出国留学找外导成功的套磁信

(2015/10/30) 我的第一封 Dear Prof. OOXX

My name is XXX, a 2nd year Ph. D student from School of XXX, P. R. China, supervised by XXX and Prof. XXX, and I major in XXX. My research orientation is “XXX”. I write this email to inquire whether an open position as a visiting student is available. China Scholarship Council (CSC) encourages Chinese Ph. D student to be visiting students in international leading research teams. All the needed living expense and transportation fees will be supported by CSC. Recently, I have read several of your articles about environmental economics. Your research on this field deeply attracts me. So I write to you to see if you can offer me a chance to enter your group under your supervision for further education.

I am looking forward to hearing from you. Best regards, Yours sincerely, XXX

(2015/11/05) OOXX的回复

Dear XXX,

Thank you for your interests in conducting your PhD research with us in XXX! You research topic seems relevant to our research domain. For understanding you better, could you also send me a CV and a research plan including your period of stay so that we can better judge if this is indeed a good match.

Best regards, OOXX

(2015/11/06) 我的第二封

Dear Prof. OOXX

I have finished the research plan.

My CV, research plan and personal statement are attached in the attachment.

Here, let me present my Ph.D. research plan in a simple way.

For the fields of Chinese wastewater treatment and Chinese water management:

Background 1. Performing stricter sewage discharge standards in wastewater water treatment plants (WWTPs) may contribute to the improvement of local aquatic environment, but the associated more fossil fuel consumption, more chemical substances utilization and more greenhouse gases emissions would pose threat on total environment. So the policy needs to be evaluated, and the cost-effectiveness should be carefully measured.

Plan 1. I have used method of life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental implications of stricter Chinese sewage discharge standards.

Background 2. Although LCA is an invaluable decision-support tool, the scope can only cover the environment dimension. Decision-makers often need information on other sustainability dimensions as well. So there is a need to expand the evaluation scope by using other methods. Plan 2. I am using methods of life cycle cost (LCC) and eco-efficiency to evaluate the economic impacts of stricter Chinese sewage discharge standards.

Background 3. Current water policies put too much burden on urban WWTPs, with excessive effort to remove nitrogen and phosphorus. In fact, we think of the substances contained in wastewater as valuable resources rather than pollutants. We propose several alternative solutions to the stricter sewage discharge standards.

Plan 3. I will do the cost-benefit analysis for three scenarios: (1). advanced treatment of wastewater; (2). wastewater recycle; (3). urban wetland technologies.

Background 4. As the demands for sustainability increase rapidly and the problems of environment become more sophisticated, only developing advanced technologies or enacting stringent standards will be insufficient. China’s water management systems need to be optimized. One essential step is to integrate the supply of drinking water and the treatment of wastewater into one water value chain.

Plan 4. I’m interested in introducing the mechanism of Integrated Water Resources Management into China, and using economic models to further support the integration.

Best regards,

Yours sincerely, XXX

(2015/11/09) OOXX的回复

Dear XXX,

Thanks for sending me all the documents! I will read them and then discuss with the chair professor to see if there is a possibility. Hope to come back to you soon.

Kind regards,

OOXX

(2015/11/14) 我的第三封

Dear professor OOXX,

For your article about the welfare program approach, I went over again. This time, I studied the economic models carefully, especially for the modelling method and the modelling process. For a better match, I'm revising my PhD topic and doing a research plan. I will contact you as soon as I finish the research plan

Best regards,

Yours sincerely, XXX

(2015/11/23) 我的第四封

(2015/11/23) 我的第五封 （这两封是一模一样的，目的就是为了在外导的邮件中冒个泡）

Dear professor OOXX,

I have finished the fisrt draft of research plan.

The core content is : using the welfare program approach to study how to achieve the social welfare maximization in different scenarios of Chinse urban systems. I have introduced some details of each scenario in this plan.

Waiting for your advice.

Really hope to get this chance!

Best regards,

Yours sincerely, XXX

(2015/11/29) 我的第六封

Dear Professor OOXX

Thanks for your reply!

After I replied to Prof Hans-Peter last time, there was no further communication.

Would you recommend me some articles, reviews or books? I hope to try my best to learn more during this time, in order to make the research plan better and make me meet your requirement as much as possible.

Best regards! XXX

(2015/12/03) 我的第七封

Dear Professor OOXX

Recently, a deadline was announced by our department for students who intended to apply for the visiting. The deadline might be Jan 18th, 2016. Considering the upcoming Christmas, may I venture to ask that the possibility of visiting will be determined before Christmas or after?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards! XXX

这个12月我们有过若干沟通，但欧洲人放假，所以沟通的次数很少，邮件找不到了。时间一晃就到了来年1月份

(2016/01/03) 我的第八封 Dear Prof. OOXX

Thanks for taking the time to read my stuff, and thanks for your helping me all the time. In recent days and weeks, I have been reading papers and thinking about research plans; the major goal is to achieve a better match. So, with all due respect, could we continue our discussion regarding this visit?

Looking forward to your message,

Best regards, XXX

(2016/01/06) OOXX的回复

Dear XXX

I had a look at your draft proposal. I think it is not clear what exactly you want to do and how to do. I added some questions and suggestions for your consideration. I also attached a PhD thesis in which chapter 3 is about how the environmental costs or external costs can be included in a LCA. Overall, you can see how detailed calculations can be made. In general, a proposal needs clear problem definition, which justify a need for study, the research objective and research questions as well as methodology.

Best regards,

OOXX

(2016/01/07) 我的第九封

Dear Prof. OOXX

I have drafted a research proposal regarding the integration between the subject of life cycle management and the subject of the economic valuation of environmental benefits. The knowledge gap I’d like to fill in is the limited boundary of life cycle management. In the field of wastewater treatment, current methods of life cycle management cannot cover the environmental benefit. Some previous studies have proved that the shadow price can be used to evaluate the environmental benefit for pollutants removal. If the shadow price evaluation can be integrated into life cycle management, it would be a method innovation in wastewater management.

To introduce the shadow price into life cycle management needs professional economic knowledge and methods. So I think this research might be a good match between our study areas, and your guidance will be very important in this research.

Two profiles are attached in the attachment. One is the proposal I’ve drafted, and the other one is an article I’ve just finished in the field of life cycle assessment.

Looking forward to your message

Best regards, XXX

(2016/01/08) OOXX的回复

Dear XXX,

I had a look at your draft proposal. I think it is not clear what exactly you want to do and how to do. I added some questions and suggestions for your consideration. I also attached a PhD thesis in which chapter 3 is about how the environmental costs or external costs can be included in a LCA. Overall, you can see how detailed calculations can be made. In general, a proposal needs clear problem definition, which justify a need for study, the research objective and research questions as well as methodology.

Best regards,

OOXX

(2016/01/14) 我的第十封 （我这时已经很着急了，开始催了）

Dear professor OOXX

Thanks for your kind comment! I am trying best to improve the research plan following your guidance. Yesterday I had a conversation with my tutor, Prof. XXX. She gave me some suggestions concerning research topics. She is heading a research team which just launched a program regarding the integrated water resource management in China. This program focuses on the design options for sustainable urban water management. To be more specific, it will investigate how to integrate wastewater treatment plants, urban wetlands and spongy infrastructure (rainwater recycling management) to deal with the severe crisis of urban water demand, water pollution and waterlogging comprehensively and sustainably. My part is to explore how will the different urban situations (scale/population/ climate/ technology/ geography, inter alia) influence the replacement, upgrading, and redesign of urban water utilities and infrastructure. To answer this question, economic analysis is very critical to provide support and directions for process, program and policy interventions. But we all come from the background of engineering, economics is a new field for us. As we know, you are an excellent expert in environmental economics, and we sincerely hope to get your guidance and have a cooperation on this topic. So may I ask if we may have the chance of cooperation?

I will continue working on the research plan and will improve it as far as possible. It would take me sometime to read large amounts of literatures to enrich my economic knowledge. The CSC application has already started, with an invitation letter being the requirement for me to get the scholarship. I have submitted an application to my department to extend the deadline, but there will be no much time for me. Without the invitation letter, I may miss the chance in this year. So may I ask if I have the chance to get an invitation letter?

I have drafted an invitation letter, which contains items required by China Scholarship Council. Please check to see if these items meet your requirement. The invitation letter needs to include a signature of the group leader and a special Wageningen University letter paper. The application requires an electronic version (PDF) of invitation letter, so you could send me a scan of the signed letter. The drafted letter and a template are attached. If you need any further information or if there is something that needs me to further confirm or respond, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thank you again for your kindness,

Looking forward to your messages,

Best regards, XXX

(2016/01/15) OOXX的回复 （终于同意了，随后就是给我邀请信了，从10月末到1月初，艰苦的套词，艰难的成功）

Dear XXX,

Thanks for your reminders, and we will send the invitation letter by Monday. We are looking forward to the cooperation. To make sure that the letter contains all the required information, could you send a draft invitation letter with all the necessary details about the candidate, and the proposed activities, we then can complete the details as far as our University is concerned,

With kind regards

Looking forward to receiving the text for the draft letter,

OOXX