough? Basic research with no direct application, no flashy headline \u2014 just curiosity-driven science. Many of us know that creeping voice: does this even matter?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, instead of calling it finished, I dove into one more dataset. In a rush of determination, I moved back into my old childhood bedroom at my parents\u2019 house, spending days and nights analysing, writing, rewriting. By mid-November I had a plan: \u201cDone by Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, life had other ideas. A hand surgery in between (note to future PhDs: don\u2019t do that with a deadline). But somehow, even with one hand and one finger sticking out of a cast, I wrote. Introduction. Synthesis. Outlook. Acknowledgements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Christmas I wasn\u2019t done, but close. My mother stepped in to take care of my daughter while I revised paragraph after paragraph under the Christmas tree. And then, in early January 2025, the moment came: university reopened, I submitted my dissertation, and it was gone. Done. Crazy. For two days, I let myself breathe and celebrate. Then reality hit: only six weeks until my defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defending<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Days passed and my defence presentation kept growing. Twenty slides, then thirty, then sixty. Every time I thought it was enough, I added more \u2014 extra data, backup information. Not because I wanted to show it all, but because I wanted to be ready for those tough questions. At the same time, I knew this wasn\u2019t just about surviving the defence. I wanted to celebrate it. I booked a big conference room, reserved a restaurant table, and sent out invitations. And suddenly it felt real: my family travelling in from far away, a friend making the trip from abroad, old classmates and colleagues all saying yes. That was overwhelming in the best way. Practising my talk became part of my daily routine. Alone in my office and in front of colleagues or friends. I have to admit: I\u2019ve always liked presenting more than drowning in raw data, so this part was actually\u2026 fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The morning of the defence, I woke up to an email that made my heart stop:\u00a0Water pipe leakage at university. All buildings evacuated. No exams allowed.<\/em>\u00a0Seriously? After weeks of preparing, was it all about to fall apart? What I hadn\u2019t expected was the incredible support around me. Within minutes, my PI had secured a new venue. Huge shout-out to the Marine Science Campus for stepping in and hosting me! And somehow, despite the last-minute chaos, everyone showed up.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the defence itself, my brain switched to autopilot. Over forty pairs of eyes were on me, waiting for me to present and defend five years of work. The questions that followed were tough and sometimes tricky, but also sparked real conversations. Ninety minutes passed in a blur. Then it was done. I was done. A doctor of natural sciences \u2013 me?\u00a0Hell yeah.<\/em> The rest of the day was exactly what I had dreamed of: celebrating, telling stories, reliving the journey with the people who had been part of it. Finally enjoying\u00a0this thing,<\/em>\u00a0I had worked toward for over five years. Relief and happiness like I had never felt before. And, as the cherry on top, I got the nicest doctoral hat that I could have imagined \u2013 with a glowing giant microbe and two crocheted guinea pigs perched proudly on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The great relieve, successfully defended!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Drifting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night of my defence, I went to bed expecting to wake up reborn \u2013 full of joy, energy, freedom. Instead, I woke up tired. Deeply tired. And strangely quiet inside. There was still paperwork to finish before I could officially call myself a doctor, and manuscripts waiting for submission. But the constant pressure, the expectations, the dependence on PIs, the weight of proving myself worthy of a title that even shows up in your passport, was suddenly gone. In its place came exhaustion, but also a growing sense of lightness. I gave myself a week to move slowly: sleeping, recharging, joining a retreat with my colleagues. Bit by bit, relief started to settle in.\u00a0I really made it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the moment it truly sank in wasn\u2019t the defence or the party, but a few weeks later. Walking out of the administration building at Kiel University with my PhD certificate in hand \u2013 that was the moment it felt real.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delivering Five years into my PhD and I still wasn\u2019t done. To be fair, I hadn\u2019t exactly had an easy ride, starting just weeks before COVID lockdowns were announced, becoming a mother in my second year, and trying to build a new model system from scratch (Pipefish and their male pregnancy are adorable, but they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":1072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28,16,37],"class_list":["post-1070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-view-of-a-scientist","tag-geomar","tag-oceanvoices","tag-phd-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1075,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions\/1075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/oceanvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}