The right position for your research is essential
After working for a few years as a researcher at the Institute for Environmental Research, I applied for doctoral studies in environmental management at JSBE. I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomena I was dealing with in my day-to-day work. I still think being a researcher is the best job I know.
When I applied for doctoral studies in environmental management at the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, I had already been working for several years as a researcher at the Ģֱ’s Institute for Environmental Research. Our organisation provided research services and carried out research projects with very clearly defined research tasks. First you gathered the necessary information, then you reported the results to the client and moved on to the next project.
I loved my job, but as the years went by, I started to think that maybe being a project researcher wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to understand better and more deeply the phenomena that I was dealing with in my work every day.
Many coincidences lead to becoming a researcher
Then a number of things happened, from organisational changes to a new addition to the family, both at the same time and one after the other. They created a window of opportunity and pushed me in the direction of academic research.
Although I may have even said out loud that I would never start writing a dissertation unless I found a proper position with a salary and long-term funding, I ended up quitting my regular job and starting as a grant researcher.
Once you had given an inch to the idea of immersing yourself in an interesting research topic, it took a mile. I think I would not have been able to live with myself if I had not tried my wings on this journey.
Academic research required developing new skills
Having been a researcher for a long time, I thought I knew what being a doctoral researcher was and what it entailed. However, it turned out that academic research was different from the kind of research I had done before.
I had acquired many general research skills, managing the research process, gathering material and analysing results. Nevertheless, writing sociological articles was different from the research reports I had been writing. It took me some time to get used to this new way of producing information.
This learning journey was a bit painful as I eventually had to let go of my identity as a skilled and competent researcher and admit to myself that I needed to learn a whole new set of skills.
Writing is a process from sketch to completion
An important milestone in my research career was writing with others. I wrote my first papers alone. I learned a lot from this experience, and it gave me the confidence that I had enough perseverance and resilience to be a researcher.
However, the journey may have been easier had I not tried to do everything myself. Writing with others lowered the threshold of writing. I realised no one produces perfect texts at the first attempt, nor should that even be the goal. I knew writing was a process, but it was a lesson I had not really absorbed.
One of my biggest challenges, at least in the beginning (and sometimes even now), was that I tried to produce polished texts right away. And, at least at the start, these first texts were not what I had read in the published work of other researchers. The gap between what I wanted to write and what I actually produced was so enormous that writing anxiety was inevitable. Writing with others made me realise the meaning of the phrase “writing is a process”: The first versions are not final – sometimes they are even bad – and you just have to accept that.
Recognise the position of your research
One of the key skills in writing research articles in my field is the ability to frame the research and tell a story through it.
It is not enough to find a research gap in the existing literature and to be able to carry out your research in a technically correct way. You also need to know what which branch of the research literature you want to position your study in, and how to promote the relevant dialogue. Therefore, along with identifying correct and appropriate concepts and theories, it is important you find your own point of view.
Once I had found right elements, I began to visualise the field in which I was working. This helped me construct a theoretical-conceptual framework within which to situate my research and the research of others. The framework is not complete, of course, but I now know how to build it.
Nothing is as practical as a good theory
My dissertation focused on the role of farmers in the transition to a sustainable food system. I started with the aim of understanding farmers’ environmental choices, but this research task expanded to include understanding the structure of the food system and how farmers’ agency is conditioned by this structure.
My research topic was originally very practical, because I thought that by studying farmers’ choices we could improve the impact of agri-environmental policy. In the beginning, I wasn’t even very interested in any theoretical framework. However, simple questions quickly became complex ones and, in the end, I became a theory enthusiast who believes that nothing is as practical as a good theory.
From my practical research problem I arrived at the fundamental questions of social theory: What is structure and agency, and how do they interact and change social structures?
Being a researcher is the best job I know
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at JSBE, and I still think being a researcher is the best job I know. So I would say that my risky leap down that road was worth it.
I would recommend a PhD to anyone who feels they cannot do without one.
But to be honest, it is not always the easiest career choice. You have to think a lot about whether you will get funding during or after your PhD. I would not recommend doing a PhD if you “can’t think of anything else”. For me, it is a path you have to want to go down.
Research skills needed more in the world of work
Doctoral training is a qualification for a research career, but research skills are also needed outside the academic world. In particular, I hope that the research career will remain a noteworthy option at different career stages – gaining work experience outside the academic world should not be a barrier to a later research career in academia.
At the same time, I hope that the environment remains favourable to generalists and a multidisciplinary approach, which are central to solving sustainability crises. We need deep, detailed knowledge from different fields, but we also need bridges between these worlds.
If you move between different worlds, you may not be able to keep up with the fast pace of publishing, because taking a multidisciplinary approach requires you to absorb knowledge from a range of fields. This inevitably takes time, which then takes away from something else. Artificial intelligence can’t build the structures of understanding in our heads – that’s something every researcher has to work out for themselves.
