“I got what I wanted”

With a veterinarian degree from Iran, Amir followed his passion for animal biology and came to Sweden to study a master's programme. Now he researches the genetic basis of domestication at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM) at LiU. “I also liked psychology, so animal ethology was a kind of animal psychology, dealing with the behaviour of animals. I was interested in the topic of this programme so I applied for it and I was accepted,” says Amir about the beginning of his journey to Sweden. At that time, his sister was also a student at LiU, so coming to Linköping felt like the right thing to do.

Amir was very satisfied with his master’s studies and he appreciated the different way of teaching. “I got what I wanted. My former education system was different. We usually went to lectures, memorized some things, then had an examination and that was it. Here is kind of research based. The teacher just gives you a clue or some idea and then you have to do everything yourself, you have to go search the literature and come up with new ideas”.

Becoming a PhD student

PhD studies were only one step away from Amir, as he was approaching the end of his master’s programme. His thesis supervisor (professor Per Jensen) announced three PhD grants and Amir applied for one of them. “I happened to be in the right place at the right time,” he jokes and at the same he admits it was not simply a matter of luck. He had been interested in doing research since he was studying in Iran, but it was hard to get a PhD right after his veterinarian degree. Moreover, his home university was not an English-speaking one, so a PhD abroad was hard to obtain. “Even if I could have studied at doctoral level right away, I wouldn’t have been as successful as I am now because the master’s programme really prepares you for doing science.”

Planning for the future

After his PhD, Amir would like to follow the research path and apply for a post-doc position, either in Sweden or the USA. “It’s good to have more horizons, more ideas from other countries,” he says about pursuing a career within research.

As for future students on the programme, Amir’s advice would be: “There are a lot of opportunities. If you want to progress, you can!”