In Episode 11, I am thrilled to have Dr Helen Kara as a guest! I have followed her on Twitter for years, read her books and learned so much from her! In this episode, we talk about everything: doing a PhD, writing books, working in academia with autism and so much more. Let's introduce this amazing academic: Dr Helen Kara is a leading independent researcher, author, teacher and speaker specialising in research methods, particularly creative methods, and research ethics. With over twenty years' experience as an independent researcher Helen now teaches doctoral students and staff at higher education institutions worldwide. Thank you so much, Helen and to our listeners: enjoy this episode!

For Episode 10, I have a very special guest - Dr Roland von Euw from Switzerland!  Roland is the founder of a ground-breaking education organisation, called vE Educational Excellence which is committed to excellent vocational, professional and higher education. It focuses on education, consulting and research. I am fortunate enough to work for this amazing organisation! Roland is also the CEO of eFachausweis, which prepares students from all over Switzerland and the world for federally-recognised vocational exams He has a PhD in Education from the University of Liverpool and is really focused on the research part of his educational organisations.  Listen to Roland discussing doing a PhD while working and the challenges and advantages of doing it in another language; founding a successful business and so much more!

For Episode 9 my guest is...Jen Horne! I met Jen on Instagram in a study community and we have even been study buddies! It was great to have her on the podcast. Listen to what she has to say about her studies and life! What will come after the MA?  Jen is a final-year Open University Global Development Masters student. She has three kids, a very supportive husband and a wonderful dog! She is also a huge reader.

For Episode 8, we are travelling to my parents' homeland...Greece! We had a lovely discussion with Thanassis Godelitsas about teaching in Greece, the positive aspects and the challenges, and how much he supports his students! Athanasios Godelitsas received his PhD in Chemistry from Aristotle University (Greece) and then he did a postdoc in mineral surface science and nanogeoscience in the group of Prof. A. Putnis at University of Muenster (Germany). He is Professor of Mineralogy-Mineral Chemistry at National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA, Greece), Visiting Professor of Environmental Mineralogy and Geochemistry at Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) and Erasmus+ Visiting Professor at University of Oulu (Finland). He is actively involved in a wide range of research areas in modern mineralogy, mineral-chemistry and geochemistry. For this purpose he mainly uses electron and atomic force microscopies, surface analytical techniques and accelerator/Synchrotron-based spectroscopies. You can follow Thanassis:  On Twitter On ResearchGate

What an honour this episode is! In Episode 7 of Meet the PhDs, my guest is a very good friend and amazing academic and educator from Turkey, Dr. Ezgi Aydemir Altaş. Speaking with her has been a pleasure and if you are ready to learn a lot, Dr. Altaş is here to share her knowledge and enthusiasm! Dr. Ezgi Aydemir Altaş is an English instructor at the School of Foreign Languages and Department of English Language Teaching (ELT), Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey. She has been in the academic world for 13 years. Her research interests are teacher education, educational technology and the relationship between language and culture. She has authored a few articles in indexed journals and presented research studies in some distinguished conferences. She is the Academic Coordinator of the Modern Languages Department, and runs English Language Programs, English for Mass Communication, Listening & Phonetics, Material Design courses at the undergraduate level. She also ran a graduate level course at a private university in the 2021-2022 academic year. You can follow her:  On Twitter: @Ezgi_Aydemir_ On ResearchGate: Dr. Ezgi Aydemir Altaş

Today's guest has a very interesting background - and wait till you hear what she is studying! Marianne is Norwegian, now living, studying and working in the UK. She started her PhD in Accounting History in April 2022, and she is doing it part-time, alongside working part-time as an accountant.  Enjoy listening to her! I learned a lot from her.

Meeeeeeeeeeet Holly!  What a lady! She is doing a PhD, she teaches, she sings, she is a hero! Listen and be inspired.  Holly Woods is a PhD candidate at All Hallows College, Dublin City University. She is carrying out ethnomusicological research in the area of children’s folk music cultures, with a focus on the field recordings of Hugh Shields, a prominent music scholar in Ireland during the mid-twentieth century. Holly is a trained soprano and music educator, who combines her PhD studies with academic and health lifestyle content creation. You can find her here on Instagram, as well as on YouTube where she holds live study sessions and publishes content about studying, all things PhD-related,  as well as life as a cancer patient.

Today's guest comes like a ray of sunshine - in Turkish, 'güneş' means 'the sun'! Dr. Aysun Güneş, recently graduated PhD from Anadolu Üniversitesi, in Eskişehir, Turkey. Aysun, a dear friend for years now, is also an English lecturer at the same university, a teacher trainer, and does a lot of work on internet safety. In this podcast, she tells us all about her research which is very interesting, and the whole ti line that led up to her graduating with her PhD. Çok teşekkür ederim, canım Aysun for all the great tips you gave us, for sharing your experience before, during and after the PhD - and telling us about your defense as well! You can follow her on Instagram for many tips on internet safety and digital parenting at: @teknolojik_ebeveynler (It is really worth using the translation tool to read everything she posts.)The book that Aysun mentions in the podcast and which has inspired her is: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (The link to the book is an affiliate link, which means that if you purchase through this link, you contribute towards running this podcast.)

Despina Kyriazi is a PhD candidate in Cellular Biophysics at the Medical School of Hannover. She was my student in Greece and I am so proud of how far she has come, and how many things she is teaching me in this episode! Despina brings us a lot of enthusiasm and motivation with her, and if you need to hear some great, uplifiting things which will also help you in your PhD, this is the podcast you need to listen to! Thank you so much, Despina.

In this episode, I talk with an educator from São Paulo, Brazil - the one and only, Priscila Mateini! I first met Priscila on Twitter, in a teaching community and then in person at IATEFL Manchester 2015. Priscila specialises in many fields; she is an English Teacher, focused on Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Education, EAP teacher-researcher  ISF-UFRJ, IFCS-CAPES. Priscila speaks to us about training and teaching PhD students - and we listen to her with great attention, she is just amazing! You can visit her blog at: https://pmateini.wordpress.com/  You can follow her on Twitter: @Priscilamateini

In this first episode, I talk with the amazing Bryndís Gunnarsdóttir, an educator and PhD researcher at the University of Iceland. She tells us about her experience in an Icelandic university, her work background, working and doing a PhD at the same time, and so much more!