Category Archives: PhD

Why Present at Brown Bag Seminars?

The main idea of Brown Bag seminars is to have a forum where one can “informally” present new papers or articles, papers in progress, or ideas for papers and get a valuable feedback on them. Brown Bag seminars is a tradition that comes from american universities. They are organized at lunch time, and often meals are provided by organizers. Many attendees still bring their own take-away food, which is typically packed in brown paper bags. This gives the name to the event.
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A Good Research Idea: What It Is and Where to Look for It

Two years ago I was sitting in a cafeteria when a “you’ve got mail” alert arrived to my cell phone. It was a notification of acceptance for the Ph.D. program at CERGE-EI. With a beating heart I opened it… and hurray – I am going to Prague! I knew my life was going to change and become full of new challenges. It was, indeed, so and here comes another challenge: to find not only an idea, but “the idea” for further research, which I will devote the next few years of my life to. How to do this? I have decided to ask in the source. I have talked to one of our professors – Levent Celik, who has recently presented his work at a research seminar at CERGE-EI to find out what his approach is. I also used this opportunity to learn how he had benefited from studying at an American university.
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When Invisible Forces Are on Your Side

February 14th was my day!.. No-no, nothing to do with St. Valentine. I got a job offer. Even more, I got a great job offer. It came from the University of Vienna, and this alone made it great. Before the offer came, I had visited Vienna to present my job market paper and to meet with professors there. When I went there, my body was still confused about the time zone I brought it in, my presentation needed more rehearsals, and a long list of papers was in the to-be-read category. Nevertheless, I was excited to talk to all those people with whom I had scheduled appointments.
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