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Late-Night Talk: Daria Levina, PhD. Two PhDs and Beyond: Making Education Accessible for Everyone, securing competitive funding against all odds, and more...

Author
Luis Maia de Freitas
Published
Wed 03 Sep 2025
Episode Link
None

Thank you for tuning in to PhD Lounge, you'll become a Doctor of Philosophy by immersing yourself into the latest topics of the PhD Universe

Daria Levina, PhD, shares her journey from winning law competitions in Russia to completing two PhDs, securing a Harvard Law degree through crowdfunding, and building a business helping others access competitive education funding.

• From law Olympiads to academia: How winning national competitions opened doors to university without entrance exams
• Crowdfunding $92,000 for Harvard by building relationships and sharing her mission for accessible education
• Insights from serving on PhD admissions committees: What makes applications stand out
• The importance of connecting research to real-world problems rather than just citing literature
• Productivity techniques: Using the "agile method" to break down PhD projects into manageable chunks
• Digital note-taking with Zettelkasten methodology using Obsidian to create interconnected research notes
• Building support networks as essential for navigating the solitary PhD journey
• Challenging the pressure for academics to maintain online presence and personal branding
• Transitioning academic expertise into a consultancy helping others secure competitive funding
• Pursuing stand-up comedy as a creative outlet alongside academic work

Follow Daria's work at harvardstateofmind.com or connect with her on LinkedIn and YouTube.


Students and Graduates!

This is a mid-roll from my late-night talk with Ilana Horwitz, PhD, about her book The Entrepreneurial Scholar. A New Mindset for Success in Academia and Beyond. Use the code IMH20 when buying her book at Princeton Univ Press

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Students and graduates,

Have a break from this session by hearing a late-night talk I had with Michael Gerharz, PhD, about the impact of communication in your PhD and in public.

Thank you all for tuning in, it has been a pleasure!

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