118 Letter from Hilal Akdemir

Dear future women researchers,

There may come a moment in your academic journey when everything looks right from the outside yet feels uncertain from within.

You will be trained to ask questions, to analyse, to produce knowledge.
But no one will fully prepare you for the inner questions that emerge along the way.

Where do I belong?
Am I doing enough?
Is this path mine, or am I simply learning how to stay on it?

As someone who has walked part of this path as a migrant researcher, I learned early how to adapt; how to read spaces; adjust my voice; and move carefully within systems that were not always built with me in mind.

But what took longer to understand was this: Not everything that feels difficult is yours to carry. Some of it belongs to the structures themselves.

There will be moments when the path ahead is unclear, especially when the formal milestones end, and the next steps are no longer defined for you.

In those moments, you may feel alone.

You are not.

There are others, across places and disciplines, quietly asking the same questions, navigating similar uncertainties.

If I can offer you anything, it is this:

Do not measure your worth only through the structures that evaluate you.
And do not assume that uncertainty means you are lost.

Sometimes, it simply means that the path has not been built yet.

And sometimes, it is yours to shape.

You do not always have to find your place.
You are also allowed to create it.

With care,
Hilal Akdemir

Scientific Director at Knowledge to Innovate Professions in Tourism, Portugal.
Founder of YouCanToo Community.