Arqus students enjoyed the 2nd International Doctoral Summer School hosted by Vilnius University

The second International Doctoral Summer School for future researchers of all disciplines took place from 17 to 21 June at the Botanical Garden of Vilnius University (VU) in Kairėnai.

This year Doctoral Summer School attracted  26 PhD students in total. Four of them came from the Arqus community: one from the University of Graz (Austria); one from the University of Padua (Italy); and two from the University of Wrocław (Poland).

The post-project survey revealed that most of the students enjoyed gaining new experiences, meeting colleagues from other scientific fields, and visiting the VU Botanical Garden.

A quick overview

The first day, after being welcomed by the VU Pro-Rector for Research Prof. Edita Sužiedėlienė, a senior researcher at the VU Life Sciences, Dr Stephen Knox Jones, gave an introductory lecture to PhD students, highlighting the main objectives of doctoral studies. In his opinion, the latter are universal and not limited to PhD research topics, i.e. the skills required for critical thinking, inquiry, planning and execution, information processing, communication, and teamwork.

Two types of activities were featured in the main part of the Summer School programme: entrepreneurship toolkit workshops for young researchers & scientific writing and publishing training, led by Pavelas Ragozinas, Žiedūnė Kiznytė, and Aistė Žvirblienė, a team from the Innovation Office of the VU Department for Research and Innovation.

The workshops covered a full range of entrepreneurship topics and offered participants the opportunity to explore market analysis, value proposition development, and the selection of the most appropriate business model.

The practical application of this knowledge was highly appreciated by the students: interdisciplinary and international teams worked together to develop their business ideas, taking into account intellectual property, pricing, financial planning, and marketing issues.

This workshop is part of the ‘Universities for Deep Tech and Entrepreneurship (UNITeD)’ project, which is funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

During the second part of the programme, students learned the intricacies of academic writing thanks to Dr Gayannée Kedia, an Arqus lecturer from the University of Graz. A researcher specialising in social psychology and neuroscience, who organises seminars for academic institutions and companies on productive work practices, balance, and burnout prevention.

The Doctoral Summer School was organised by the VU Doctoral and Postdoctoral Studies Office.