International PhD student: Connie Golsteijn, Sociology/DWRC
Wednesday 6 March 2013
Interview with David Frohlich, 28.2.13
What is your background and why did you come to study for a PhD at Surrey?
I did my BSc and MSc at the faculty of Industrial Design at Eindhoven University of Technology. While I was doing my graduation project my thesis supervisor told me about a Microsoft PhD position that was coming up, which was a collaboration between Industrial Design, Microsoft Research, and the Digital World Research Centre in Surrey. I was very interested in the project and thought it was a great opportunity so when I applied and got accepted I came over to be primarily based in Surrey for this PhD. I am formally registered in the Department of Sociology.
What is your PhD about and how have you gone about researching this topic?
In my PhD I am doing research about craft and making practices with both physical and digital materials, and I am interested in how physical and digital materials are combined in more ‘hybrid’ forms of crafting. My PhD follows a design research approach, which means I am designing and implementing new products and systems to study people’s interactions with the technology, and gain insights into crafting from this. To support my design and prototyping activities I have spent three months at Eindhoven University of Technology in my first year, and three months at Microsoft Research in my second year.
How has the PhD been funded and supervised?
The PhD is funded by Microsoft Research Cambridge, and as mentioned it is a collaboration between Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and University of Surrey. I therefore have three supervisors, one associated to each of the institutes (Prof David Frohlich from Surrey, Dr Elise van den Hoven from TU/e, and Dr Abigail Sellen from Microsoft). In addition to this funding, an Erasmus agreement between TU/e and Surrey has allowed me to get some additional funding to visit TU/e for a minimum of 12 weeks. Finally I have done an Internship at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, which was also additionally funded by an intern salary.
Can you explain how the work of the PhD has been done in different places?
With the collaboration of the three institutes I have had the luxury of moving around between them when this benefitted my research. I am primarily based in Surrey, where I benefit from discussions with people in Sociology, and more recently the School of Arts, and in general from the multidisciplinary character of the Digital World Research Centre. As such, while doing my interviews, focus groups, reading and writing, I have gained new insights from talking to people in different disciplines, and I have been able to use Surrey’s facilities. For design and prototyping, Surrey’s resources are limited so I spent time at TU/e doing conceptual design work, where I was surrounded by other designers. In my internship at Microsoft I made full use of their prototyping facilities and expertise by building a complete prototype using one of their platforms while I was there.
What did you gain from working across different countries and institutions?
It is greatly benefitted my work to be able to work in different institutes, because I could adapt when and where I worked to fit the current needs of my PhD and which resources I would need at that time. I also had the chance to meet and exchange ideas with people in not one but three different institutes, all people who are very knowledgeable in my field.
How has it shaped the work you have done?
I feel I have been able to do things I would not have been able to do if I had stayed in one institute. Coming to Surrey with a background in design, and being surrounded by people working in arts and human sciences has opened my eyes to new perspectives on my research and methods. This has greatly developed my thinking about my topic and the way I write about it. In addition I have met interesting people to collaborate with in ways I did not imagine before, such as co-authoring an interdisciplinary article together with one of the criminology PhD students.
How has it changed you as a person?
It has made me more flexible and open as a person. You have to be if you need to move around and meet new people in a new workplace. I have learned to make relevant contacts quicker, take opportunities when they present themselves – which often means just diving into the deep without knowing what is going to happen – and ask for help from the right people at the right times.
Has it opened any opportunities for work or travel beyond the PhD?
Having met many more people than if I had stayed in one place, I have hope that by showing my face here and there people will remember me. Because many people have worked with me in person, I hope they will already have an idea of what I can do. Apart from that, one of my supervisors has currently moved to Sydney to work at Sydney University of Technology and has repeatedly invited me to come over and spend some time there, either within or after the PhD, so who knows..
Would you recommend Surrey as a place to do research?
I would definitely recommend it, I think it’s a place where there are plenty of great people that are very knowledgeable in their fields and happy to bounce some ideas around.
What advice would you give to Surrey PhD students contemplating spending some PhD time in industry or abroad?
I would strongly recommend doing this if you have the chance. It will help in ways you would not even imagine beforehand: it can give you new ideas about your research, put you in touch with people who can help you ahead, can give you facilities and resources you may not have at Surrey, and it will change you as a person. You may not feel like you have the time to do it, but if you are smart about it you can use that time to further your PhD in a variety of ways.
