My story —
doctoral studies as a “hobby”
Doctoral
degree
Sanni Siltanen, D.Sc.(Tech.)
Licentiate
degree
Start
2003
Going to the
deep dark abyss…
2009
Back to the light
2012
To the top of the hill
2015
Part I – the start
•
•
•
•
Working full time while studying (as a researcher at VTT)
Enrolment for doctoral studies 2003
Courses completed in 2-3 years
Working on confidential customer work  not allowed to publish
anything
• First publication in 2006
• Decided to write Licentiate thesis as a monography
(to get something ready)
• Applied for study grand, got it (2007)
Part II – Going to the deep dark abyss…
• My study leave was postponed by a couple of years
• Finally started the study leave 2009
 felt ill and thus wasted study leave
• After a long sick leave, got back to work and normal life
• Started writing licentiate thesis on evenings, weekends and
holidays…
• Working alone, bad advises,…, lots of work at workplace as well
• Black period of time…the deep dark abyss…
• Threw the licentiate thesis to trash bin.
Part III — back to the light
• Meeting with supervising professor (Erkki Oja),
got encouraged to continue
• Changed the advisor (to a good one!) (Timo Tossavainen)
• Started writing a new licentiate thesis from clean start (2011)
• Meetings with the adviser every second week.
• “Coffee bet” with adviser.
• Private study-group with a friend doing licentiate thesis as well.
• Working on spare time.
• Licentiate thesis ready 2012.
Licentiate thesis has been cited a lot and
I have got a lot of good feedback from strangers!
It was definitely worth doing it .
Part IV — To the top of the hill
(a.k.a. the easy part)
• I had written in between ~20 publications (many on spare time)
• Got and idea for compilation dissertation story.
• Took a 6 months study-leave 2014, and
started to write the compilation part of the doctoral thesis.
• Regular meetings with supervisor, as my adviser left the
university.
• I already knew my ways of working, I had writing routine, and I
knew what I was doing.
• Pre-examination at the end 2014.
• 2 months study leave at beginning of 2015 to
finalize the thesis.
• Defence on May 2015, graduation June 2015
• First real summer vacation since ages in July 2015 .
What would I do differently?
Took some adviser
Working alone


Trying to do it as “hobby”

Shamed to talk…

Doing research privately 
(the first adviser’s rule)
Trying to get perfect results 
See the adviser only

when something ready
(the first adviser)
Select a good adviser! (Or a mentor)
Working in a group
(help others, get help from others)
Apply for grants, and do
full-time studies
Talk about any doubts and problems
Talk about your own research with
others (and listen others)
Publish quick
Regular meetings with the adviser
in any case (the second adviser)
Good practices and helpful tips
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Get a good adviser or mentor
Regular meetings with adviser/supervisor/mentor
Set small goals and deadlines
Academic/Scientific writing courses
Full-time studies if possible
Select a subject that you really are interested in
Be persistent and precise in your work
Be active! Search for help and talk with others.
Remember also:
• Work hard, but not too hard!
• Take care of yourself: eat healthy, sleep enough, practice
some exercise, have social life,…
Good luck with the studies!
Want to ask something?  [email protected]