Martin Haamer: Being a student representative is perhaps most useful for a doctoral student

In his early years at the university, Martin Haamer, a junior research fellow in Transport Studies at the Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, was not interested in participating in the University of Tartu Student Union (UTSU), but last spring, as fate would have it, he found himself filling out an application form. According to Haamer, being a member of UTSU as a doctoral student has proven to be more useful than expected and has allowed him to directly contribute to the organisation of doctoral studies.

Martin Haamer is a second-year doctoral student whose research topic is urban mobility and how improving public transport and cycling can help make it more sustainable. “Traditionally, transport planning has focused on car traffic, especially in mobility modelling. That is why I have focused on sustainable modes of transport – public transport, cycling and walking – to investigate what models and data would be needed to plan a better cycling infrastructure in the city or improve public transport,” he described.

During his studies, Martin has gained knowledge in addition to Tartu, in London, whose urban space he considers very public transport and cycling-friendly and comfortable. Estonian cities, including Tartu, have plenty of room for development. “I see that we have a lot of untapped potential. If we build comfortable cycle paths and other supporting infrastructure, more and more people will start cycling instead of driving and enjoy it. Cycling is certainly not for everyone, but if we create comfortable conditions and opportunities for those who are willing to cycle, it would be a big step forward," he said.

Doctoral studies brought him to the Student Union

While Martin was aware of the activities of the Student Union during his bachelor’s and master’s studies, he had little interest in participating, but in the spring of his first year of doctoral studies he found himself thinking about applying. “A representative came to talk to me and emphasised that doctoral students in particular are underrepresented in the Student Union. I thought, I have never been a representative before – why not try it and see what representative work is all about,” he explained. One thing led to another, and so Martin has been a student representative since last September.

Opportunity to get to know the university

In addition to the experiences gained from the meetings, Martin also considers the relationships created during the representative work to be useful. For example, he participates in meetings of doctoral study centres, where he has the opportunity to share the views, concerns and joys of doctoral students. He has also been able to communicate a lot with doctoral students from other institutes and faculties, whose experiences can be completely different despite studying at the same university. “Doctoral students are a strange species at the university – on the one hand, students, on the other, full-time academic staff. We float somewhere in between, and it is often difficult to find us and it is difficult to understand what, where and with what workload we are working on. Therefore, any representation of doctoral students and highlighting their concerns and joys is very useful,” he admitted.

Martin also refutes the myth that only very active people belong to the Student Union. “I do not consider myself a particularly active person who necessarily wants to get involved or express an opinion everywhere. In UTSU, you can do as much as you want – if you feel that a topic speaks to you, then you join in,” he encouraged.