During your doctoral studies, you will have an opportunity for an internship abroad, which is recommended to last at least one semester. This is an excellent opportunity to make contacts and gain tremendous experience in your field. Completing an internship at a prestigious foreign university, research institute or multinational institution is an honour for many of our students and it is greatly appreciated. An example of such a student is Martin Stachoň from the Department of Finance, with whom we bring you an interview.
Martin, at which university and when did you do your internship abroad?
I completed my research internship at the Universität Mannheim in Germany in the spring semester of 2022.
Can you tell us what you got out of your internship?
I specialize in the psychology of financial and investment decision-making, which is a very marginal topic at ECON MUNI. Therefore, I searched for research institutes that focus on the topic in more detail. There is a group of researchers at the Universität Mannheim that not only popularizes similar topics but also publishes them in top-quality journals worldwide. The opportunity to meet them and to participate in the events at the local faculty was therefore invaluable for me.
How did the internship help you in your research?
I would recommend watching the world's top researchers at work to everyone. I attended many meetings during my study stay and was able to observe how research topics are thought about and developed by people who were interested in both the theoretical and practical aspects of the issues.
Is there anything that particularly excited you about the trip?
If I had to highlight one thing, it was an extreme emphasis on quality. At the faculty where I had the opportunity to do my research internship, researchers and teachers were evaluated based on the quality of their contributions, not the quantity. I understood what it meant that one high-quality research paper is more useful than six papers of mediocre quality. Most of the local PhD students worked systematically on one or at most two papers over the course of their studies, and they worked together with a research team. Collaboration of PhD students with supervisors and other experts was essential. As a result, most of the local PhD students achieved excellent results. Moreover, working in a team consolidated their determination and motivation to see the work through.
What was the attitude of local colleagues towards you?
Great! On the first day, I moved into a building for foreign academics in the very centre of the city, opposite the university. On the spot, the administrative staff explained how the university functions and arranged everything I needed. In addition, they deemed it necessary that they would take care of my wife and children. However, I don't have children yet and my wife stayed in Brno, so maybe next time.
From the second day at the university I had an office and everything I needed to work. On the third day, the members of the local department met and listened to my research proposal. The next day, I received a call from two researchers from Germany who had heard about the topic I was working on and wanted to know more about it. I was really happy. On the other hand, I discovered how my original hypotheses were shabby and my work was insufficient. But I learned the important thing - how to do things well.
How difficult was it to arrange the trip?
Before the trip, I made a list of the TOP 25 professors with whom I would like to do an internship. My goal was to reach out to the best one and if that didn't work out, reach out to others below him. However, I was concerned that reaching out to 25 people would not be enough. After all, none of them had ever been seen by me or the faculty colleagues I asked.
However, I approached the person who was first on the list, Professor Weber, who is working on similar topics that interest me. I wrote to him that I had read his work and that I would like to work on something similar. I didn't hear from him for a month. But one evening he wrote back asking if we could have an online call the next day. During it, we introduced ourselves and I explained what research I was working on. The professor didn't look very friendly and it was clear to me that everything in my research endeavours from his perspective was wrong. However, the idea of the topic at hand intrigued him. He asked me when I could come. To my reply "tomorrow", he surprisingly said: "Then come tomorrow." So I went. Then, at the internship, I discovered that the professor was not hostile, but honest. He gave me a considerable amount of time in Mannheim, for which I am very grateful.
Thank you for the interview.
