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 […]

Building Your Career by Leaving Your Employer

I cannot find specific data on how long academics stay at the same university. But, for the general population the average time at the same employer (not the same job) is 4.2 years. Reflecting on my time working with and for academics, I feel like few leave their current employer to work as an academic elsewhere. […]

Making Most of Your Conference Presentation (Aug 2021)

Although COVID changed the way we conference, presenting at an in-person, virtual or mixed conference is still one of the best ways to grow your research skills. It is also one of the best ways to grow your network. And with so much of what we do reliant on networks, it is important to make […]

Instagram for Researchers (July 2021)

Instagram is the perfect tool for people who produce good looking images. And, if you ask me, researchers (academics) produce heaps of images. Images in the form of figures for papers and presentations. And these images could also be used on Instagram. If that’s something you’d like to know more about. Or perhaps you want […]

You Should Be Making Slow Gains

So much of research is measured by short term goals – grants, papers, and presentations – when longer term outcomes are the real target – cures, change, and improvements. So, instead of chasing short term goals, aim for slow (but regular) gains. Start reading 5 minutes a workday, then increase it by a minute a […]

Instagram Accounts I Follow (and Why)

There are many reasons you might follow an Instagram (or any social media) account. Here are three that I use: Learn about life. Learn about using social media in new, better or different ways. Help people. Transcript: One of the things that I think we don’t do well as researchers is make conscious decisions about […]