PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management

I first came to FEUP as a Master’s student, in 2012-2014. The unforgettable experience I had during those 2 years is one of the reasons why I decided to choose FEUP for a Doctorate study. The other reason is my supervisor who is a well-known researcher within my topic of interest, Service Design and Innovation. I am blessed for having the opportunity to work with her and the other professors at my department because they have opened the networks for me to join this research community. Not to mention, I feel like a Doctoral study is both a research training and a life training.

The academic environment I have during my Doctoral study is different from the one during my Master study. During this doctoral study, I work in a collaborative room with other Doctorate students from my department. Since I am the type of person who cannot work alone in a room, I find it motivating. Furthermore, being on this space with other students opens the opportunities for collaboration works. However, I am less exposed to multi-cultural experiences compared to my Erasmus days. This is a call for having more multi-cultural events those involving doctoral students.

Regarding the city of Porto, I have no doubt in saying that the Portuguese in Porto (i.e. the Portuense) are the ones who make me feel at home. The Portuguese speak more Portuguese than English, of course. I do not think of this as a constraint, but more as a free learning venue to train my Portuguese language. The second one that makes me feel at home is the food! Who could resist those grilled seafoods (grilled octopus, in particular, for me), bacalhau, and pasteis de nata?! As an Indonesian, I have no difficulties in adapting to the Portuguese foods as Portuguese also eat a lot of rice for meals (Ps. For many Indonesians, a meal is not considered as a meal unless it has rice). Indonesian community in Porto (or Portugal in general) is very small compared to other Western European countries, but I value the interactions and close relationship within this small community.

In short, I do recommend (and challenge) you to take full advantages of studying in FEUP while enjoying Porto to the fullest. Being away from our home country is hard, but it develops us to be a tougher and more independent person day by day.