PhD graduates of 2016/17 find placements in academia and industry soon after their thesis defence

Recent PhD graduates from the Universitat de Barcelona School of Economics have successfully entered academic and professional careers within few months following the thesis defence. Francisco Robles, Ata Atay and Ilias Pasidis are three of our alumni that graduated in 2016/17 with a PhD in Economics. The first two have gone on to research positions as a visiting professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid and a research fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The latter has embarked on a career as researcher and data analyst at the Booking.com headquarters in Amsterdam.

“My placement has been more than satisfactory. Undoubtedly, I am happy”, Dr. Robles said. The Carlos III University of Madrid, where he is working now, is a world-leading institution for teaching and research in Economics. In Spain, it is the second highest education institution in this field. Dr. Robles added that “my placement was good considering the demand and competition in the labor market”. This seems to be the general feeling among PhD alumni. Ata Atay, who has joined the Mechanism Design Unit at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, explains that “considering my background and my research interests, I am pleased to be part of the research group”.

Asked about their years as PhD students, Ilias Passidis, said remembers them as “very hard work, good times and lots of networking”. Dr. Atay highlights that “I could not have been in a better environment than the Department of Economic, Financial, and Actuarial Mathematics. I was privileged to be a PhD student of Prof. Marina Núñez. She played an important role on both my academic and professional development”.

Finding a good placement after a PhD is not easy but the three of them succeeded.  Even though it is impossible to determine whether they were better positioned than candidates from other universities, Ilias Passidis thinks that “the University of Barcelona definitely gives a positive signal”. Dr. Atay said that “my supervisor, the Department, and the PhD in Economics programme were helpful before and during the job market process”. He added that “I was aware of the market process as much as I could and I implemented the best strategy that I could”.

The three also agree that they will keep in touch with the UB School of Economics community. “Without hesitation I will continue in contact with researchers from the University of Barcelona. The network offered by the UB School of Economics in the area of game theory is consolidated and strong. Personally, I think I can contribute and benefit from it through joint work”, said Dr. Robles. “The UB and the more extended network I built during these years has already been very useful”, explained Dr. Passidis. Finally, Dr. Atay highlighted that “the network I was part of at the University of Barcelona has been and will be an important aspect in my academic life”.

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