STUDIEVÄGLEDARBLOGGEN

(This is part of a series of conversations I’ve had with PhD students, doctors and teachers here at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History in Lund during the summer of 2022. For some the original conversation were in English, but for some in Swedish. When that’s the case I’ve published a translation as well, and any faults or strange word choices are to be considered mine. You’ll find the Swedish original here.)

Fanny Kärfve finished her PhD in March 2022 with the defence of her thesis Greeting the visitor – A contextualising study of fauces-mosaics in Pompeii and is now a Doctor in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History. Moreover, when I caught her for a few questions about her experience of the PhD in general and the application process specifically, she was so newly confermed that the doctoral ring felt strange on her finger and the laurel wreath was still fresh. Fanny got to experience several different aspects of the doctoral conferment ceremony, as her daughter was one of the girls who carried the laurel wreaths and got to borrow a dress from Kulturen for it. For a passing spectator, the conferment ceremony means gun salutes by the cathedral and a parade of black-clad individuals, but for the doctor-to-be, it is years of hard work that ceremonially comes to an end. But Fanny says she hasn’t gotten used to the idea that it’s finished quite yet. Since she’s so into it still, it was the perfect opportunity to ask about it all. This will be a summary of the conversation we had about the thesis, life and the future.

”How did you go about applying?”

”I applied for the position here in Lund three times, but I also had plans to apply either abroad or at one of the other departments with Classical Archaeology and Ancient History here in Sweden. In Sweden, a PhD position is an employment with all the benefits of such, such as job protection and parental leave, but it is also an education, and that played a role in where I applied. My project was ranked differently at the different application stages. When you get a high ranking, you get a statement about your application and I used that to improve my project plan for the next time. They then look at the relevance of the topic and if there is a new angle to the material, or a new perspective and if it is feasible. The biggest change I made was to reduce the scope of the project so that it would be doable during the PhD, and that was lucky because it grew later anyway!”

”How did you choose the topic for your dissertation?”

””I was lucky enough to be a student in the Pompeii project (a project run by the then Professor of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History here in the department) and there I found my material and realised that no one else had done anything with it. There were also people in the project who listened to questions and encouraged me to take it further, but I didn’t ask anyone for comments on the project description before applying because I didn’t want to put them in a position of conflict of interest. But after I started writing an application, I talked a lot to people who had written applications themselves, for example for excavations, and I asked other PhD students about how they wrote their applications. It helps to hear how others did it.”

”Do you have advice for anyone applying now”

”Especially for Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, language is really important! Not only does the department in Lund require ancient languages for your application to be ranked, but modern languages are also important. Much of the research is written in languages other than English, so German, French, Italian and Greek are good to read and understand. This will be taken into account when assessing the application. Having realistic expectations and knowing what you are getting into, being driven by a certain kind of stubbornness and curiosity. And, of course, a genuine love of ancient history.”

”What has been difficult and what has been fun along the way?”

”The hardest thing has been the time aspect. Setting a framework for your project and a timetable, and knowing when to stop! You can’t go on and on forever. So making it manageable was difficult. Becoming a parent during the PhD was not as difficult as one might think, it just extends the time it takes. The most enjoyable part has been being part of a context, having colleagues and a workplace, and being able to take a place in the subject.”

”And now, what happens for you after this milestone?”

”I’ve been awarded a grant to start a new project inspired by my thesis. So it’s off to Ostia!”

Thank you Fanny for taking the time, we look forward to your continued research!

(This is part of a series of conversations I’ve had with PhD students, doctors and teachers here at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History in Lund during the summer of 2022. For some the original conversation were in English, but for some in Swedish. When that’s the case I’ve published a translation as well, and any faults or strange word choices are to be considered mine. You’ll find the Swedish original here.)

Hampus Olsson has a PhD from the department and presented his thesis Cultural and socio-political development in south Etruria in October 2021. Since the doctoral conferment ceremony is only once a year, he received his laurel wreath and ring together with Fanny Kärfve in June 2022.

Hampus is teaching a summer course on ancient history and it’s relevance to us today that is running for the first time this year and he took the time to talk to me about his experience of applying for a PhD. When asked how he feels now that everything was done, the answer was ”compared to the joy I felt when I got the PhD position, it’s more of a relief now” and when Hampus told me about the turns his dissertation has taken, I understand him. Since it has been a while since the dissertation, I started by asking Hampus about his plans for the future. Here is a summary of our conversation. 

”What are you doing right now and what’s next?”

”There’s a lot going on now. During the summer I’m teaching the summer course on Ancient history and it’s relevance today, and in September I have a research lectureship at the Swedish Institute in Rome where I’ll be working on a couple of different projects. At the moment I am finalising an application for a pilot study for a field project on Blera. There is a city plateau that has been abandoned so it is possible to study the ancient city, urbanisation and the movement of the city centre. Within the research lectureship there will also be a historical project on identity creation and collective memory during the reign of Augustus. This is the topic that my thesis should have been about from the beginning.”

”How did you go about applying for the PhD position and why did you change your dissertation topic?”

”When I finished my master’s degree, I was lucky that four positions in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History were advertised at the same time, and none of them at my home university (Uppsala). So I applied for all four. It took about three months of all the free time I could carve out from my full-time job as a bartender to write it, and many rewrites along the way.

”While working on my master’s thesis, I had come across the Etruscan priesthood that Augustus incorporated into Roman historiography, and with that topic I was able to use much of the knowledge I had gained during my master’s thesis. It was to be the basis of my thesis but after working on it for a semester I got very stuck. I felt that the sources would not be enough for a whole thesis.

”So, in consultation with my supervisor, I changed the topic to another part of Etruscan history. I had been working with a PhD student in Uppsala documenting Etruscan tombs, and during fieldwork I was thinking about how a small cultural area was affected by the expansion of Rome. It took a long time to get into the new subject and get a picture of what was connected. There was so much more material to go through and this contributed to the delay of the thesis.”

”How did you deal with it when the thesis needed more time?”

”I applied for grants and was lucky enough to get them, from the faculty, foundations, the The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (Vitterhetsakademien), and the Swedish Institute in Rome. It is quite laborious to write applications but it can be worth it. The scholarship world in Lund and Uppsala is large, so as a student here there are many to apply for.”

”Do you have any advice for those who want to try a PhD application?”

”If you find a niche you’re interested in during your master’s thesis, you’ll have help from that research in your application. Go to all the seminars you can and show your interest early, it makes it easier to ask questions later. It’s the single most important thing you can do for your degree and after it. Also apply outside your home university and take help where you can get it.

”Doing a digging internship is another tip. It’s harder as a student of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History to get that experience during your master’s studies, but it’s important to have an understanding of archaeology before interpreting the material for your research.

”Classical Archaeology and Ancient History is a research-oriented subject from the start but don’t forget about modern languages, they are needed if you are going to do research. Almost all research on the Etruscans is written in Italian, for example.”

”You are an active part of a network in your field too, would you like to tell us about it?”

”It’s a network for Etruscanology, pre-Roman archaeology and Italian cultures – a network for students at Swedish universities who have that as their research focus and the idea is that it will act as a bridge between the institute in Rome and the students. We have discussions on thesis topics, text seminars for master theses (similar to the final seminar for PhD theses) and it is now national and has about 20 active students. When fieldwork comes up, we broker those contacts as well. The network was started by Fredrik Tobin-Dodd, who was the PhD student I helped with the Etruscan tombs.”

Thank you Hampus for taking the time to answer questions and good luck with the new position in Rome!

(This is part of a series of conversations I’ve had with PhD students, doctors and teachers here at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History in Lund during the summer of 2022. For some the original conversation were in English, but for some in Swedish. Since Lena worked in Oxford for many years I asked her to write up her answers after our conversation.)

Lena Strid is a PhD student in Historical Archaeology at the department and she’s done her four years and is on an extension. Lena and I have been friends since we met at the first day of the first course of archaeology here in Lund and she kindly offered to answer questions about her PhD experience with an eye toward hopeful applicants. 

“When did you decide you wanted to do a PhD?”

”I was working as an animal bone specialist in England, and while the work itself was very fun, the combination of poor wages (a case all over English archaeology, unfortunately) and living in an expensive town meant that I had an eye out for other jobs. And the only options in the job ads were either as lower-paid assistant to someone at my own level, or comparatively well-paid university jobs that required a PhD.”

”How did you go about applying?”

”I kept an eye out for notices on PhD positions in Sweden (PhDs in England are very badly funded, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are already well-off) as they came up on a mailing list I’m on. I think I applied in total for eight positions over a six year period, learning something new about the process for each time. For example, you are expected to include a timeline for how you go about to structure your PhD over the four year period (this is not included in the instructions, btw) and that you cannot apply with the same research project a second time unless you show that you have kept on developing your project since last time, maybe done a short preliminary study (this is also not included in the instructions). It was not possible for me to do extra research since I was working full-time in a different country, so I had to shelve that project and come up with new one.

”A couple of projects later, sometimes shortlisted for interviews, sometimes not, I applied with my current research project to Uppsala, but fell through. They only gave written feedback for the shortlist, so I called them about feedback, since I wanted to know if I should develop this further, or just cancel it. Then, just a few days after, I found out that Lund had soon-closing job advert, and I sent in the same application, and figured that if Lund had the same objections as Uppsala, it was something I needed to work on, otherwise I could try to develop the project further. And to my great surprise they liked it so much they offered me a position as a PhD student.”

”How did you choose the topic for your dissertation after discarding earlier plans?”

”I came across an open lecture in Oxford on using biochemical analysis to do species identification for parchment in Medieval manuscripts, and as usual, all data came from England, France, Germany and Italy. So I asked the professor if they had any data from Scandinavia, and he said they didn’t. And following the saying that if you want something done well you have to do it yourself, I started working on a research proposal for a PhD. We stayed in touch and I’m loosely affiliated with his research group.”

”Do you have any tips for anyone thinking about applying for a Phd?”

”Don’t apply for anything unless you have a real passion for it: it’s gruelling work, and sometimes only your own curiosity for your subject will be the thing motivating you to keep going.

”Start networking as soon as you have a vague idea of what you’re interested in: join organisations that are in the same field and go to their meetings. For example, Environmental Archaeology (archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, geoarchaeology, landscape studies) (https://envarch.net) , Roman finds group (artefact studies) (https://www.romanfindsgroup.org.uk ) and there are more.

”Use your contacts in the specialist fields (see above) and in university – don’t feel shy to reach out to your lecturers – to ask about feedback for your research project. This is absolutely vital! You want to know if they think it’s viable (Do you have too little data? Too much data? Is someone else working on the same idea?) and if there are important things you need to be aware of when doing research on this question, such as material accessibility (If your material is in a museum in a different country, will they allow you to see it? Is the museum planning a long-term closure of their storage facilities for building repairs?) and language concerns (i.e. if important works in that field are in German, can you read German?).

”Don’t get beat down over rejections. As long as you are not rejected over missing documents or other formalia, it all depends on which projects you are competing with. Sometimes you are up against several great projects, sometimes your project is the better one in that year. If your project proposal is rejected, ask them for feedback! It could be something important, or it could just be that it’s a bad fit for that department.”

”Apart from the ordeal of finding stuff out the hard way about the application process, what has been difficult and what has been fun along the way?”

”It’s a long slog, and planning for four years can be really tough. The timeplan needs to be continously revised, as life will throw obstacles in your way (not usually as big as a worldwide pandemic, but still). The main problems has been unexpected mental health issues (depression) that has set me back timewise, and the pandemic that caused delays in lab work and the final parts of my data gathering. The fun bit has been opportunities to go to conferences and meet up with people interested in my research (remember: if you go to a conference abroad, set aside a few days for sightseeing!), and interesting chats with my colleagues at the department.”

“Now that you’re almost at the end of your PhD, how does it feel?”

”I’m fed up with it and I just want it to be over. However, I’m still excited about my research questions and I do want to let other people know what I found out. The main problem now is funding. Despite being employed by the university, the state considers PhD students students, and as such we are not eligible for the dole. It’s extremely difficult to concentrate on research if you’re working full-time, and part-time jobs are difficult to get since employers assume you will leave them soon for a full-time archaeology job. I’ve been lucky to have been awarded two grants, so I will try to eke out that money as long as I can, and remember that a PhD needs not to be perfect, but good enough to be submitted!”

Thank you for your time, Lena, and for answering all these questions!

Blair Nolan started his PhD positionin Historical Osteology with us in winter of 2020 and we all know what the pandemic did to everything and everyone, so his time here hasn’t really followed the usual rhythm. I had the chance to catch him for a conversation just before summer vacation 2022, three semesters in on his project. I thought it would be interesting to hear from someone who have applied from outside the Swedish system, so we started our conversation there. What follows is a summary of that conversation that Blair wrote up for you.

“What did you do before you ended up here?”

”Immediately before my PhD here in Lund I was living back in Canada having finished my master’s the year before at the University of Sheffield. I did an MSc in Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology. Prior to Sheffield I did a bachelor’s degree majoring in archaeology, minoring in biology, at Simon Fraser University in my hometown of Vancouver. That was where I took my first few courses in the branch of archaeology called bioarchaeology or biological anthropology, and really developed my interest in the subject of archaeology as a whole. I had always been inclined towards the biological sciences and had a love for reading and studying history while in secondary school, so this seemed like the best way to marry two of my interests together. After that I worked in commercial archaeology for a couple of years on various projects in my home province of British Columbia and a few other locations in the country before heading to Sheffield and eventually ending up here. Part of my decision in come to Lund was to experience the education system and academic tradition of another country, the same kind of thing that I did in England coming from Canada. I think it provides a perspective that you can’t otherwise obtain and gives you an appreciation for the practices and work of academics from various backgrounds.””

“When did you start to consider a PhD?”

”I think that was probably during my master’s. The decision to do a masters really came from my work in commercial archaeology, because it was seen as an asset to have a master’s degree if you wanted to move up in those companies. I chose to do the MSc in Human Osteology because I had loved the subject during my bachelor’s and wanted to explore the topic more and then once I really dug into the material while at Sheffield I think I realised that I really enjoyed the process of developing my own research project and tackling a larger problem. About halfway through when we really began to focus on the thesis I thought that a PhD could be an option and then towards then end of the degree it was something that I think I was striving for after graduation. Not necessarily something that I wanted to do right away, even though I guess I ended up doing that, but something I saw as a goal for the future. I think the onset of the pandemic, returning to Canada, and maybe some of the struggle I faced finding a job as a non-EU international in the UK helped push me along to decide to apply more quickly than I would have. Not to mention my master’s supervisor, who is now my secondary supervisor for this PhD, really encouraged me to apply and take the next step.”

“How did you decide on the subject for your PhD application?”

”My master’s thesis has acted as a foundation for what I am doing in my PhD. At Sheffield, with some guidance from my supervisor, I developed an interest in palaeodemographics, which is the study past population dynamics that can incorporate data on health and mortality, disease, diet and mobility patterns for the purpose of better understanding the lived experience of people in the past and how they interacted with their social and physical environments. My master’s project focused on a small sample of human remains from a medieval church cemetery in Warwick, England and I tried to say something about population level health and mortality prior to the Black Death in that country. For my PhD project I wanted to take those themes and extrapolate outwards working with a larger sample, in this case over 2000 remains, and engaging a more multidisciplinary approach. Really looking at how within an Urban environment different segments of the population may have interacted with their environments and identifying the inequalities in health and mortality with respect to various social identities.”

”Has your initial project changed a lot? How have you dealt with that change?”

”I think that the scope of the project has changed quite a bit. As I said I came in with the idea to do a somewhat larger version of what I had done in my masters and overtime through various discussions with my supervisor and through my own reading of the current research in the field I have been able to expand the idea and incorporate a lot of new elements. That can be a tough and stressful process though, and it wasn’t necessarily easy to wrap my head around at first. It’s important not to get to latched onto the idea and be open to making changes while at the same time not letting yourself be pulled in too many directions. Again, it is something that I think comes from having a lot of conversations with not only the supervisors, but also other PhD students or even friends and family that might be interested in the topic. You’re not going to have the perfect project on day one and the whole point is to take what you are learning through your deeper dive into the material and take the time to rework and develop your project into something more meaningful.”

“How did you go about writing your application once you figured out what you wanted to do?”

”I identified Lund as a possibility through some conversations with a friend of mine that had graduated with a bachelor’s from the department and she indicated that Lund had a really great Historical Osteology group with some fantastic collections and might have a call for doctoral students coming up. From there I went ahead and looked for PhD position postings at Lund and several other institutions that I felt were either tailored to bioarchaeology or looked like places I might be able to make something work. The department ended up posting a call for a PhD in historical osteology in Lund and going off what I had heard from people and after doing a bit of background research on the department, the collections, and faculty in the historical osteology division I decided to put together an application. I saw Lund as a place where I could really find my research niche and develop that.

”I took my initial idea and reached out to Torbjörn Ahlström, the project supervisor, to see if this would be a project the department might be interested in and to get a few more details on what they expect from the submitted applications. Throughout the course of writing and editing my proposal I also reached out to my previous supervisor in Sheffield for a reference but also for guidance in writing the proposal. I think that reaching out to the prospective supervisor was a real help in the application writing process and I think it probably made my name stand out a bit or at least give them some sort of contact prior to submission, as I was not previously a part of the institution. Then it was just a process of writing, rewriting, and sharing it around for edits and critiques from friends, peers, and as I said my previous supervisor. Once I had something that I thought worked well and was happy with I sent it in.”

“What have been hardest about applying outside your previous environment?”

”That the process felt like being in the dark a lot. This being my first application and not knowing what to expect exactly, while being an applicant from outside of the EU was a bit daunting. At times I didn’t know really what stage the application was at or how long it would take until the next phase, but I was able to get in contact with people at the department to give updates here and there. There was just a geographical distance that made things feel a bit more up in the air.

”I think the biggest difficulties for me were after having accepted the position. There were delays with the migration office that pushed my permit back further than it should have been, the relocation company had issues with filing paperwork, and I think there was a general uncertainty and nervousness on my part about moving to an entirely new country during a very strange time with the pandemic. Upon arrival I think I felt like I was jumping through hoops with administration and social systems while also trying to find my footing with the PhD. It took a couple of months to sort a lot of things out but I was able to find a solid footing.”

“Do you have any advice for people thinking about applying?”

”When you apply: It’s important to know that this subject is truly interesting to you and is something that you are going to enjoy exploring further. This can be hard to figure out I know, but It’s four years of work, at least, and you want to keep yourself motivated throughout the entire process. Keeping that in mind you don’t have to have it all figured out on day one. Easier said than done and I also had the initial shock of arriving on day one and thinking what now, how I move on from this point. It can be really daunting and doctoral students, myself included, tend to get very overwhelmed at the beginning. Temper your expectations and know that your project can always be changed and focus can shift over time. It would be an extremely rare occasion that a student applies with the perfect project that doesn’t undergo any changes.

”Identify someone that is working in the same field you are interested in and perhaps even approach them to see if they are interested in your project idea before there is a call for applicants. You want an engaged and interested supervisor as well, because that is such an important relationship and support system to build and foster while you are studying and can really be an asset in making connections with other researchers and institutions.

”It was really valuable to have the introductory course and hear from the recently graduated PhDs and have them say that it is normal to feel that way. I also say take advantage of every resource that you have, go to the seminars and courses for PhD students on how to write and time and stress manage, even if maybe it seems a little early on. Dealing with stress levels and maintaining a healthy balance between life and work is incredibly important to me and something that I really strive to make work in a productive manner because if you don’t make time for yourself and a life outside of your work you are going to burnout and hurt yourself in the long run. And to that end, don’t apply to much pressure to yourself and constantly compare yourself to your peers and colleagues, it’s a recipe for disaster. Healthy competition is great but obsessing over your achievements compared to others isn’t. ”

“Is it what you imagined?”

”It was a bit of a strange start. Having shown up during the pandemic a lot of the academic and social activities that help to meet people in the department and around the city weren’t happening and so I think there was a bit of a lack of community, especially amongst the PhD student group at the time, at least for myself. This is something that is changing though in the recent term and having an enthusiastic group that wants to build that community back up has been great.

”Like I said I got into the PhD because I wanted to explore that research niche and I really think that I have been able to do that here in Lund, and the department has been very generous and welcoming in providing me with the tools and expertise to do that. I am coming towards the end of a long year of data collection on my project and will soon focus a bit more on writing and interpretation of the data. I have also been given the opportunity to teach, which is something that I really valued about the program here that Lund focuses on providing those opportunities to PhD students as well as providing courses and training in teach methods and theory.

”I have really come to love living in Sweden. I have never felt out of place here and the Swedish people have been so welcoming and accommodating. As a native English speaker I think the transition might be easier for myself with so many having such a high level of English in Sweden, but the blow of having to make it by in a foreign country is lessened by that. In the year and a half that I have been here I’ve began to see Sweden as a home away from home and really can’t wait to continue my PhD, see what the future holds and explore more of this country.”

Thank you Blair, for your time and thoughts. I hope you have a wonderful vacation back in Canada this summer!

(This is part of a series of conversations I’ve had with PhD students, doctors and teachers here at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History in Lund during the summer of 2022. For some the original conversation were in English, but for some in Swedish. When that’s the case I’ve done a translation as well, and any faults or strange word choices are to be considered mine. This is such a translation. You’ll find the Swedish original here.)

Sara Williamsson is a PhD student here at the department in the subject of Historical Archaeology. She has completed her first year with us and therefore has the application process fresh in her mind. It was when I heard her talk about how she did it that I thought it was a conversation many other hopeful PhD applicants would want to listen to – and so this series of conversations came about. I caught up with Sara for a chat just before the summer holiday and asked her about everything to do with her application. This is a summary of that conversation.

“When did you decide you wanted to do a PhD?”

”I wanted to become a PhD student early on, while I was still writing my Undergraduate thesis. I read letters from when Glimmingehus Castle was being renovated from the Antiquarian Topographical Archive (ATA, archive of the National Heritage Board/Riksantikvarieämbetet) and there I found details that others hadn’t looked at. Going deeper, connecting clues, looking at the actual finds or the first sources, and not just reading literature – all this led to an aha-moment that cannot be beaten for feeling! So I wanted to do more of that.”

“What happened next?”

“After the Undergraduate thesis, I continued to take advanced courses in architectural archaeology, the part of Historical Archaeology I knew I wanted to pursue. I went deeper instead of broader and all future coursework was done with that focus. But when I graduated, there were no PhD positions to apply for, so in the meantime I did other things. Got my first job at Glimmingehus Castle, and more guide work and positions on different projects followed. I applied for jobs that were close to my intended research area even if they didn’t lead directly to research.

“Ten years ago, a position came up that I applied for but my idea wasn’t ready yet and I could see that after I applied and didn’t get in. I wasn’t clear on how to limit my research and I hadn’t chosen a reasonable amount of material. It was just an idea, an idea of a research question, at the time. But the response I got was good, although of course I was sorry I didn’t get the position. It was clear that putting together a good application would require a full-time focus, and that I would need to start the study I wanted to do in order to show how I wanted to do my research when accepted. That kind of focus is hard to combine with a full-time job, which at the time was at the Skåne Heritage Federation, where I benefited from the museum teaching and outreach I had picked up earlier, and I got to work with source material even if it were for other people’s projects.

“Then I applied for a grant with a friend, Tina Westergren, through the Altin Foundation for a project that led to an article, and that project gave me in-depth knowledge for my PhD application. I also attended seminars when I could and was at a conference where PhD students affiliated with Linné University presented how they worked half-time on their research and half-time on their permanent jobs, and then I started to investigate whether there was room for research at my workplace. I began to identify what was the knowledge ’missing’ there, and what gaps I could fill.”

“Is that how your topic came about?”

“Yes, I organised a one-day seminar on croft landscape survey and crofter life with the aim of bringing together the non-profit and academic spheres, and Martin Hansson (who has done research on, among other things, the archaeology of the dispossessed and is currently head of the department) took part. In discussions there, I identified the piece of the puzzle I would like to do myself: The location of the crofts in the landscape, the factors that influenced it and how the crofters organised their sites.

“I haven’t done excavation fieldwork because I’m more interested in the historical side of material and in the part of history that isn’t material. There are other types of fieldwork within archaeology than excavation that can be a specialisation. Communicating the subject for an audience is also a fun job, but research is the most fun! And for research purposes there is field surveying, that is also fieldwork. By doing fieldwalking and knowing what you are looking for, there is the possibility of finding traces of human activity that are not previously recorded, and in the case of croft survey, there is also the possibility of finding remains that the local population has a relationship to. This makes the survey particularly exciting. Because field walking can be carried out in different ways, at different intervals and for different purposes, the records are full of gaps that it is satisfying to fill. Some of my friends and I have it as a hobby, to find a sparsely inventoried area and go there to do field walking!

“So how did your application process go then?”

“Once I decided to give it a real go, I spent a whole autumn reading up on the subject and wrote the application itself over six weeks, full time every weekend and several hours every evening. I also realised that a knowledge gap for the subject I wanted to study was paleography (old handwriting) for reading church records and the like, so I took a course in that too. That’s the application I got in on. I also wrote applications to other places than Lund, but never sent them off, I knew this was where I wanted to be.”

“Do you have any advice you’d like to share?”

“Find that thing that you really care about! It should be something you get so excited about that it will keep you going for four years. Identify a gap in your niche that you’d like to fill and read up carefully on the current and historical research that has been done on your subject. Also, check out your intended material beforehand so you can narrow down your research question. Identify your own knowledge gaps as well and fill them in advance, as your ability to carry out the research will also be assessed. I have benefited from subjects other than archaeology, as I have a more modern context, so I highlighted that in my application too. Take help from others to read through the application, it is easy to become blind to your own text, so both subject experts and others can be useful. I didn’t grow up in an academic environment and you don’t have to, there are opportunities to work academically anyway but it can be harder to imagine yourself in that role.

“Now the first year of your PhD has passed, how does it feel?”

“It feels great! I have friends who have done PhDs so my experience meets my expectations. I chose to put my study year (a PhD in Sweden is three years of research plus one year of study) at the beginning to get into the theoretical side. It has been a drastic change from the practical nature of my previous job but it has gone well. I have accepted a post for the doctoral student union and that’s an assignment for which I get an extension on my research time. It gives me a bit more time to think. Also, I treat the department like a regular workplace so it feels like going to work and not studying. I think it’s given me a good foundation to go into writing.”

It sounds like that to me too, so good luck with the research and writing Sara, and thanks for sharing your experiences!

It’s summer 2022 and I know that during the autumn semester I will get questions about what to consider if you want to become a PhD student or later do research in our subjects, and since I have access to an abundance of competent people here at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History in Lund, I have asked some of them to give me their thoughts and tips on the application process.

We will hear from new PhD students, PhD students in the middle of their research, PhD students at the end of their research and recent PhD graduates. This round of posts is then rounded off by two teachers and researchers here at the department, answering some questions from their point of view. Some of the interviews were conducted in Swedish and I have published both the Swedish text and an English translation, while others were conducted directly in English and only the English text is available. 

The texts will be published over the next two weeks with both the Swedish and English text (when both are available) on the same day. We all hope this will be useful! 

First a few words about the premises:

The reason we share advertisements for PhD positions at other universities here on the blog is because there is a lot of competition for a few positions. That in itself shouldn’t be a deterrent if this is your dream, but it’s good to know that it may take a longer move to find a place within or outside of Sweden. The benefits of looking at a wider range of options are that the subject you have chosen may be an even better fit for another institution, or the prior knowledge you have will meet the requirements of other universities. It’s also a good idea to apply several times to get feedback on your application and be able to refine it for your next attempt.

We, and I mean the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History in Lund, usually have the opportunity to announce two PhD positions each year and have four subjects to distribute them over, so that means (about) one position per subject every two years.

The positions are announced in January and the deadline for applications is February to start in August-September. There is far too little time between the call and the deadline to wait until then to write your application. Working on the application is a longer process and requires a lot of preparation, in addition to the basic requirements that each department sets for its posts.

The first basic requirement is to read the advertisement carefully so that the application is not rejected out of hand just because of an easily corrected mistake. In our case, for example, be sure to apply in the subject you are qualified for. An application is never passed between departments, so it is important to send it to the right reference number and the right subject. As we advertise two posts each year, mistakes can easily be made, so please pay attention. Another basic requirement is to meet the prerequisites listed in the call. A full Master’s degree is a must, and the different subjects then have a few specific prerequisites on top of that. For ancient historians it may be helpful to know that we are the only department in the Sweden that currently has requirements for ancient languages. Those applications that do not meet the requirements of the advertisement will be discarded without being read in full, and then the project plan will not receive any feedback, which is the same as a wasted application.

Another thing to concider when applying for a PhD position is the financial side. Here it is important to see what the funding model of the advertising university is. In Sweden, it is generally not the case that students finance their own doctoral studies, but the positions advertised are salaried positions. It is therefore a four-year position, with three years spent on research and one on studies. It is not uncommon for it to take longer to complete one’s thesis than the four paid years, as we will see in discussions with our own PhD students and newest PhDs, and then the extensions also become personal solutions. Regardless, all advertisements specify how the salary or position is funded and it is important to keep that in mind when considering where you want to do your PhD.

So if you’re thinking about applying, now is a good time to start working on your application, and to read the posts in the coming weeks.