This week’s PhDetails is #86 with Antti Miettinen who studies at the University of Helsinki. Antti has done two Master's degrees: one in ecology and evolutionary biology (at the Uni of Jyväskylä, which he finished in 2015) and one in science communication (at the Uni of Oulu, which he completed in 2018). After finishing his biology Master's, Antti studied and did science communication as a freelancer, and communications about nature conservation for a small Finnish foundation (The Vuokko Foundation for Nature Conservation). In biology, Antti has always been most interested in evolutionary genetics. After deciding that he wanted to do a PhD, he wanted to find a project combining genomics and a conservation angle. He told me that he is now happily working on such a project - using genomic approaches to improve the conservation and management of wild Baltic salmon (a threatened lineage of Atlantic salmon that lives in the Baltic Sea region). He has almost finished his first year and is looking forward to diving deeper into the hugely potential world of fish genomics! “As you know, there are so many intriguing phenomena there that so far we've only seen glimpses of.” You can find Antti on Twitter @anttimietti!
Photo: Erkki Jokikokko
Well let’s start off talking about completely unscientific stuff: What is your favourite band/musical artist pre 1980?
Pink Floyd, Queen, Simon & Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac and Blue Öyster Cult are no big names by coincidence. Also, Finnish language covers of songs from those times are pretty hilarious.
Favourite band/musical artist post 1980?
Impossible to name just a few, but I’ll do it: Stam1na, The Sounds, HIM, Ghost, Pariisin Kevät, Pyhimys, Plutonium 74, anything that’s got a proper 80s vibe to it. Instrumental music like post-rock to listen to while writing.
Favourite movie?
Holy crap. I wish I was still 12 when almost any good movie I watched would immediately make it to my then Top 3.
Anyway, this is a good opportunity to reveal a most intricate yet very simple “algorithm” me and my good friend have figured out. It helps us find perfect flicks that satisfy our similar taste in movies. As disturbingly big fans of horror, we’ve noticed that any low budget horror movie with a rating of around 5 to 6 out of 10 on IMDB is usually a really good one. There’s quite a few brilliant, often quite niche films that fall into that category. Shockingly, this is something almost nobody usually agrees with.
Do you listen to podcasts? What are some of your favourites?
No. I love music too much, listening to something else would feel like I’m wasting time that I could use to hear some sweeter tunes.
Where do you study and who are your supervisors?
I’m based at the University of Helsinki, Finland, supervised by Victoria Pritchard and Craig Primmer.
What year of your PhD are you in?
I’m about done with my first year!
Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?
I have the pleasure to thank four different foundations for funding my work so far. I’ve received working grants from the Finnish foundations called Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, Kuopion Luonnon Ystäväin Yhdistys (Betty Väänänen’s Fund), Tuuliainen Foundation and The Finnish Foundation for Nature Conservation (The Baltic Sea Fund). Big thanks to all of them! At the moment I’m covered until halfway of my project.
Did you do a masters – where was it and was it about?
Actually two: one in ecology & evolutionary biology, and the other one in science communication. I did the first one at the University of Jyväskylä, and the latter at the University of Oulu, both located in Finland. Goes without saying that as a Master of Science Communication, I give this blog the highest seal of approval!
Do you have any publications – if so where (these will be linked to in the post)?
One peer-reviewed article I was a co-author in, based on my Master’s thesis on pine sawfly defence against multiple kinds of enemies (HERE). If you want to read a short version of what it’s about, check out THIS piece in TheScienceBreaker.
I’ve also written plenty of popular science articles. And I got to write a chapter about epigenetics in a book popularizing genetics, which was extra sweet.
Do you do fieldwork? What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?
I’ll only do a little bit of fieldwork in my PhD. I really like it though, and one of my best experiences of it is when I got to go collect fruit flies from beaver dams in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, USA. The scenery was out of this world, or at least out of mine. Another highlight has been fieldwork in Mongolia, where I took part on a course on ecological monitoring. During the course I was part of a group measuring the demise of birch forests in the Khustain Nuruu National Park. The task involved running around with a GPS tracker to mark down all the patches of healthy forest we found in the study area. It was physically really demanding but lovely. I felt privileged to be able to roam around freely on the Mongolian steppe, with actual wild horses (called takhi, or Przewalski’s horse) around.
What about lab work?
I do some labwork. It’s nicest when you’ve had a break from doing it and you go back and it’s all a bit chaotic and you have nothing figured out BUT then something clicks and you realize you can do it. And everything rolls smoothly for a while and then you become too self-confident and screw up. That brings you down to earth nicely.
How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?
A couple. After I did my Master’s in biology, I studied and did science communication for a few years. I spent that time wondering if I was sure I wanted to do a PhD, and what I would do it on. Eventually I became certain I wanted to do research of my own, not just write about others’. After doing communications for an organization dedicated to nature conservation, I knew I wanted my own research project to have some kind of conservational value. So, I ended up looking for a topic that would combine evolutionary genomics, my main interest in biology, and the chance of applying the results to help threatened populations or habitats. Very glad it worked out for me!
What is the most bodged piece of equipment you have had to use during field/labwork – did it work?
Probably “fly suckers” that I would assemble myself. They’re pretty much a pointy glass tip with a tube attached to it. And then you hover the tip over a fly in the wild and suck the tube to catch the animal. If I’d broken the mesh between the glass and the tube, I’d find unfortunate flies in my throat. Oh yeah, and I actually managed to burn my neck with molten glass when molding the glass tips in the first place. I also think I was a bodged piece of equipment myself earlier this year when working in the lab. I’d broken my elbow recently but insisted on doing some labwork nonetheless. I learnt to hate opening lids, and appreciate having two working hands. Damn lids.
What one piece of advice would you give to a masters student applying to PhDs now?
Make a list of things you want from your PhD. Including what requirements you have for supervision, what kind of research group you’d like to be working in etc. You can use your list to figure out if the positions you know of really interest you or not. And look up and contact possible supervisors, they might have potential projects that have not been advertised! Mine is one of those.
How often do you meet with your supervisors?
I talk with my main supervisor Vicky almost daily at the office. So we have fewer organized meetings but a lot of random chitchat. I think that has worked really well for me, and I’m aware I might be a bit spoiled to have such support readily available almost whenever I need it. Vicky’s been awesomely helpful – I’m now bound to become more independent as she is starting a new job elsewhere.
What supervisor traits are important to you?
Fairness, kindness, proper attitude, having your back, motivating you when you hit rough seas.
What do you think are the worst supervisor traits?
I’ve been very fortunate with all my supervisors, as everyone’s been really nice and rewarding to work with. But I’ve seen friends struggle with de-motivating supervisors, who for example fail to give their students credit for their work.
In one sentence what is your PhD about?
Using genomic approaches to make the management of the threatened Baltic salmon more sustainable.
What has been your academic highlight of the last year?
All of these: doing a field trip to one of my study rivers, Simojoki in northern Finland, lab visit to the SLU in Drottningholm, Sweden, and attending two conferences (ESEB 2019 and ICISB 2019).
Have you had an academic lowpoint of the last year – if so what happened?
No single lowpoint, but writing loads of grant applications to secure funding for my project has been a bit stressful and has also taken a lot of time.
Which academic idol/scientist would you most like to meet?
More of a popular science idol, but David Attenborough is my ultimate hero and I’d like to tell him that. It would also be really entertaining to have a chat with any late big name of evolutionary biology, from the old times. After giving them a crash course on 21st century genetics, I’d want to hear their thoughts on it all.
Who has been your academic role model/inspiration and why?
My supervisors have been my main role models. They’re all obviously different kinds of people, but have all made nice careers in academia. Also in general, I think seeing all kinds of diversity in academia is inspiring, as it should make it clear no one has to fit any certain expectation of what a scientist is like.
Do you have a favourite paper?
None that I could think of off the top of my head. What I did think was this one I came across a while ago: “Death is certain, the time is not”: mortality and survival in Game of Thrones. Let’s call it a fun paper if not my favourite.
What has been your favourite conference so far – why?
ESEB 2019 in Turku, Finland was great. Good talks, people and a lot of emphasis on the environmental footprint of the event. In general conferences should do so much better with that.
What hours do you typically work?
Mornings are a hard time for me, so I prefer to start late and work until the evening. I’m by far the most productive me in the later hours.
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| Photo: Erkki Jokikokko |
How do you avoid procrastinating?
I’m Master Procrastinator. Some tricks that I’ve learnt to work for me are listing small objectives (by literally writing them down with some ink and paper) and then just forcing myself to start doing them. It’s satisfying to get to tick off those tasks, and gives some sense of achievement every day.
What motivates you in your day to day PhD life?
See above: listing down tasks and then being able to tick a mark next to them is motivating in the short term. In the long term: knowing that people have invested their time and foundations their money on me, to give me the opportunity to do what I love. I don’t want to let them down, let alone the salmon that I study.
What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your PhD?
Ideally, sports and trekking. In real life, some of that and also lots of couchpotatoing. And reading books about polar expeditions (spoiler: almost always gone horribly wrong). Anyway, I think my recipe for some kind of balance in life is work, nature, exercise & friends.
If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your PhD what would you wish for?
Give me the skill to start things before deadlines are looming too close for comfort.
What would be your dream job?
A reasonably secure position doing research with direct value to conservation of wild populations and habitats. With work weeks where I’d spend four days doing that, and one day chopping wood or doing some other primitive manual action like that. I could use that primal day to recharge during the week.
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| Photo: Erkki Jokikokko |
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
In my rocking chair, reading this excerpt and being perplexed.
One word to sum up your future in academia:
Unresolved
What do you want to achieve outside of academia in the coming year?
To finish fixing my boat! I inherited a DIY small boat from my grandfather and have been slowly refurbishing it. I want to do some boating action next summer.
What essential tool hardware/software could you not do your PhD without?
A paper calendar that serves as my external memory.
Where is somewhere you would like to work in the future?
I like wild places – somewhere remote could work for a while.
Do you have a favourite organism?
All the little critters and earthworms and parasitic slimeballs and whatever else there is that we don’t even know about. I’m always rooting for the underdogs. And also wolves.
Are there any social interactions/meetings which have enhanced your PhD experience?
Conferences have definitely been really good for getting to know people.
If you could change one thing about your group/department structure what would it be?
More interaction and then maybe cooperation between different groups.
What major question in your subject area is yet to be addressed – why is it important and why isn’t anyone addressing it?
What is a population, hah. Also, what’s non-coding DNA responsible for?
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