“Spotlight on...” Svenja Schöneich

What do you like most about your current job? 

 When I started looking for a job, I knew that I would like to be in a position that allowed me to combine my academic skills and theoretical knowledge with a practical approach. My current job includes investigating local effects and impacts of resource policies working together with partner organizations to develop recommendations to make mineral supply chains more just and sustainable. This is actually just what I was hoping to be able to do. 

Were you clear about what you wanted to do after your PhD or was your career path more by chance? 

It was definitely more by chance I guess. I was looking for something that would allow me to keep working on resource politics and Latin America in a broader sense and was very happy when I was hired for a position as a researcher in a project about sustainable mineral supply chains at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). After that my path became more defined by my network and experience as a policy advisor. 

What was the most valuable piece of advice that you received during your doctoral studies that you still draw on today? 

As simple as it sounds: “Done is better than perfect”. There will be a number of loops your dissertation will go through from the first words to final submission and parts that seem quite fundamental of it in the beginning will yet change eventually – so no need for you to try to make it perfect at every stage and in every aspect. Just try to focus on the most important messages and to talk it through with your peers and supervisors when you get the chance. In the end what matters is to have it done instead of desperately spending a lot of time on trying to improve what you have but never finish.  

How did your time at the GIGA influence you as a person and in terms of your career planning? 

Before becoming a fellow of the GIGA Doctoral Programme, my academic experience was limited to university and its internal logic. At GIGA I had the chance to learn about how to develop and frame policy advice based on research results, as well as about cooperation with other institutions and Think Tanks which was crucial for everything that came after my PhD.