My name is Giannis Lessis, and I am a Ph.D. student at the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB). During the Autumn semester of 2022/2023, I was a research visitor at Lancaster University (LUMS) supported by EAA ARC Ph.D. International Visit Scheme. The experience was outstanding, and I highly recommend whoever else is interested in pursuing it.
The benefits of the Ph.D. visit are numerous and on multiple levels. First, I developed my Ph.D. research projects significantly. Specifically, I received valuable feedback from the faculty members on my job market paper by presenting it in an internal seminar. In addition, I thoroughly reviewed my Ph.D. research projects with my visit supervisor, Professor Argyro Panaretou. Moreover, I exchanged ideas, materials, and tools with Lancaster University’s Ph.D. students that are beneficial to improve my research outcome.
Second, I attended seminars that Lancaster University organizes where external speakers and faculty members present their ongoing research. These seminars allowed me to learn about the topics that prestigious researchers work on and how they approach them. Moreover, they offered to meet the speakers in person and discuss details about their presentations and other research topics.
Third, Lancaster University offers Ph.D.-level courses, some of which are in alliance with other universities. During my visit, I attended classes at Lancaster and Manchester Universities. I highly recommend them even if someone’s home institution has a similar one. At this level, discussion even on similar topics can be materially incrementally educational under different instructors because their approaches can be from different angles. Overall, the instructors assisted me significantly in understanding in-depth theoretical and technical topics and, more importantly, reviewing thoroughly classic and recent papers to improve my research skills.
Fourth, the Ph.D. visit offers the opportunity to establish a long-term relationship with the host university and its members. This relationship can be in the form of starting a new research project or/and maintaining a constant channel for discussion on research. Both cases are particularly advantageous during and after the completion of the Ph.D. program.
Finally, I want to thank Lancaster University and its members because they made my Ph.D. visit great. Thus, I highly recommend it as an excellent option for the host university to whoever is interested in doing a visit.
