What is a Phadder?

Fadder is a Swedish word with several different meanings, all of which can be summarised as a person who supports someone on some matter. The words sponsor and godparent for instance both translates to fadder. In the sub-culture of Swedish university students, it is common to have a weird spelling of common words to make them look "old fashioned". So within universities, this role is spelled "Phadder". It is an older student (in university years, not necessarily life) that is assigned to one or a group of new students to teach them how things work at the university, as a combined buddy/guide/mentor if you will. You can see that the different student guilds on the campuses are advertising for people to become phadder in the spring, for the upcoming reception in autumn.

Phadder at CSE

We have started implementing a phadder/buddy program for all Ph.D. students who join CSE.

You as a new student

One or two Ph.D. students from your division will be included in the email from your division admin. It is usually a good first introduction to send a email to the Phadder and set up a meeting, such as a coffee or lunch during the first few days.
There is no predefined protocol for what the buddy relationship should look like, so you can use it however works best for you. Keep in mind that it is the responsibility of you as a new Ph.D students to contact phadders with any questions. We have all been in the situation of starting a Ph.D. and know that it can be overwhelming at first. Therefore, you can always contact your buddy who will share their experiences and help you get started.

As a Phadder (older student)

You as a phadder should have been informed of your role as phadder prior to being assigned. In some divisions the division admin assigns Ph.D students randomly from the division to become a phadder, and in some it is the council representatives that does this. Depending on the size of your division, you may only be assigned once, if at all, during your Ph.D. time. Your responsibility as a Phadder is not to know everything, but it is good to know who to direct the student to to get answers. Most of these people you can find at the council web page so it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the content here and also encourage the new PhD student to do so. It can also be a good idea to encourage the student, at least in the beginning, to participate in departmental/division/unit related events such as meetings and social activities. Just send an additional reminder to the person that they should join.