Are You Addicted to Academic Life?

Each month I host a group coaching program. Participants are mostly post-PhD and mostly academic. In the last meeting, we discussed keeping things balanced between work and other parts of your life. Although most people in the group would be considered successful in their career to date, it was clear there are two approaches to […]

Fifteen Posts to Help Promote Your Next Journal Article

If you want your work to be read, downloaded, and cited, you MUST promote it. So, what are some of the best ways you’ve seen an academic share their research work on social media? Here are 15 ideas from me… Transcript: Too often the social media posts that I see promoting research articles are basically, “Here’s an […]

Mistakes People Make Writing Their Thesis

There are all kinds of ways to write a thesis. And thus, there are all kinds of mistakes you can make in the process. Here are some that I have seen: Starting too early Starting too late Not involving your supervisor Poor backups Delayed referencing Not using a reference manager Not knowing your word processor […]

Writing a Better Thesis, Dissertation or Journal Article

Getting better at writing is one of the best ways to increase your research output. Yet, we spend very little time learning or practicing writing. So here are 5 tips to improve your writing: Read the style of writing you want to write. Write assuming people will skim and skip sections. Use subheadings. Don’t write […]

A Better Way to Read Journal Articles

Getting better at reading is one of the best ways to increase your research output. Yet, we spend very little time learning or practicing reading or recalling what we’ve read. So here are 5 tips to improve your reading and recall: Take notes as you read, not only when you write. Use a citation manager. […]

Eleven Things I’ve learned About Running Writing Groups

In September last year, I started some new writing groups. Even though my role is facilitator and training, I have learned a lot about writing itself. Here are 11 ideas that came to mind: Writing is annoying and rewarding. Writing shared is writing halved. Ignore the basics. Set up for success. Share your progress. Imagine […]

Simplifying Research Project Management

Project management is too complex. And therefore project management in research is regularly avoided. BUT – researchers can fix that with some simple approaches. Fix 1: Don’t expect others to use your project management tool or approach. Expect you’ll need to do all of the work maintaining and updating the plan. Fix 2: Don’t have […]

It is Okay to Feel Nervous (Anxious Even)

“COVID normal” is almost upon us. In Victoria (Australia) we are now allowed to have more people onsite. Businesses can have up to 75% of their workforce in the office. And, just like working from home caused nervousness and anxiety, so too will going back into the office. Here are some things you could try […]

A Better Model to Support University Collaborations

Supporting university-to-university collaborations is not easy. Many partners are sceptical that the decisions made, or actions taken are biased towards or against themselves. And this is a natural occurrence. And, even if there was or is no bias, it can be tough to get rid of perceptions. So I’m proposing an alternate approach. A pool […]