Hi,

I am currently doing my PhD at a university in the USA, however I will be moving to Europe for a year to do part of my dissertation research with a collaborator who is the head of a fairly prestigious institute in Northern Europe. I haven't been able to find much information on what it is like to be a PhD student in my field in Europe (I'm in molecular biology). I am a little confused as to what the 'role' of the PhD student is in a European lab...do students regularly interact with the head of the lab? If a student has a question can they talk to the head of the lab or should they go ask a postdoc instead? The lab I'm going to has many technicians - which is not typical in my university in the USA - do the technicians help students with setting up experiments? Are projects assigned to people in the lab, or is there freedom to go your own way?

American PhD programs are structured differently from European ones so it is difficult to say how 'far along' in my program I am compared to a PhD in the UK for example, but I can say that I have already written a literature review and passed comprehensive written and oral examinations. I will be going to this lab only to conduct experiments. I expect that I will probably be assigned to work with a particular postdoc whose research is similar to my own (but in a different organism).

Any info/tips would be appreciated!

Hi,

I am not sure to which countries you refer to as "northern Europe" but I'll assume you mean Scandinavia :). In general, the athmosphere in the Nordic countries is quite relaxed, for instance I've never had a formal supervision session. I think it's quite common that the PhD student and the supervisor are on "chitchat" terms with each other. Additionally, I do theoretical work in another (but still a science) field, so I can't say anything about the lab technician part. I had one summer studentship doing experimental work, but the apparatus was already set up for me.

As to the structure of the PhD, in general you are expected to have a Master's degree before you start it, this meaning that you already have written a thesis and done some research. A Master's does not, in principle, need to contain original research but quite often, if the student is good, it results in a publication (in sciences). What comes to the structure of the PhD, we do not usually separately write a literature review; instead, we are expected to produce publishable work, and in my lab the requirement for submission is somewhere between four and six journal papers, depending on the number of first-authorships. Quite often the thesis is then an introduction to these papers.

This all having been said, if your supervisor is a head of an institute, he will be extremely busy and I somehow doubt that he will not be your everyday supervisor. I suppose one could talk to the head of the lab if (s)he has time but one more or less ask anyone that knows something on the topic. The assignment of project depends on one's funding. If one is funded in a project one typically has little freedom whereas if one has a grant/scholarship/other sources of funding (supposedly your case), there is likely to be more flexibility.

I wish I was of some help!