Academia on Paco's Log

Doctorado en España: Guía basada en mi experiencia para sobrevivir (más o menos)

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introducción

Probablemente yo no sea el más indicado para hacer una guía de como sobrevivir al doctorado en España. En general lo tuve bastante fácil, saqué bastantes artículos durante mi tesis (hago trabajo computacional, lo cuál ayuda bastante), y tuve becas de esas que llaman “prestigiosas”. Pero hay una cosa que si conozco bastante bien, y es el sistema académico español. Mi madre es investigadora en una universidad pública por lo que desde pequeño, en mi casa y a mi alrededor, he visto como funciona el sistema, se me ha explicado, y se me ha hecho ver las fallas que tiene y como la gente se aprovecha o no de ellas.

On how a lack of mentoring can destroy your graduate life

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Recently I had the unfortunate event of seeing bad mentoring around me. This is pretty common during the Ph.D.. Missing PIs that you see once every three months (if you are lucky). Paperwork that appears and needs to be fixed right away. Terrible thesis plans that are not doable and if things go wrong you are the only one to blame. And a long list of disastrous events that cause highly levels of depression among graduate students. While there might be some bad Ph.D. students out there, I think the root cause of all these problems are PIs that do not mentor. Mentoring should be task number one for PIs, and the happier their students, the better outcomes they can get. But this is not always the case. There are many Ph.D. students whose thesis plan was not well thought, and therefore, they reach their finally year unmotivated and without clear results. PIs should always have their students in mind. First, proposing a realistic plan for a thesis, that can be achieved during the time that the student has. Second, they should monitor their student, meeting regularly to adapt their way of doing to the strengths of the student. Finally, they should encourage collaboration between students. The old image of a lone wolf doing amazing research I feel is outdated. Collaborative research is the best, and when you have more fun!

Reflections on my Ph.D. journey

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I defended my Ph.D. thesis the 27th of January 2023 (a while back!), finally becoming a so-called doctor. It has been a weird Ph.D., which has been basically remote (thanks covid!) except for the last year and a few months of my first year. There are a lot of things that I have missed in comparison to a conventional Ph.D. But still, there are a few things that I think I have learnt during this period, and that maybe can be handy for aspiring Ph.D. students.

Advice for getting a Fulbright scholarship

Mon, 29 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Disclaimer: This is just my experience on the Fulbright process. This might vary between specialties, countries and backgrounds. Good luck!

During the 2021-2022 academic year I spent a year at Stanford University with a Fulbright predoctoral scholarship from the Fulbright Spanish commission. I have been asked for advice from different people to apply for the scholarships, what is important to highlight in the project proposal and advice for the interview process. Here I am going to explain what are, for me, the most important aspects of the application process. The advice is specifically for predoctoral students that are applying for a research stay, this might differ from people applying to other categories inside the Fulbright scholarships.