joaolkf

EDIT: I've found a very relevant indicator for my question, see "Quality of life" criteria below. My main question is: which non-academic factors should I consider when moving to another country/city for a PhD? Further, I would also like to evaluate each country/city1 according to those criteria, but first I need to know which are the relevant criteria. If you know any (any at all) scientific literature on moving to another country and well being, let me know. I've lived in Brazil all my life, I really like it here for many reasons. Mostly, by how personal relationships are established and maintained. However, Brazil's inability to construct a stable well developed society have crippled my intellectual development, and I simply cannot take it anymore - my brain will die here. Moreover, I feel like most of my high level desires(values) are much more in line with countries on the other end of the World Values Survey graphic. I have rational/secular and self-expressing values, instead of traditional-survival oriented ones. For all those reasons, I will be applying for my PhD aboard. I have pondered many of the career and academic factors involved, and I've had the help of many good and objective indexes available (e.g.: here and here). I've mapped most of the Departments of Philosophy in which I could research my topic (moral enhancement), and I believe these are the major factors. However, there is one other important factor I'm a bit clueless about: which country/city is better in all other aspects already not accounted by academic criteria? My main options are2: * 1st: Oxford (no need to explain) * 2nd: Manchester (it's near Oxford, John Harris is there, one of the foremost researchers on moral enhancement) * 3rd: Stockholm (where everyone is born a transhumanist) * 3rd: Wellington, New Zealand (Nicholas Agar is there, one of the foremost researchers on moral enhancement) * 4th: Some places in continental Europe I'm still investigating (e.g.: Zurich , Muni