Ling-Shin (Joanna) Liu - PhD International Fashion Retailing

Joanna gained a Bachelor of Business Administration at Department of Applied Life Science from National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan.

This is her third year studying at Manchester. "There are plenty of opportunities and educational resources in Manchester. I started as an MSc International Fashion Retailing student at what was then UMIST, now part of The University of Manchester. Being interested in research, I switched from MSc to MPhil. Following on from that, I realised that I would like to study in greater depth, and, as a result, am proud to now be a final year PhD student and highly pleased with the decision that I have taken."

The University of Manchester has an excellent reputation worldwide (UMIST, now part of The University of Manchester, is famous in Taiwan, Hong-Kong and China). The University has plentiful academic resources and learning opportunities for students.

A number of companies - Royal Philips Electronics, PDD, PURE Digital and FreshMax - have supported me academically, by being the participants in my research. In addition, during 2003-2004, I did several research interviews using the University's students. I have also done a web-questionnaire survey using the University's IT department, Manchester Computing. I received thousands of replies immediately from postgraduate and undergraduate students - I think it was the most exciting moment in my PhD student life; the respondents' comments inspired some great ideas and enhanced my research motivation.

During my PhD research, I have tried to approach my work from different angles by looking at various subject areas (eg design, engineering, computing, and management). I have made the most of the knowledge held by academic lecturers and other students, in order to integrate their opinions and knowledge into my research.

I have been on many training and development courses offered by the University (such as the Graduate Personal Development Programme, Information Skills Training, specific lectures, and internal conferences). I feel that I have become more confident in expressing my ideas and abilities. Recently, I attended 'Developing the Postgraduate Manager', run by the UK GRAD Programme, at which you could review your personality and abilities, and examine your communication and innovation skills, etc. I really enjoy being involved in this kind of event.

Having a PhD means my career options are very flexible: academic/ research work, business and industry or international enterprises - or even being self-employed. When I graduate I first plan to get more work experience in UK.

I try hard to balance my academic and social life whilst at university: I was a member of council for the Manchester Taiwanese Student Society in my first year, organising various activities for Taiwanese students; I had an exciting experience joining the university choir in 2003, particularly singing in a concert at the University. Honestly speaking, I am lucky to have the support of friends and teachers around me, hailing from China, Greece, France, India, Malaysia, the UK - and, of course, from Taiwan as well.

I really appreciate having had a chance to study in Manchester, to enjoy this wonderful and exciting student life.