My PhD ExperienceMireia Dosil IFAE-Barcelona 29/III/03

• 1993-1997: B. Sc. Degree in Physics by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)

● 1997-1999: Diploma Thesis in MAGIC on studies of background for an Air Imaging Cherenkov Telescope Camera

● 1999-now: PhD Thesis in ATLAS on discovery potential and mass extraction of the MSSM charged Higgs

●No experience on real data●No experience on hardware

BUT

This is a two fold perspective: AstrophysicsParticle Physics

● Undergraduate studies: 4 years (it was 5 years until 1992) ● PhD studies:

1) Diploma thesis ~ 2 years2) Thesis ≥ 3 years3) PhD courses (during the first year in the PhD):

●Problems with organization: e.g. some of them took place “virtually”●More investment from the government is needed

● Grants (only for 4 years!):●Spanish Science Ministry●Generalitat de Catalunya●UAB

Young researchers in Spain have no employment rights: no unemployment compensation, no health insurance, ...

● More information about situation of young researchers in Spain:

http://www.precarios.org

Organization in Spain (UAB)

1) Postdoc go abroad and join a HEP experiment

2) A job in industry but sometimes, the more studies one has, the more difficult it is to find a job

3) None of those?

What comes after PhD?

● Almost all of the students finish their PhD degree

● 15 PhD students at the moment

● Good atmosphere among us

● Main difficulties of new students:

● Get familiar with the experiments working discipline

● Learn programming languages and tools used in HEP

● Become comfortable with English language

● ....

Students @ IFAE

Conclusion

The one million $ question:

It's worth doing a PhD?because:

• One enjoys research

• One wants to learn new things everyday

• One likes team working in international collaborations

• But most important: one likes Physics!

•One is not excited about Physics anymore

NO!

•One wants to become

rich

•One hates computers

•...

because: