Moa Johansson

Swedish student Moa Johansson, is studying for a PhD in Automated Reasoning in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. She tells us why she would recommend studying in Edinburgh to anyone…

Moa Johansson grew up in Lulea in northern Sweden, a town of about 70,000 people. Her first experiences of Scotland were on holiday while she was still at school and during these visits she had thought that Edinburgh was a really nice city that she would like to go back to some time.

These impressions led her to apply for seasonal work in Scotland during her year out before starting university, and she ended up getting a job at Airth Castle Hotel.

Coming from a town, however, Moa was keen to experience city life, so she decided to move from her job in Airth to Edinburgh, where she found more hotel work.

Whilst in Edinburgh, Moa went to the University of Edinburgh open day. She was delighted to discover that it had an excellent reputation in the field of study that she was interested in.

Moa says, "I was always interested in maths and science, and decided in my final year at school that I wanted to study Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science.

"I'd heard that Edinburgh had a good university, so I went to the open day to find out more about it and liked what I saw."

Moa made the move to Edinburgh and university life in 2001.

"I immediately found that I really enjoying being here. There is so much to do – a lot more nightlife than in my hometown, and I was able to go and see bands and go to clubs with interesting music whenever I liked," says Moa.

After graduating with her first degree, Moa went on to do a research PhD in Automated Reasoning in the School of Informatics.

Moa explains, "This basically involves getting computers to do mathematical proofs automatically. If you had a mathematical statement you could give it to your computer to do instead of working it out on paper."

The decision to stay in Edinburgh to do her PhD was not a difficult one, as she explains:

"I had a good supervisor so decided to stay in Edinburgh, it's one of the best places to study Informatics and I also got funding."

Living in the city's popular Marchmont district, Moa is close to everything she likes to do: "I really like the area, it's close to the university and little shops and the Meadows park and pubs for going out at night. It’s also close to my favourite art house cinema The Cameo, and The Filmhouse which is especially good during the Edinburgh Film Festival."

Moa also like the variety of cafés, restaurants and food shops available in the city, and lets us in on a couple of her favourites: "Sadivino on West Richmond Street is a great little Italian café where I like to go for lunch. For an evening meal I would choose Sweet Melinda’s in Marchmont where they specialise in fish dishes.

"The only thing I miss is fil, which is a Swedish variant of soured milk. As far as I know you can’t get it here."

When she has time to go elsewhere in Scotland Moa like to go to Glasgow for the music scene there and the shopping opportunities.

Moa doesn't know yet what she'll do when she finishes her PhD, but since her boyfriend has now moved here from London to do his Masters degree at the University of Edinburgh, there is a good chance that she will consider staying here in the longer term.

"If the right kind of job came up that was really interesting then I would certainly consider staying. I just hope that Scotland continues to become more aware of environmental issues as that is something I feel strongly about," says Moa.

In general Moa thinks Scottish people are very nice and welcoming. She feels at home here now and has never felt as if she didn't fit in.

"Edinburgh is such a mixture of people from so many places. I don't even know if there is a Swedish community in Edinburgh because I've never felt the need to go and look as I made friends so quickly with people from all over the place.

"I would recommend Edinburgh to anyone, especially those thinking of coming to study computer science. Edinburgh University is a very good place to do training, and doing research here you will work with some of the best people in the field."

Related Links

• University of Edinburgh School of Informatics
• Professor Alan Bundy
• Tommy French