Image credit: Gayantonia Franze
Lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Alice divides her time between research and teaching at the Institute of Marine Science and the School of Biological Sciences.
I enjoyed having a connection with both the University and CSIRO. From a student perspective it is brilliant to learn about how different institutions do research and operate. I also really enjoyed the courses. I think they made me a better-rounded marine scientist and oceanographer.
Having a broader network is very helpful both in terms of opportunities (jobs, conferences, courses) and scientific knowledge (often knowing someone who is an expert in something I don't know well). Recently I have started dividing my time between research and teaching and having a wider knowledge of different topics in marine science has been beneficial.
Being a cotutelle student was a mission! There was plenty of extra things to think about in terms of paperwork and logistics. I don't regret doing that for a second, though, as being a cotutelle student gave me the opportunity to experience living in two different countries (Australia and France), have an outstanding supervisory team, and be connected with two different research environments. It also got me used to working with international teams, something that I didn't stop doing after my Ph.D. and I still enjoy doing (even if the logistics and the paperwork are still challenging!).