Hello,
thank you for accepting our invitation.
I'd like you to begin by introducing yourself,
your home university, your research area
and the laboratory or doctoral school you work at.
My name is Stéphanie Espejo Zeballos.
I work on a jointly supervised project at the TVES laboratory.
I'm studying temporary habitats in intersticial urban spaces,
in both Lille and Medellin, and I started my thesis here at the University of Lille.
And then I continued later with the jointly supervised project.
Okay, so tell us more about this project.
Why did you decide to do your thesis under joint international supervision?
I was in
my research laboratory,
and there was already a PhD student being jointly supervised,
and when I spoke to her about my research area,
she said I could try to get on the same programme.
And that's when I
spoke to my supervisor about it.
He encouraged me to try to register
for joint supervision and take all the necessary steps.
And that's how I decided to sign up.
I had a keen interest in it because I wanted to have a dual degree.
I felt it was appealing at the same time
as the doctoral work to end up with a dual degree.
Having a double qualification is also a strong
selling point for the joint supervision scheme.
And so,
how did you choose the partner university
to split your PhD studies between the University of Lille
and your host university?
I already had a research
area, my second one,
when submitting my research proposal
when I registered for the PhD
and then I met my joint supervisor
who was doing ...
She did some work for the Institut
des hautes études d'Amérique latine.
And I proposed,
I began by presenting my research project
and asked her if she would like to be my joint thesis supervisor.
And that's when I joined the National
University of Colombia, where she works.
OK, I get it.
And so, could you tell me a bit about the appeal
of doing a PhD under joint supervision and the advantages you benefited from?
Yes, I found
it very enriching over the years
to work with two supervisors because each
has a different way of working
and they both also have different research fields.
And I learnt a lot from both of them.
As for the advantages,
I already speak the language spoken in Colombia.
But it was more
about going to
explore the culture of another country,
and also develop a professional network.
That has helped me to expand
my professional field as well.
Your professional field!
OK.
And do you have any advice
for future PhD students
to encourage them to do their thesis under joint supervision?
Yes, I think that
when you decide to opt for joint supervision
you have certain fears, for example about mobility funding.
And I would say that there is no
problem because, for example, here at the University of Lille
there is support from the mobility office
which helps you find grants for mobility trips.
There are other grants offered by host universities
and even regions candidates
work in.
I would recommend joint supervision to PhD students without hesitation.
Yes,
there's really no need to think twice about it.
Great!
So, thank you very much for answering these questions.
It's been very interesting and we hope all PhD students
interested in doing their thesis under joint supervision
will follow your recommendations.