Professor Mohammad Taherzadeh, research leader for Resource Recovery, explains what the guest doctoral students mean for the research at the University of Borås.

Guest doctoral students are enrolled as doctoral students at another university, but do some of their research here at the University of Borås. They usually stay for 6-12 months. They are financed externally. The purpose of receiving guest doctoral students is to stimulate academic exchanges and establish contacts to strengthen, for example, a research programme. The supervision takes place from the home university, while the host university provides access to labs and mentors.

“The guest doctoral students are an important piece in the internationalization at the university and cooperation with the outside world. Through them, we gain new knowledge and skills, and it also helps us finding new partners around the world.”

In what way do the guest doctoral students contribute to the research?

“They contribute to strengthening the research environment at the university and they also help our own doctoral students and researchers in their research.”

How are they involved in the research?

“They work on their own research projects which usually lead to co-publication with our researchers. We usually integrate their projects into ongoing research at the university.”

How do they find this university?

They usually contact our researchers in the first place. Once they have received a clearance from their home university and from us that they can come here, they are enrolled in one of our project courses, assigned to an examiner and examined in the usual order.

Research with highly estimated reputation

The guest doctoral student Dong-Min Ying from China tells about his choice of the University of Borås and the research within Resource Recovery.

“My supervisor at my home university knows very well about Professor Mohammad Taherzadeh and the research carried out here within Resource Recovery. The research team is very professional and I appreciate the labs. Being here for a longer period is very interesting and experiencing”, tells Dong-Min Ying.

Text: Solveig Klug