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Are these the happiest PhD students in the world?

Brazil, Australia and Italy have the highest satisfaction scores in Nature’s global 2025 PhD survey — but are these nations really the best places to do a doctorate?
By
  1. Linda Nordling

    1. Linda Nordling is a freelance journalist in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Conceptual illustration showing PHD students dancing on top of columns

Illustration by Antonio Rodríguez

The past few years have been tough on Camila Pinto, who earned her PhD at the Federal University of Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil, in March. During her degree, she lost both her parents and had burnout and depression. Yet, her overall PhD experience was positive.

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Nature 646, 1013-1016 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03346-4

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 11 November 2025: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong topic for Izadora Menezes’s studies.

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