In November 2024, I enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences. Two years down the line, a lot has happened. I co-authored an article published in a Scopus Q1 journal (this is a big deal for an upcoming researcher 🥺), wrote 2 conference papers, did 3 academic conference talks, passed 5 subjects, went through numerous books and articles, met a few nice colleagues and a good friend, worked with 2 great mentors and (mostly) settled on a research topic… oh, yeah, and Serbia just elected the world’s brainiest parliament after 2 years of student-led protests.
Doing a Recap
Whenever I’m at a crossroads, organizing life through my personal kanban board grounds me and gives me perspective. I structure and categorize different areas of life through color-coded sticky notes in different statuses (e.g. to do, doing, blocked and done). Today, as I update my board, evidently a lot of the stickies are pink. The color for items related to the PhD studies.
I thought it’s a good moment to do a recap on the PhD as I’m graduating the first year and kicking off the second, now closer to the research topic, with mentors and a solid plan forward.
For more on how I organize my everyday, check out From Chaos to Context: A Roadmap for Traversing Life with Kanban and Journaling
Studies
In November 2024, I enrolled a PhD in operations research and management science at Faculty of Organizational Sciences (formally at “Optimization and Analytics” department).
The program sits at the intersection of applied mathematics, statistics, decision science, and computer science. In simple terms, it’s about using mathematical models, data, and algorithms to understand complex systems, solve difficult problems, and make better decisions. Exciting! But also challenging, and especially challenging for someone with a non-STEM background like myself.
First Part
I took my time and prolonged the first academic year — basically passed the needed exams within 2 years / did the first year in two years. This gave me an opportunity to take my time and fill in different blanks related to math, as well as slowly go through operations research (OR) foundations.
Here are the first-year subjects I passed:
- Quantitative Models and Methods in Management
- Decision-Making – Selected Topics
- Emerging Trends in Operations Research
- Statistics in Management
- Research Methodology
1 first-year subject I’m carrying over to the second year:
- Management Science
Second Part
In the second year, I’m doing three subjects:
- Fuzzy Logic and Systems
- Computational Intelligence
- Software Requirements Elicitation – Selected Topics
(+ Management Science from the first year)
Ideally, I should also write and defend the Doctoral Qualifying Paper. But depending on different life, work, and study circumstances I may prolong the second year as well. When the second year is done, there’s only writing and defending the thesis left, which is planned in year 3, but will likely take two more years.
This leaves me with three to four more years until I’m a Dr 😋
Journal Article
Pursuing a PhD at the University of Belgrade comes with rigorous academic standards, particularly when it comes to the final dissertation defense. To qualify for a doctoral defense, candidates are strictly required to publish at least one research paper as the first author in an international peer-reviewed journal indexed on the Web of Science.
This benchmark ensures that the doctoral research meets global scientific standards, contributes tangible value to the academic community, and undergoes thorough external validation before the thesis can be officially sustained.
Good news on my end there — a paper I co-authored with my mentor, Prof. Dr Dragan Pamucar, was recently published in Elsevier’s Array (Scopus Q1 and ESCI journal with a solid impact factor of 5.3), which means I’ve overcome this big hurdle on the path to a PhD.
The article — The great divide: An empirical study of the gap between AI/ML-based and traditional software product backlog prioritization methods — is available here at: doi.org/10.1016/j.array.2026.100895.
Research Topic
I work in product management, which is also the focus of my academic research. More specifically, I aim to explore product backlog prioritization and decision-making optimization using hybrid approaches, most likely combining fuzzy systems and artificial intelligence, which solves the exact “great divide” between rigid math and messy product realities.
There are two parts to this topic, and they fit well with my second-year subjects: requirements part and prioritization part. I hope to write an article on requirements (for the subject Software Requirements Elicitation – Selected Topics) and an article on prioritization (for the subjects Fuzzy Logic and Systems and Computational Intelligence). Ideally, the second one should be in a peer-reviewed journal.
Life
A lot has happened. Some nice things, some difficult. I worked for a UK startup as fractional head of product for a year, until the product development got put on hold. Then I held two interim roles (staff PM and senior PM), and I’m currently looking for the next opportunity. I lost 20+ kg (which is roughly 1/3 of how much I’d like to lose in total). Had some difficult family challenges. Celebrated 15-year anniversary with my partner… and lastly: the students have won.
For two years, we’ve had student-led peaceful protests against systemic corruption that led to a fatal accident when the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapsed, killing 16 people and leaving one severely injured.
In 2024, I became a (PhD) student, so it was symbolic to me that I’m a part of the change in that literal way as well… A big part of our country, students and other people alike, stood up together. Everything culminated in parliamentary elections with a historic turnout and a stellar victory for the student-led party. (The Serbia just elected the world’s brainiest parliament from the beginning.)
That’s a wrap.
I’m off to study and job-hunt.
Leave a Reply