Karen Schmid

Why did you decide to study your PhD at Heriot-Watt University?

I wanted to do a PhD that is not just some nice, theoretical work but something that is useful for engineers -- something that could help them to tackle real-world problems. Heriot-Watt's strong ties with industry offered the perfect surrounding for this! During my PhD I had an academic adviser, as well as an advisor on the company side so that I always had both the academic, as well as the industry perspective on my work.

What was your experience of studying your PhD with the Carbonate Reservoirs group at Heriot-Watt University?

I could not have chosen better! You hear horror stories about PhDs that fail because the advisor is not involved at all. On contrary, Sebastian was the perfect role model of an advisor – he created the difficult balance between letting me run free to try my own ideas on the one hand, and always offering help when I got stuck at the other hand. Plus: The group work was really cool, and many of my PhD colleagues became friends with whom I'm still in touch with.

Can you tell us a bit about what you're currently doing?

Currently, I am working as a Strategy Consultant for The Boston Consulting Group, one of the world's largest and most prestigious management consultancy firms. The job and the problems we tackle are very diverse, and the clients we advise range from corporate clients – many of them Fortune 500 companies, to NGOs (like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and public organisations like the UNO.

I wanted to do a PhD ... that is useful for engineers -- something that could help them to tackle real-world problems.