Stina did her PhD between the years 2015 and 2020, focusing on ambient measurements of anthropogenic aerosols, with particular emphasis on organic carbon and soot particles and emissions from the shipping industry. In addition to her primary project, she contributed to two other projects, one looking at soot particles from car traffic and their aging, and another examining soot emissions in Poland.

She finished during the covid-19 pandemic, which meant she had to do the dissertation digitally. After that, Stina allowed herself some time off during the summer before starting to apply for jobs, which she found a bit difficult, especially considering the circumstances of covid-19. She participated in activities organized by “Trygghetsstiftelsen”, an organization that provides support for people after finishing their PhD help them with the job transition. Eventually, an employment opportunity opened at the air quality unit at Naturvårdsverket (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency), which she landed.

When she started her employment, her main task was to produce a report on the development of one of the 16 national environmental qualitative objectives, Natural acidification only.  

As a state agency Naturvårdverket is politically governed. Stina leverages the skills she developed during her PhD to approach her work with a scientific, objective, and neutral perspective. She also recognizes the importance of communication in her role and utilizes the skills she developed during her PhD to efficiently convey information to and between the research community and the public. She attributes much of her learning on efficient communication to the teaching experience during her PhD.

One of her fondest memories from her PhD is the day of the dissertation. She felt relief to be done, and the accomplishment and was proud as she had a tough but fair opponent. Additionally, she enjoyed the field trips for outdoor measurements. The first one, in which she was invited to join another researcher during the first months of her PhD, was found to be a great learning experience.

Stina did not have any major negative experiences during her PhD, sure some stuff were challenging but always manageable with problem solving and support. She feels however like she had limited insight on what the work opportunities and job market looked like after finishing. However, she found it helpful to hear from her coach at Trygghetsstiftelsen that it can take on average 8 months for a PhD student to transition from a job within academia to another sector. Her advice to current students is therefore to not become overly stressed about the post-PhD time, as it can take time, and try not to compare yourself to others but to your own development and goals. Also, it is helpful to seek out someone to talk to and exchange ideas during the PhD, such as the supervisor, your colleges, or PhD-students from other institutions. And of course to also keep having meaningful relations and activities outside of work!