For this article, we interviewed our soon-to-be-graduate PhD researcher Qifeng Yan. He tells about his experience as a doctoral researcher at Hanken at the subject of Supply Chain Management and Social Responsibility. This year, the application round for the PhD programme in question is 1.12. 2023 – 3.1.2024.

Qifeng’s background and roots

Qifeng is from the city of Zhuhai in Southern China, a province called Guangdong. The place is characterised by warm weather and little seasonal variation in weather, quite the opposite of Finland. Qifeng describes the city “small” with 2 million inhabitants – another difference from Finland.

From Southern China, Qifeng’s journey continued to Bremen, Germany, where he did his bachelor’s degree: a double degree in earth and space sciences. From there he went on to study his master’s degree in New York, USA, in climate science.

What motivated Qifeng to apply for the PhD programme in Supply Chain Management and Social Responsibility at Hanken

Qifeng possessed a solid understanding of natural phenomena and the climate, and he wanted to learn to apply his knowledge in the field of e.g., Humanitarian Logistics. His initial exposure the HUMLOG Institute of Hanken occurred during his tenure with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center. However, he only decided to apply for the PhD at Hanken one week before the deadline. At first, Qifeng worried his background not being relevant enough for the PhD programme, yet everything fell into place in the end, and his expertise from before turned out to be an asset.

“What I studied earlier was like a description of the phenomena; how the Earth and climate work, and what I’m currently doing is how we can actually apply that knowledge into a more practical field.”

Highlights – what has been particularly positive about the doctoral researcher position

As absolute highlights of his four-year stay at Hanken, Qifeng mentions the welcoming and helpful community that his become part of at Hanken. He praises his colleagues for being there even during the challenging times during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Learnings – what are the key learnings

The biggest learning for Qifeng, as he describes it, has been that enough time and effort put into something makes anything possible. He realised this as he started to immerse himself in the field of supply chain and humanitarian logistics with his background on the scientific side of things. This opened his eyes for opportunities on a broader scale – he summarizes that being a schcolar takes you pretty far, the rest will come on its own.

Cultural curiosities – what has been surprising about Finland

Before settling in Finland, Qifeng had visited Finland once as a tourist – back then he did not expect to live in the country one day. He thinks the stereotype of Finns being shy and reserved only applies to strangers, yet when you get to know each other he’s found Finnish people to be most welcoming and warm.

Besides a warm welcome, he was positively surprised about the cultural diversity at Hanken – he estimates Finns to even be a minority at his workplace. He describes the city of Helsinki, where the Helsinki campus of Hanken is located, an international city. Something that struck him was the inclusivity he experienced – in other places he had lived it had not been as present as in Helsinki.

Challenges – what aspects have been difficult during the PhD

Challenges that Qifeng faced during his time in Helsinki had to do with the global Covid-19 pandemic that caused lockdowns. He describes adapting to the new lifestyle due to the pandemic difficult, yet he thinks the community at Hanken did help a lot coping with it.

The long nights and chilly winters in Finland also took some time to adapt to, yet by now he’s already embracing them like a native Finn.

Qifeng’s plans ahead

For the near future, Qifeng plans to travel back home to China. It will be his first time back there after he started his doctoral studies.

Other than that, he does not have precise plans for what is coming – most likely a short break from academic writing. What is certain is that he wants to put his learnings and expertise in practice for the cause of something meaningful, possibly in the field of humanitarian logistics.

He summarises to aspire to continue having a tangible positive impact and keep up the momentum.

Qifeng is a soon-to-be-a-graduate doctoral researcher at Hanken School of Economics. His background is in earth and climates sciences, yet his current research is in the field of Humanitarian Logistics.