Students and graduates! I am Luis Maia de Freitas, born in the hottest, touristic and academic city of Faro in southern Portugal. I earned my PhD in Ancient History from Swansea University (July 2021-May 2026). I am also the founder and creator of PhD Lounge, est. 29th of June 2021, with a registered business number 15170285 in Companies House.
 
Having been culturally adventuring throughout Europe between studies and work, creating friendships from different countries worldwide, and looking forward to a train journey across Siberia, from Moscow to Vladivostok, and also visiting archaeological cities of Ancient Greece and Rome for the foreseeable future, I wrote a doctoral thesis on the development of urban cities and cultural interactions in Syria and Mesopotamia during the Greek, Parthian and Roman periods, using two postcolonial concepts taken from Homi K. Bhabha's notorious 1994 book: The Location of Culture.
 
Before my PhD, I graduated in cultural heritage and archaeology at the University of Algarve, with an Erasmus year abroad at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain in the 2017-2018 academic year. After graduating, I worked as an intern at Galleri Heike Arndt DK as a Art Curator Assistant, in Berlin, which became my open door to undertake a Masters in Ancient History and Classical Culture at Swansea University. My Masters theses titled Hybridisation in the Hellenistic World: Precedents, Development and Legacy, gave me enough knowledge about how the Greco-Roman world worked in the Middle East, and so I decided to pursue this topic further in PhD.
 
My decision to make this podcast about the PhD culture lies first and foremost in enrolling on a PhD, sharing insights, curiosities, challenges and anything in-between from the first until the final year of the doctoral degree, whether it is full or part-time, and through "late-night" solo sessions and interviews with PhDs, postdocs, entrepreneurs who became PhDs, academics and non-academics. My goal for this podcast is to explore different insights about what a PhD actually means for any student and how its initials have historically become famous worldwide, where literally every year, a student receives the title of Doctor of Philosophy.While sharing content about the PhD universe, I also have some time to dedicate myself to other hobbies: cycling, sipping yerba mate, hearing other podcasts, travelling, and many more.
 
The structure of PhD Lounge of the podcast focuses on late-night interviews with PhD students where they talk about their research and experiences as "independent" researchers, hoping to entertain you as listeners as well as inviting students who are studying at university, that is, undergraduates and masters, and those who want to learn about PhD, to have a thought and consider in joining into this degree where maturity, discipline and experience is paramount.
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So grab your coffee or tea and a snack, tune in to the PhD Lounge, and I will interview you sooner than you expect!
 
Thank you all for tuning in, share it with a friends, and it has been a pleasure!
Yours truly,
Dr Luís Maia de Freitas
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All my forms of contact and academic profile can be found by clicking the links below.