Discover 105 opportunities in Research

One of the biggest and most exciting challenges of a young academic's career is coming up with that first economics research topic. Knowing how much is riding on the decision, it can also be pretty stressful. With so much to consider, we thought it would be easier to break the decision-making process down into some key points. Consideration of each will give you the best chance possible to make sure the topic of your economics Master's thesis is the right one - both for you personally and for your future career. Without further ado, read on for our advice on how to pick a topic for your economics thesis.

Our favorite caricature of a post-doctoral researcher: a frail man (or woman) with unkempt hair, hunched in front of a computer screen, with a half-filled cup of coffee by his side. As the coffee gets colder and time flies by, he appears oblivious to his surroundings. He is happy spending long hours at his desk conceptualizing arcane theory on obscure topics the real world does not care about. He is in a state of eternal "tapasya" – meditating on his eternal love-affair with knowledge…because life is an eternal quest for knowledge! Or, so the world believes. Once the PhD has been completed, and freshly-minted researchers decide that research is what they would like to do for the rest of their lives, their friends and family might start assuming that a Doctor of Philosophy is just another armchair intellectual.

Economics PhDs are aware of the transferable skills they should master to land a job in industry. But what about the reverse: is prior industry experience valuable for a PhD program?

Soon after the completion of a Master's degree or PhD, everybody is faced with the big question: what next? Although it may seem like a natural progression to continue with further research, there are many other careers open to academics in business, education, communications and journalism, to name but a few examples. So how do you know if research is the right career choice for you? Well, like with most big decisions, a good way of figuring it out is to weigh the pros and cons of an academic career.

Starting a PhD is an incredibly daunting task. Normally at least 3 years, there are some challenges that you are almost certainly going to have to face during the program. Below we look at some of the biggest (and most common) problems that PhD students encounter.