What led you to do a doctorate?

I’ve always liked challenges, that’s why I started studying German at 18 years old when I still lived in Argentina, and after the bachelor’s degree, I went to do my master there. Then I knew I wanted to be a researcher, and the doctorate was the next step. In Germany, they work on media studies with either a theoretical or quantitative approach, and I was interested in qualitative and ethnographic perspectives. That’s why I wanted to broaden my horizons, and I got to UPF, where I had lots of freedom. I did my thesis from my house in Essen, Germany, where I lived with my husband, and during the doctorate, I had my baby. I worked as an associate in German universities, teaching German, English, and Spanish.

What future plans do you have right now?

The doctorate happened a while ago, it has been more than five years since I finished writing my papers, and I feel like it has been ages! When there are kids in the middle, it’s hard to remember moments in the middle of the hurricane, he he. After working in Belgium and England, I’m finally living in Spain for the first time. I’ve just started in the Universidad de Valladolid with a Juan de la Cierva Incorporación contract through the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.

What would you recommend to someone that wants to start a PhD?

There is not a unique path; everyone builds its own. In the beginning, you think “will I be able to do it? Will I be up to it?”, and there’s also that myth of getting to the “illustrate doctors group”, but during the doctorate, you demystify it. You see that’s just another stage, and everyone keeps learning, and luckily, improving as researchers during our whole career. It’s work, persistence and time more than those romantic ideas of arriving at the goal line. I think it’s about taking pauses to refocus and achieve a certain tolerance to ambiguity, persistence and mental resilience.

What was your best moment?

When my first article got accepted. Actually… when they accepted all of them! He, he.

What was your experience doing a thesis by compendium?

At first, I didn’t think about it, for all the fears I was telling you about. Because it sounded very unreachable at that moment, but my thesis supervisor encouraged me to do it. I really recommend it to everyone because it gives you a very good and solid academic positioning, and it’s a significant growth as a researcher.

It was very organic; in 24 months, I could publish the five articles that came up from my analysis and notes. I looked at all my notes, and thematic clusters started emerging, and I saw that they could be transformed into articles. I haven’t thought about an article structure from the beginning: “article 1 is going to be about this, article 2 is going to be about that…”, but that goes according to my way of working, to immerse myself and explore the field, from the emic.

How did you receive the news that you were recognised with the Extraordinary Doctorate Award?

It’s a very nice recognition, and I’m very thankful.