Anyone who is involved in Esbjerg's business community knows that Dennis Jul Pedersen can be found at events after lunchtime, when most top managers have gone home. Yet the port director completed a time-consuming doctorate from Liverpool University last year. There is an explanation for how he has found the time.
- You have to prioritize watching less Netflix, playing less golf and going hunting less, says Dennis Jul Pedersen and makes the point:
- I don't play golf, watch Netflix or go hunting.
Dennis Jul Pedersen started at Liverpool University in 2015, after he received an MBA with a specialization in oil and gas management from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 2011. He did so because he needed a new challenge. At that time, he was in a completely different place.
- I started in 2015, when I built three companies in Qatar. I was living in Singapore and I was bored on the weekend, so I might as well study, says Dennis Jul Pedersen, who already had a clear purpose back then.
- Part of it is to add something new to an area. In my case, it's offshore wind and ports. You learn to acquire new knowledge and approach it critically. I can handle very complex systems, explains Dennis Jul Pedersen and concludes:
- You learn to have a more critical mindset.
Learning rather than title
A Ph.D. education in Denmark takes three years, and the curriculum is 180 ECTS points. But the doctorate that Dennis Jul Pedersen took is worth a whopping 540 ECTS points and is therefore in a completely different category, even though most of the work was done as a distance learning course.
- I have only been to Liverpool twice in that time, once for a workshop and once to get the certificate, he says about the education, which cost 90,000 euros, equivalent to approximately 672,000 DKK.
There is one thing that is important, the port director says about the reason for taking the prestigious doctorate from one of the world's top universities in the field.
- I took it to learn and not to get a nice title or to advance my career, says Dennis Jul Pedersen, who also works with offshore wind at the Port of Esbjerg, which is the subject of his doctoral thesis.
However, with the newfound freedom after completing the doctorate, his free time is still not spent on golf, Netflix or hunting. Instead, it is spent in the maritime environment on Funen, where Dennis Jul Pedersen originally comes from.
- I have a sailboat that is moored in Kerteminde, where I go every other weekend during the summer. There you can find time to read and study, says Dennis Jul Pedersen.
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