PhD Confessions

Why on earth would anyone choose to do a PhD in democracy studies?
How and why should we even study democracy?
And what are the challenges and rewards of the PhD journey?

We have asked these questions to democracy researchers, young PhD candidates, people who have given up on their PhD, fresh post-docs and established professors, as well as coaches, trainers, supervisors, and others.

Their confessions, collected in 31 chapters, make up DemocracyNet’s newest open-access book.


Edited by Lea Heyne (University of Lisbon) and Christian Ewert (University of Zurich), PhD Confessions presents authentic, personal and even intimate experiences about the PhD journey.

You can download the book as PDF (~2 MB) here for free.

Alternatively, by buying a hard copy you will support DemocracyNet in its work. Copies are available in almost all online and offline book stores, or directly at our publisher BoD.

We hope you enjoy the read!

Cover of the book "PhD confessions