PRIO researcher Júlia Palik recently defended her PhD "Interstate rivals’ intervention in third-party civil wars: The comparative case of Saudi Arabia and Iran in Yemen (2004-2018)" from Corvinus University of Budapest. While writing it, she was also working at PRIO. We spoke about some of the challenges she faced with her research, her reflections on being an expert from outside a region, and what tips she has for current and future PhD candidates.