Some adolescents are treated as adults due to various circumstances: drugs, early pregnancy, a complex family status ... They attend workshops, such as the Puente de Puente la Reina Center or the Etxabakoitz Workshop School in Navarra, to integrate into the labor market when they are only 16 years old. 

"It is necessary for these adolescents at risk of social exclusion to cultivate their inner world in order to develop personally and reach maturity," says Sofia Brotons, a first-year student at doctorate and a student at the University of Navarra. Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) and the School of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Navarra. 

In her thesis , Sofia wants to show how written narratives can help to achieve a stronger identity, improve self-knowledge and self-esteem. The doctoral student emphasizes that this work is especially important in young people at risk of social exclusion since the adolescent stage is the one that determines the training of the personality.

Sofía confesses that it has always been clear to her that she wanted to do research on the study of writing, but she did not know how or with what tools. Her time at Master's Degree in research in Social Sciences (MICS) helped her to define topic and to learn the most appropriate methodologies to take her idea to internship. 

"The program is very well organized so that you do all the steps from the question of research, it is a training for the doctorate", he assures. He now has the opportunity to do research alongside some of his former professors in his new stage at ICS.

degree program researcher

Since joining the 'Public discourseSofia has been able to immerse herself in research life: she has attended congresses, participated in workshops and collaborated in publications. "The research is a constant work and the ICS gives you the opportunity to be able to dedicate yourself to it as your main task," she stresses.

One of her first collaborations was the discussion paper she presented at the ICS International Workshop 'Metaphor, Emotions, and Identity', dedicated to the study of metaphor. It was entitled 'Metaphor andself-knowledge in teenage narratives'.

With his experience he wants to give testimony to other doctoral students that the thesis not only opens the door to teach at the university, but can also be the beginning of a researcher degree program . "At the MICS we have the example of many professors who are dedicated to this work full-time and guide us on what we can find in the future if we decide to pursue this career path," he concludes.