A change of scenery during a research trip

At the beginning of January, Hadrien Macq moved to Paris for a 6-month research stay at the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), at Mines Paris Tech. A few weeks after his return, he talks to us about this particularly enriching experience and the concrete opportunities it has created.

What prompted you to leave your office at ULiège for Paris?

I was in the last year of my thesis and I wanted to "leave the nest" to think about my research, analyze my data and consider writing my thesis manuscript in another research center, with other colleagues.

I hoped to enrich my thoughts by confronting them with other perspectives. I had already done a short one-month research stay at the University of Geneva and I was already convinced of the benefits of this kind of experience. So I wanted to repeat the experience but over a longer period of time, more conducive to a real immersion.

And then, frankly, there is also a strategic dimension: being able to testify to a research experience abroad of at least six months has become a criterion for evaluating applications for post-doctoral funding. Moreover, the academic world is a relatively small world and it is always very useful to build strong ties beyond one's direct environment.

Did this research trip meet your expectations?

Without a doubt! Professionally, CSI has been a particularly conducive environment for intellectual growth since my arrival. The center benefits from an extremely lively dynamic, established for many years by a team of internationally recognized teachers and researchers.

Right from the start, I was able to take part in numerous seminars and exchanges that allowed me to advance in my thinking, to read a lot of scientific literature on various subjects and to take part in highly enriching discussions.

I really made a point of putting a lot of effort into integrating myself into the scientific life of the center, which I believe I succeeded in doing. It was a formative experience for me to integrate into a new professional team and to gradually find my place within it.

Beyond the professional links, have these meetings given rise to concrete projects?

Yes, I have had the opportunity to set up thematic discussion seminars with other doctoral students at the center, which have resulted in a joint publication project, a first draft of which is being finalized.

I also had the opportunity to invite another doctoral student to participate in an open panel that I will co-organize at a conference in New Orleans in September.

Finally, I have been able to have my work reviewed and presented to a good number of the members of the center, which has not failed to generate discussions around similar themes or research results. Here are some examples of relationships that will certainly prove fruitful in the future.

And on a personal level?

A research stay is above all a travel experience, similar to a post-humanities exchange year or an Erasmus. In this respect, I had already had the opportunity in the past to adapt to a foreign environment (six months of Erasmus in Colombia and one month of doctoral stay in Geneva).

My experience in Paris allowed me to rediscover this pleasure: I discovered a city, in which I was more used to evolving as a tourist, and I also met people with whom I hope to maintain contact in the future.

Did you have to overcome any difficulties?

In the end, the most delicate part was to negotiate the balance between this research trip and my private life. By a coincidence of calendar, I left one week after having moved in a house bought with my partner. I only came home one weekend a month, which was not easy.

Moreover, the fact of being alone in front of the finalization of one's thesis, in a work environment where one has to prove everything, with a sometimes hesitant self-confidence is not easy. But I imagine that many PhD students will find themselves in this description.

Would you advise this experience to other researchers?

Definitely. I imagine that it is not necessarily necessary to make post-docs aware of the benefits of spending time abroad, but that many doctoral students might hesitate to try the experience. However, this experience will undoubtedly prove to be incredibly beneficial to any doctoral program in terms of encounters, integration into research networks and multiple learning experiences, both in terms of research topics and a whole series of soft skills.

Financing a research stay

To finance his research stay, Hadrien called upon :

• the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (via PREDA)
• rotary District 1630

These two financings made it possible to collect a little more than 8000 €, enough to cover a good part of the expenses on the spot.