Sophie Gaber is the new chair of the PhD council at NVS

From September Sophie Gaber is the new chair of the PhD council at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS). She is a PhD student at the division of occupational therapy.

At the top of her agenda is collaborating closely with the Department of NVS to promote a healthy and dynamic study and work environment for all Doctoral Students.

“As a medical university, the pursuit of societal health and wellbeing through research should also be considered a priority for the researchers and educators themselves”, says the new chair and continues:

“The breadth of talented people studying and working at NVS are its greatest asset and in order to harness the quality of research and education, it is important to ensure Doctoral students feel valued, that their voices are heard and that they have access to the appropriate resources and supports”.

By working closely with the Department Sophie looks forward to aligning the Doctoral Student Council’s goals with broader goals at NVS and KI.

“This interdisciplinary and collaborative approach can maximise the impact of our goals”, says Sophie.
“It helps to recognise the rights and obligations of Doctoral students and how we fit into the bigger KI picture. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, academically and socially, there is an opportunity to jointly action goals such as increased communication, healthy study and work environments, as well as internationalisation.

Sophie thinks that this is a period of transition for NVS and KI as a whole and she sees that as their main challenge. In times of such change, collaboration and communication become more salient than ever.

“Doctoral students are well-situated to recognise barriers and facilitators to participation in the activities of daily life at NVS and KI”, says Sophie.

“We can play a pivotal role in supporting the wider staff and management community to optimise this period of transition - taking stock, learning and continuing to improve the world-class standards of education and research at NVS and KI”, Sophie points out.

Finally she wants to say:

“My vision is to collaborate with the Council members to continue the great work that Chenhong Lin and the former Council members achieved. It has been a privilege to be part of the development of the “Dialogue” - a document to support the yearly follow-up meeting between students and supervisors (https://ki.se/en/nvs/the-doctoral-student-council-at-nvs). However the next step is crucial, to ensure tools such as the “Dialogue” are disseminated in a way that is accessible, usable, sustainable and meaningful to Doctoral students and supervisors. No more tick box exercises!”