1. Time: I have certainly taken my time on my dissertation. It’s been ten years since I first started my doctoral studies! I am not advising anyone to take as long as I did or to make their doctoral dissertation their life’s work, but one certainly does need time in order to make the detours and mistakes that are an integral part of research work. If everything is clear from the beginning, then where is the research part of it? You cannot know beforehand what you will find during the course of the research, so it is difficult to estimate the time that you will need in order to finish the research. There are also factors that are out of your control, for example if one does an article-based dissertation one cannot be sure when the peer review comments and publication decisions or rejections come. In addition, due to life’s realities, one has to probably take on other jobs that have nothing to do with research. Also, every once in a while life just happens, PhD students are no exception here.

 2. Perseverance: This is crucial. Few are those who just cruise through the process of completing their PhD. The nature of research work involves the above mentioned detours and uncertainties of which the financial ones are just the start… This is especially difficult if and when the point of one’s research is still not clear. It’s easier to face the challenges when you have a clear vision of what you want to do and how you will do it. This may take time (see point 1).

 3. Patience: This is not a sprint, even though some say the sooner you finish your PhD the better… (see point 1).

 4. Funding: This is not absolutely necessary, there are people who finish their PhDs in their free time, on unemployment benefits or their parental leaves etc. I have been fortunate to receive research funding and also other jobs during the course of my doctoral research. For me, research is “just” a job for which one has to get paid like for any other job.

 5. Fake it ‘till you make it: One fellow PhD student had heard this advice from a more advanced doctoral student. It is simple: when you turn on your computer to start working on your dissertation, just pretend to be writing a doctoral dissertation. Whatever you do, don’t start thinking that this is a doctoral dissertation, I can’t say this or I can’t say that because it is probably stupid. The end result is that you can’t and won’t say anything because the expectations (that are mainly in your own head) are just too high.

 Good luck for all those who are at various stages of their PhDs. Remember that during the difficult phases what often gets you through is peer support, plain and simple. Thanks for all that have provided me with that during these years!

P.S. If you want to know more about Marjo's dissertation and her research interests, take a look here.