PhD Realities & Dreams: Navigating Academia 🎓

Your PhD dream doesn't always go as planned. There are many factors (besides bad supervisors) that contribute to the everyday's reality in academia. In my talk, I discuss how dreams meet such reality, the complex problems that professors face and what PhD offers you long-term.

This lecture was recorded at the 2025 CIFAR Quantum Materials School in Andermatt, Switzerland.

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00:00 Intro
00:59 - Why people do a PhD
06:43 - A PhD Dream that's hard to realize
10:23 - Choose a Class: Hard or Supportive?
14:09 - Which advisor to choose?
20:48 - The purpose of a PhD?
24:20 - Science vs Money (Over-competition)
27:42 - Work overload among professors
31:23 - Consequences of a PhD (+Job search)
37:35 - Career after PhD (academia vs industry)
40:52 - Startups after PhD