Passion for electronics and communication

After graduating from the Wireless Networks and Electronics programme, Negar had to choose among several positions within academia and industry. In the end she decided for a PhD in Organic Electronic Groups at Linköping University. “I was offered a job at Ericsson and a PhD position in the Netherlands, but in the end I chose the PhD at Linköping University. It was a combination of everything I loved all over my education period,” she says.

Negar came to Sweden in August 2008 as a master student at Linköping University. She was working for Ericsson in Iran, as installation engineer, when she realised she wanted to study more before moving on with work and started taking advanced courses in math and automatic control. “But then I thought I have to be more organised, I have to do a whole programme. I was interested in new technologies, especially in the communication field, so just the name of the LiU master’s programme – Wireless Networks and Electronics – was pretty catchy and it was really the thing that I wanted,” says Negar about her choice of studies.  

Life as a master student

The master’s programme at Linköping University was a complex experience for Negar. She met new people from other countries, she had to speak English all the time and she got the education she was looking for. “I wanted to learn something that I would need and use when I wanted to work and it was exactly the thing,” she says about her master studies. One thing that Negar liked about the programme, was the variety of optional courses and the freedom of choosing among them. Moreover, she appreciated the possibility of re-taking exams, even though she never had to use it. Compared to Iran, Sweden is calmer and that is one thing that Negar really enjoys.

Looking back, Negar would definitely recommend the programme. Her advice to future students would be “to understand all the fundamentals, concentrate on them first, and then go deeper, see what exactly you are interested in and what exactly is needed in the outside world.”

Meeting challenges with excitement

Negar is almost half way through her PhD. “It went really fast, I enjoyed everything, all the research, my colleagues and supervisors, everything was really great.” Her area of research is printed electronics. “The only thing I am getting a bit nervous about is fulfilling all the achievements as soon as possible.” Part of Negar’s PhD involves writing scientific articles, attending relevant conferences and teaching.

As for her future career, it’s still too soon for Negar to say what exactly she will do after finishing her PhD studies. “I’ve always been interested in seeing the results of my studies in practice,” she says about applying her knowledge in a work setting. Despite her choices being narrowed down to a small field, Negar would like to work in a company later on.