I’ve recently graduated from \u00c5bo Akademi University with a PhD. Having spent nearly a decade in academic research working in the fields of cell biology and cell signalling, I realised that while I love the variety of doing wet lab work, it wasn’t where my passion lay. For some years I have been acutely aware that traditional PhD studies in science do not prepare students for life outside academia. To remedy this I decided to teach myself commercial awareness. In my spare time I took\u00a0various business courses offered by \u00c5A and other universities, in the form of traditional courses and\u00a0MOOCs (massive open online courses). In the process of trying to improve my commercial awareness I discovered that I really enjoy learning about different aspects of business and their application to bioscience – and so I discovered my passion.<\/p>\n
Now I have the chance to combine my scientific expertise with my business studies. I am currently living in Evanston, USA – home of Northwestern University and the Kellogg School of Management. Here I hope to learn more about technology transfer and the commercialisation of inventions in order to\u00a0bring my knowledge back to Finland to benefit \u00c5bo Akademi University. This blog is intended to document my time here in the USA, primarily on a\u00a0professional level. Any views and opinions expressed here are entirely my own and do not reflect the positions of \u00c5A and NU.<\/p>\n
– Claire<\/p>\n