Managing Virtual Teams

Virtual teams, or my preferred term – distributed teams – have come into prominence as a result of many governments implementing physical distancing measures to curb the transmission of COVID-19. However, virtual teams have been in operation for many years. Banks and utilities have had personnel placed across the globe for varying functions for the […]

Developing Your Transferable Skills

PhD graduates are clearly capable of doing many things beyond the running of an individual research project. However, that is not always obvious to their potential employers. Here, I look at how to track, record and build transferable skills developed in your PhD or research career, so they can be made “accessible” to your potential […]

Building a Research Team

Academic research is increasingly collaborative across all disciplines. 1,2,3,4 Yet being more collaborative does not necessarily increase productivity – certainly not on a per-author basis.5 Thus, as an ECR or PhD student it is a legitimate question to ask – should I join a team, build a team or go it alone? Build a team For many students […]

What Does It Take to Become a Researcher?

For most people the beginning of the answer to this question will be “get a PhD”. However, in my experience a PhD is not necessary to become a researcher. Nor is it necessary to become a published researcher1. Of course, if you want a senior academic role, you’ll need a PhD. But if all you […]

Experiences for Beyond Your PhD

As a PhD student you should always be thinking about what next. In this video I cover four things that helped me beyond my PhD. For me they were: (1) the PhD itself. My line of work means I need to have empathy with researchers. My PhD helps me do that. (2) Mentors. From across […]