My PhD: A research visit to Barcelona

I am currently a member of the Swedish National graduate school of historical studies. The research school provides a lot of great possibilities for international exchange and I have been lucky enough to receive a travel grant, which allows me to spend a few weeks abroad at a university of my own choice. One of the places I really wanted to go to was the University of Barcelona, where a certain professor who is working on the history of archaeology is affiliated. She has great experience of digging into archive material, and is/was the supervisor of several PhD candidates working on heritage issues and related areas. I was therefore of course very grateful when I got accepted as a guest researcher.  At this point I am almost halfway through my studies and this is a very good time to discuss and review research questions, methodology and different problems. 

So, what does it mean to be a guest PhD student/researcher? It is very much up to you and your so-called sponsor, in this case the above-mentioned kind professor.  I will take the opportunity to discuss as much as possible with her about certain aspects on theory and methodology, but also about my thesis topic in general and about her work. I am also planning to get a decent number of pages written. Being away from the normal curriculum as well as meetings and seminars at my home department will be a perfect opportunity to do some really contcentrated work., I hope... I will also ge to meet other PhD students and have the possibility to attend open lectures. I feel very welcome here, and I have daily contact with both the professor and another PhD candidate who has been helping me to settle in and feel at home. In addition I will take the chance to enjoy museums, archaeological sites and exhibitions, as well getting to know the fantastic city of Barcelona a bit better!

The university