My PhD journey across countries and disciplines

MRes/PhD Business & Management student Domenika reflects on perseverance, resilience and finding purpose after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Her story highlights how unexpected challenges can lead to new opportunities, meaningful mentorship and the courage to begin again.

6,452 km of perseverance

I was born and grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine, in a family with parents who are an economist-auditor and a civil engineer; each possesses two postgraduate degrees, extensive professional experience, and a broad outlook on life. It's no surprise that this early exposure to complexity influenced my desire for analytical thinking and strategic decision-making.

This drive, together with my curiosity about the forces driving the global economic order, led directly to my degree in International Economics. I was most fascinated by this discipline's role, as it is integral to international business, from micro-level transactions to macro-level policy, providing the analytical framework necessary to answer the ultimate questions - Why? and How?

During my final year of studying Economics in Ukraine, I had the opportunity to intern at the Ministry of Economy, a place where all international economists dream of working. There, I had an opportunity to be trained under the best in arbitration practices for international trade disputes within the World Trade Organisation. This experience captivated my interest, developed my acquired knowledge and skills, and perfectly complemented the lessons my family shared with me.

I later served as a junior analyst on foreign economic practices at a leading national legislative research centre. This was an extremely exciting experience, involving analysis of international business practices and other economic issues, culminating in analytical materials prepared at the request of government officials for future White Papers, which I approached with great pride and responsibility. It was this unique process, which often presented more questions than answers, that inspired my decision to start a PhD in International Economic Relations in Ukraine.

However on February 24, 2022, everything changed when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine happened. All national processes simply ceased to exist for a significant period, as the entire focus shifted from the defense of...  the domestic manufacturers, to the fundamental right of a multi-million nation to live in their independent and sovereign country.

Sometimes coincidences aren’t really coincidences - starting my PhD journey at the NOVA School of Business and Economics

That's how I ended up in Portugal - a country of sun, a global tech hub for start-ups, rocky beaches, azulejo architecture, and Vinho Verde (green wine).

Why such a long journey? It's a truly interesting story: just a month before the full-scale invasion, my mother was visiting a childhood friend in Lisbon. My sister and I had planned to join them for our mother's birthday in early March and travel home together. However, the airspace was closed.

But, as they say, you can't run from fate - we ultimately reached Portugal overland, a journey that took us four days from the moment we left our home in Kyiv. This situation clearly demonstrates to me that there are no coincidences in life - you will always follow your intended path, even if by different routes.

In Portugal, I discovered a new side of myself and realised that I can achieve anything when I put my effort into it (words my father often repeated to me when I was a child), and where fate introduced me to incredible people, including professors from Nova SBE, who supported and motivated me to change my focus and embark on a new academic path: a PhD in Strategy.

Next stop: the UK - continuing my Cotutelle PhD at Warwick Business School

And so, I found myself packing my suitcase again - this second move was a very long-awaited and exciting relocation. I  arrived in the UK to continue work on my research at WBS as part of a Cotutelle PhD programme under the EUTOPIA Alliance, meaning my doctorate is jointly supervised between partner institutions.

The concept for my dissertation research was inspired by my time at Ukraine’s public policy institutions. As early as the months before the full-scale invasion, the institutions’ main servers were regularly under the threat of cyberattacks, and this phenomenon served as the genesis for my current research interests, compelling me to explore the antecedents and consequences of such detrimental technological events and appropriate strategies to safeguard the competitive advantages of the targeted organisations.

Mentorship, community and finding my place

I am fortunate again to be surrounded by truly inspiring individuals at WBS. The professors guiding my research are successful women in academia whose expertise and integrity inspire me to pursue a similar path. They go beyond the role of supervisors, serving as mentors from whom I draw immense inspiration, watching them gracefully navigate a demanding academic career. I am immensely grateful for the knowledge, guidance, and wisdom they share with me.

I've also made some wonderfully friendly colleagues here, who enabled me to integrate quickly into their team. We maintain nice relations outside of office hours, sharing the same hobbies, and thanks to them, I now know why the same Guinness tastes better in the pub than in a can, how to hold hot pot chopsticks, where to find the best masala tea, and much more.

I will never be tired of expressing my gratitude to my supervisors and the administrative teams at WBS and Nova SBE for their support to gain such international PhD experience and for enriching my personal and professional growth.

Yes! to perseverance

So, why 6,452 km of perseverance? The distance from Kyiv to Lisbon by land is 4,100 km, and from Lisbon to Coventry, it is 2,352 km. This journey is not a straight line; it is a long zigzag across three countries, two disciplines, institutions, and one major career pivot. My Cotutelle programme, balancing the academic traditions of two great institutions, and the research I do, resonate deeply with my own story as a metaphor for the life before and after an exogenous shock (sorry for the academicslip!).

The life lesson of my story is simple - the most valuable degree you earn during a PhD isn't just the Dr. title and final parchment; it’s the perseverance you build by starting over, again and again, until you finally find the right place to stand. It makes one wonder: where will life take me after my PhD.