I'm back with a quick bonus episode on the small university journals that are publish open access without any article processing charge. Please check out AmeliCA Redalyc Open Journal Systems ACI Avances en Ciencias e Ingenierias LatindexBy Eva Lantsoght

A few grumblings on why it does not make sense to try to speed up our literature review using ChatGPT - a little nugget of Opinions while we prepare for the next season of the podcast.

In today's episode we do a Q&A. We start with a general update on what we are working on, what is going well, and what is not going well. Then, we address the following questions that came in through the PhD Talk blog: What does your work setup look like? What does your setup look like at home and in the office, and how do you divide your time betw…

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Kalin Kiesling. She is a nuclear engineer at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Lab where she develops the software that other engineers use to design and analyze new nuclear reactor concepts. She earned her PhD in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2…

In today's episode, we talk about special issues: what are they, what is the value of special issue, and why should you consider editing a special issue. We also discuss the caveats and increasing bad reputation on special issues related to the business model of some publishers. We look at the difference of special issues for journals directly, and…

In today's episode, we interview Emily Hoppe. Emily is a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore, Maryland. Before starting her PhD, Emily practiced as a staff nurse and psychiatric nurse practitioner at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland for eight years…

In today's episode, Phil interviews Eva about grant writing. We learn about Eva's various sources of funding, the funding she has applied for in the past, and what has worked and what not. We also look at how helpful the feedback and grading of a proposal can be. Then, we get into our best practices for grant writing. In summary, these are: Try var…

In today's episode, we interview Jacqueline Shaia. She is a second year PhD student at Case Western Reserve University in the Clinical Translational Science PhD program. We learn about how she decided between going into the career path of a practicing physician and researcher, and how her background shaped her choices in her research and methods. H…

In today's episode, we talk about presenting at conferences. We look at what's the point of conferences in the first place, and how digital conferences can recreate the opportunities for networking (or not), and for whom. We also look at conferences as a genre, what the difference between writing a conference paper and presenting this conference pa…

In today's episode, we talk about starting as a new faculty member. Phil interviews Eva about when she started as a faculty member at USFQ and TU Delft, and what her advice would be for new incoming faculty. We talk about how Eva found her faculty position, and how her teaching load at USFQ has changed over time. We also talk about the way in which…

In today's episode, Eva interviews the podcast co-host for season 3: Phil Creswell. Phil has a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin, a Master of Social Sciences and a PhD from Uppsala University in Sweden. His PhD dissertation Chains of Trust: Networks of Persistent Resistance in Digital Activism is an ethnography of the hacktivist sc…

I asked ChatGPT how I can reduce my workload as a professor, and I have Some Opinions on that. Here’s what AI recommended me (in italic), and what I think about that (regular). As a professor, reducing your workload can be challenging due to the many responsibilities you have. You bet, AI, there’s a lot on my plate. However, here are a few tips tha…

When are growing into a position of becoming an independent scholar, an important element is to start new collaborations. You are no longer expected to work exclusively with your colleagues at your institution or with your former supervisor. You are expected instead to spread your wings and develop new collaborations. Unless you are planning to shu…

In today's episode, I answer the following questions: - How much time does it take to write a paper? - How can you remain focused on writing a paper over weeks on end? - How can you quickly pull together a conference paper when the deadline is near? This episode is loosely based on: - How to write a paper in two days - How much time does it take to…

In this episode, I talk about good habits to develop during the PhD, the post-doc years, and the tenure track years. You can find the associated posts here: - Good habits to develop during the PhD - Good habits to develop as a post-doc - Good habits to develop on the tenure-trackBy Eva Lantsoght

Another bonus episode! We’ve all been in this awful situation: you need to write a paper or work on a chapter of your dissertation, but 20 minutes pass, and you can’t write anything. You go surf the internet for a little bit, return to your white screen and blinking cursor, and quickly get sucked into the internet again. Suddenly it is 5pm and you …

In today's episode, I share my methods for staying engaged with the presentations at conferences. Here are my seven strategies: Schedule smart: We all have a maximum capacity of how much learning we can do without a break, and how much learning we can do in a day. Ideally, we have this information available because we know how we study. If not, run…

I’ve found what really works for me to write an abstract in roughly 30 minutes. As I was googling “How to write an abstract” in the past, I came across this article by Philip Koopman which caught my attention. What I most like about this website is the questions it has in the different sections your abstract should contain: Motivation: Why do we ca…

A very quick bonus episode today to thank all of those who made season 2 possible!By Eva Lantsoght

In today's episode, we interview Jenny Orlando-Salling. Jenny is a PhD Fellow in Law at the University of Copenhagen. Originally from Malta, Jenny has lived, studied and worked in a number of countries eventually settling down in Copenhagen, Denmark where she raises her children. Prior to her PhD, Jenny served as a diplomat in Brussels (at the EU) …

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Malorie Albee. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Northern Michigan University with a PhD from Ohio State University. We learn about her career path, and the various moves she and her family have made over the course of the past years. We learn about the PhD program …

In today's episode, we interview Maria Balaet. Maria is a computational neuroscientist at Imperial College London (final PhD year). We learn about how she has wanted to become a scientist from a very young age and how she achieved moving from Romania to the UK for her studies. Her research focuses on using large scale cognitive testing and machine …

In today's episode, we first catch up on what we are working on, what is currently going well, and what we are currently struggling with. Then, we dive into the four questions that we received to address: In the spirit of the Holidays: How can one just unplug from work? I used to say there is no holidays for grad students”, but that is bad work cul…

In today's episode, we interview Jen Loch. She grew up in Florida (USA) which encouraged her focus on a profession in marine science from a young age. She completed her B.S. in Biology from Florida State University, and M.S. in Marine Biology through the Three Seas Program at Northeastern University. She completed her PhD in conservation biology at…

In today's episode, we look back on 2022 on a month-by-month basis. We reflect on what we have learned this year, what we would have done differently in hindsight, and what we hope to change in 2023. Finally, we also look at what we have upcoming as major milestones in 2023.

In today's episode, we interview Chantelle Taylor. Chantelle is a second year Phd student at Loughborough university. She is the mother of 3 boys and uses her experiences of mothering as a springboard for her research. We learn how motherhood influenced her choices with regard to studying, and going for a PhD, as well as how her research is influen…

In today's episode, we talk about how to decide on where to publish or present research. We first look at how we decide whether work is suitable for a conference paper or a journal paper. Then, we zoom in further on conferences. We discuss the differences between big and small conferences, how many conferences to shoot for on a yearly basis, and ho…

In today's episode, we interview Charles Grimm. Charles is an assistant professor of English at Georgia Highlands College and a Ph.D. candidate at Georgia State University. Charles uses a heavy focus on literacy and metacognition in his two-semester composition courses. We talk about his career path, and the unique insights he gained as a PhD candi…

In today's episode, we talk about academic commutes. Sarah lives in Amsterdam and works in Brussels (and also stays in Brussels during parts of the week) and Eva divides her time between Quito and Delft. We talk about the practical aspects of our commutes, and how we divide our time between both places. We discuss what has changed over the years an…

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Cathy Mazak. Cathy was a tenured, full professor when she founded a writing-focused professional development company for women and nonbinary academics. Cathy and her team are dedicated to changing the way that academics leverage writing and publication to create the careers and lives they want through courses an…

In today's episode, we talk about finding time for reading and writing throughout the PhD, and as a faculty member. We look at how we can stay up to date with the literature after finishing the literature review, and how to write regularly. We share the strategies we use, and how these strategies may evolve over time. References: - Ep. 54: Intervie…

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Rasheda Weaver, who turned her dissertation into a business. Rasheda is one of the world’s leading experts on social and commercial entrepreneurship. She conducted the first large-scale empirical study on the social, economic, and legal activities of social enterprises in the United States and is the Founder of …

In today's episode, we do a Q&A. We start with discussing what we currently are working on, what is going well, and what we are struggling with. Then, we address the following questions from readers: - How can I select the right journal for my article? - How do you handle recommendation letters, and what if the student is not good? - Postdoctoral r…

In today's episode, Eva interviews Dr. Gayannée Kedia. Gaya is a researcher and teacher in psychology and neuroscience at the University of Graz, Austria. She owns degrees in biology and psychology and has worked for several universities in France, the UK, Germany, and Austria. Parallel to her academic activity, she works as a writing coach and sci…

In today's episode, we look at Sarah's expectations for the second year of her PhD, and what her main points of action and milestones will be. We look a bit further at the process of getting ethics approval at her university, and her plans for data collection. We also get an update on her proposal, and what getting this funding would mean for her f…

In this week's episode, we interview Malwina Gudowska. Malwina is a Polish-Canadian writer and linguist based in London, UK. Her academic background includes a BA in International Relations, a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism and the Columbia Publishing Course. In 2018, she completed an MA in Linguistics at University College London and is now pu…

In today's episode, we talk about doctoral defenses. We start by looking at the differences between defenses in the Netherlands and Belgium, and then we zoom into the defenses we have attended (and, in Eva's case, her own defense experience). We look at the various functions defenses in their different formats have. Then, we look at some findings f…

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Nathan Henton. He completed his PhD in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication at the University of Memphis in the U.S. state of Tennessee in 2019 while teaching full-time at a small, private university in the state of Arkansas. Nathan's teaching emphasis was first-year writing and linguistics, and his re…

In today's episode, Eva catches up with Sarah as she is preparing to defend her proposal for funding for her research. We start with a recap of the proposed project and the steps in the process of obtaining the funding. Then we look at how Sarah is preparing to defend her proposal: how she is preparing for her presentation and how she is preparing …

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Heather Walker. She is a senior people scientist at Culture Amp, who recently switched from academia to industry. She has a PhD in disability studies from the university of Illinois at Chicago. We learn about Heather's career path - from the PhD in Chicago via being an instructor at the University of Utah and a …

In today's episode we talk about teaching. We start from the practical aspect of teaching loads and the various contracts PhD candidates tend to have (and the role of teaching in these contracts), as well as the various teaching assignments that faculty members can get. We learn about Sarah's experience and expectations with regard to teaching duri…

In today's episode of the podcast, we interview Raghavi Viswanath. She is a PhD researcher at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence and also works as a senior research associate at the Public International Law and Policy Group in Amsterdam, a consultant for cultural rights collectives in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and a lecturer …

In today's episode, we do a Q&A session. Before diving into the questions, we give a general update on what we are working on currently, what is going well, and what we are struggling with. Then, we answer a number of questions from our listeners. The first question deals with how to select a research problem. The second set of questions deals with…

In today's episode, we look at how we prepare for an upcoming semester. Eva explains which tasks she usually carried out before each semester, in terms of getting all material ready for teaching and in terms of planning. We dive further into the topic of reflection on progress, and how often we (would like to) do so. A monthly review may be over a …

In today's episode, we talk about holidays, taking time off, and boundaries around work. First, we look at the regulations different universities have around taking time off for their PhD candidates and faculty. Then, we discuss how we take time off and how we disconnect from work. Finally, we discuss how we set boundaries around work, some "rules"…

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Martijn Molenaar. Martijn obtained his bachelors in Chemistry/Life Science in the Netherlands in 2006. After that, he worked in industry for a while as a lab technician, after which he moved to Utrecht University for a position as research technician. He fell in love with science and transitioned from technician…

In today's episode, we talk about how we plan our days, and how our summers may be different from the rest of the years. We discuss when we decide what needs to be done when, the various levels of planning we use, and what a typical day or week looks like for us.By Eva Lantsoght

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Marta Porniece Kumar. Marta by training is a neuroscientist and currently in a wrap-up Postdoc phase at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research. During her doctoral and current postdoctoral research phase in a strategic partnership with industry she is excited to understand how hormones access the brain…

In today's episode, we talk about supervision: both from the perspective of developing a good relationship as a PhD candidate with your supervisor, and from the perspective of being a good supervisor (as a PhD candidate) for master's students. We talk about the importance of setting clear expectations, and getting to know the working style of your …

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Chrysan Mohammed. Chrysan is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Global Medical Affairs and Scientific Evidence at Johnson and Johnson Vision Care in Jacksonville Fl. She obtained her PhD in Molecular Medicine from The University of Toledo, College of Medicine and Life Sciences. We learn about Chrysan's career path before …