In Latvia, there are twice as few people with doctoral degrees compared to the EU average. To improve this situation, educational institutions are currently focusing on supporting doctoral candidates—specifically by immediately hiring them as university staff rather than treating them as students.
Ilze Blāķe and Karīna Goluba are currently studying in the doctoral program at the Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences at the University of Latvia. "My motivation is career growth, as working in science has always been my goal. It’s just a logical next step to becoming a researcher," explained Ilze.
Karīna is a pharmacist. She is interested in finding new drug therapies and testing existing ones for various cancers and rare diseases: "My dissertation topic is related to this. I create various preclinical research models so that we can test both new drug therapies and existing ones."
Ilze, on the other hand, studies blood cell cancer: "I investigate how the environment and the interactions between cells and cancer cells influence whether the drugs work or not."
A process has now begun in Latvia that will make doctoral studies more convenient and accessible for many. "Latvia lacks people with doctoral degrees. We have half as many as the EU average. This was one of the reasons why the new doctoral model was initiated in Latvia," said Zanda Rubene, director of the Doctoral School at the University of Latvia.
Doctoral Schools are being established at higher education institutions, which will take responsibility for doctoral studies as a whole, relieving students of administrative burdens.
"From this academic year onward, doctoral candidates are no longer students; they are university employees—in our case, employees of the University of Latvia. Within two years, all newly admitted doctoral candidates will become employees, with part of their workload dedicated to research for their dissertation. Essentially, they receive a salary for conducting their research during their doctoral studies," explained Rubene.
New spaces for Doctoral Schools have been created at the University of Latvia, providing a place for both students and faculty to gather.
"Back when I was a doctoral student 20 years ago, a doctoral candidate was quite a solitary figure, researching alone in libraries or labs and writing their dissertation by themselves. Now, the trend is toward networking among doctoral candidates, between academia and industry, entrepreneurs, and even interdisciplinary networking. One of the goals of the new doctoral model is interdisciplinary research, as this leads to scientific innovation," emphasized Rubene.
Doctoral candidates Ilze Blāķe and Karīna Goluba acknowledge that such networking is valuable and necessary. The university highlights that interdisciplinary research could lead to future scientific excellence.
Photo and article source: lsm.lv