PhD Talk

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 between bothHow do you take care of your mental health in academiaAdvice for transitioning in and out of academia (between academia and in...

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 2022, from which she also holds a bachelors and masters in nuclear engineering. We learn about her background and career path, and how she choose to...

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 those associated with events (mini symposia, session, etc). We also look at the joys and pitfalls of co-editing special issues. Next, we lo...

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. Her clinical practice focused on the mental health of young children with behavioral and emotional concerns, supporting parents, and diagno...

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 various different funding sourcesTry both personal and consortium grantsThink national and internationalEU funding is not impossible (although it ...

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. Her current work focuses on ocular disorders, especially the rare idiopathic intracranial hypertension, a vision threatening disease that mainly af...

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 paper is all about. This topic leads us into our best tips for presenting at conferences, and the use of visual information during presentations. We...

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 professors are evaluated at various universities and how that reflects on how we prepare our tasks for the upcoming period of time and how we per...

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 scene in (and around) Anonymous and its activism that looks at participation and collaboration in risky and costly activism online. We talk about Phi...

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 that may help: Bring it on… Prioritize tasks: Make a list of your tasks and prioritize them based on importance and urgency. Focus on the most i...

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 shut the door behind you and work in solitude for the rest of your days, it will become necessary to reach out to colleagues worldwide who have skills...

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 write a paper?

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-track

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 have not done anything. An entire day wasted without doing anything… Writer’s block – it can strike us all at any given time. If you feel th...

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 an experiment at a conference and track your attention per half hour increments. When do you start to have difficulties staying with the presente...

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 care about the problem and the results? Problem statement: What problem are you trying to solve? Approach: How did you go about solving or making pro...

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

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) and Egypt. She holds degrees in Law and Political Science from UCL and the LSE. We talk about her career path, and how she returned to ...

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 at Ohio State, and the structure of coursework, candidacy exam, proposal, and dissertation. We were surprised to learn about the written part of ...

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 learning methods for understanding how cognitive processes differ relative to the general population in people affected by neurological cond...

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 culturesWhat is your WFH setup?How can you attract differently-abled people to work for you?Which country provides maximum employment after a PhD deg...

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 the University of Central Florida. We learn more about the PhD program she followed, and the milestones along the way. In between her...

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 influenced by her own experiences with postnatal depression. We also learn about the institutional and personal support she has received from her universi...

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 how to get funding to attend conferences. We also learn from Sarah's and Eva's past experiences. Then, we look at journal papers. We discuss how to...

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 candidate while also teaching at a community college. His dissertation focuses on the levels of oppression present in current ideas of "Authorship," es...

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 and what the impact of COVID-19 has been. Then, we look at our experience with working in two places: the strategies we use for working at distance,...

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 and group coaching programs. We learn from her experience in how she pivoted from being a tenured full professor to a business owner, as well as her ...

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: Interview with Dr. Anna Clemens

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 Weaver's Social Enterprise Directory, Inc. As a Professor, she has taught entrepreneurship to over 1,000 students globally. She served as th...

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 research - How to develop technical writing? - Will you start a podcast for MSc students in civil engineering? We round off by discussing ...

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 scientific trainer. She is also the founder of abrilliantmind.blog, a blog aimed at helping scientists be more productive and happier at work. We tal...

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 for the rest of her PhD years. We then look at the second year from a bit of a broader perspective: how is it different from the first year, and wh...

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 pursuing a PhD in Applied Linguistics at Birkbeck, University of London. Her research focuses on the emotionality and emotional communication o...

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 from the research on effective methods to prepare for the defense, how Eva prepares to be a committee member, and what has changed as a result of C...

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 research focused on writing pedagogy and writing program evaluation. W We learn about his career path and what it was like to combine tea...

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 to answer questions. We learn about the practice defenses she has been using to practice. Finally, we look at some of the practical aspects that...

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 social scientist at the health system to her current position at Culture Amp. We talk about how she is using her research skills in her current jo...

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 during her PhD and Eva's various teaching loads over the years. Eva also shares the main lessons she has learned over the years: to balance teaching...

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 human rights law at the University of East London, as well as a careers coach at the St. Anne's college in Oxford and a moot court mentor....

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 writing the review of a paper - how to write a good review, what to include in the review, and how much time we spend on reviewing papers. Th...

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 time frame that is too short for the nature of research. But when we don't teach, we also don't really feel the structure of the semesters. Final...

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" we have for ourselves with regard to boundaries, and how our boundaries may have changed over time.

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 to PhD candidate at Utrecht University. Martijn tells us about his experience and his perhaps unconventional career path. During his PhD, Martijn...

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.

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 to control systemic metabolism and ultimately lay the foundation for development of brain-specific targets to treat obesity and diabetes. In this ...

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 supervisor so that you can work together optimally. We also look at realistic expectations for how and when to receive feedback, as well as ...

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 the PhD, how she applied and got into a PhD program, her experience during the PhD as well as what the PhD program is like at The University of To...

In today's episode, we learn about Sarah's preparation for the data collection of her PhD. We talk first about the research itself and the research question that the experiments will address. Then, we address the data collection methods that she will use, and the tools she will use for the data collection. We dive a bit deeper into the participant recruitment, which is of particular importance in Sarah's experiment. Then, we look into things to consider: data management, and ethics approval,...

In today's episode, we interview Harsha Sheelam, our first guest from India. Harsha is a PhD candidate, published author of children's books and juvenile fiction, business owner, social worker, and business graduate. She shares her story of how her career path developed and how she decided to go do her PhD, as well as the various topics she has been researching from her overall perspective of a marketing researcher. Looking at the various topics Harsha has researched, we learn more about the...

In today's episode, we first do a general update on what we are working on, as well as what is going well and what we identify as our current struggles. Then, we answer the following questions that came in through Instagram and Twitter: How to do qual analysis in Nvivo? How easy is it to settle down in a different country other than the one where you’d obtained your PhD?Which apps and computer programs do you use daily?We round off with the best books we've read so far in 2022, and wh...

In today's episode, we interview Zama Dlamini. Zama is a PhD candidate at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa, working in the fields of gender and religion. She is also a mother of four and entered the PhD at a later stage in life. We learn about Zama's research, and how her background as a Lay minister informed her research topic, and her current work. We touch upon the PhD at her university, and the difference between the full-time and part-time program. Zama tells us about her...

As Sarah is preparing to attend and present at her first conference, she asks Eva for advice on how to prepare for the conference. We discuss what we can set as goals for presenting research at a conference, as well as what makes an excellent conference presentation. Eva recommends to spend sufficient time on the introduction and to think about the "take home" message. We then look at how Eva prepares for a conference, both in terms of the practical aspects as in terms of preparing the prese...

In today's episode, we interview Martyne Farris, who is an instructor of anthropology and PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research combines anthropology, public policy, education, and linguistics to explore the barriers refugee women experience after they arrive in Canada. Both she and her husband are international PhD students in Canada, and they have a 1-year and 4-year old. We learn about Martyne's experience as an international stud...

In today's episode, we learn from Sarah's experience in writing the literature review of her research proposal: how she found references, how she organized her reading, how she combined the concepts, and what she learned from the process. We then zoom out and discuss some of the common challenges students face when writing the literature review, the types of structures of the literature review that exist, and in which occasions we write literature reviews. References Ep. 38 From reading the...

In today's episode, we interview Saima Khan. She is a PhD Scholar in Global Studies at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan; a teacher of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy & Interdisciplinary Studies, GCU Lahore, Pakistan. Her areas of interest and research are multidisciplinary; including Postcolonial theories, Feminism in South Asia, Philosophy of education, Cultural History, Political Philosophy, Gender Empowerment, Global Studies, Human Rights and Muslim world, and Cultural Philos...

In today's episode, we talk about moving internationally for our studies. Sarah moved from Canada to the Netherlands for her Master's and is now doing her PhD in Belgium, and Eva moved from Belgium to the USA for her second Master's and then to the Netherlands for her PhD - so we both have experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly of moving internationally. We discuss the reasons for selecting a program abroad for studies, the differences in approaches to the PhD in North America as compar...

In today's episode, we interview Ed Southall, a maths curriculum designer at Oak National Academy and a teacher trainer at the University of Hudderfield in England, as well as doctoral candidate. We talk about Ed's doctoral journey, alongside his work - first in academia, and then outside of academia. We learn about his decision to quit his PhD, and then his decision to continue and his efforts to finish by June 2023. We also learn about his experience as an academic parent, and his experien...

In today's episode, we discuss writing and defining the research question. We start from Sarah's experience in defining the research question for the proposal she worked on, and what she learned from this experience. We then discuss various topics related to the research question: how to be specific enough, how to tie the research question to the available methods, how to spot the gap in the literature, and some requirements for writing a good research question. Finally, we look at Eva's ex...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Jamiella Brooks , a Black mother-scholar, the first person in her immediate family to learn a new language and pursue a doctoral degree, who occupies the multiplicitous spaces of wife, daughter, and descendant. She has a PhD in Francophone Literature in 2018, and is now at the University of Pennsylvania, where she focuses on programming and support for equitable and inclusive teaching practices. She teaches alternating years in the Linguistics and French d...

In today's episode, we start off with a general update on what we are currently working on, what is going well, and what is not going well. We go into some side tangents on differences in supervision (and writing) of MSc students and PhD candidates, as well as which student writing requires most cognitive effort. We also discuss how we concentrate (or not) when difficult events such as the death of a loved one or the war in Ukraine consumer our headspace. Then, we delve into three listener q...

In today's episode, we interview Brianna Henson. Brianna works for Equus Workforce Solutions and is responsible for the operations and management of the Kentucky Career Centers within Greater Louisville, and is an EdD candidate at Liberty University. She is also the mom of of Audra (17 months), Ira (will be born in June), and step mom of Eli (11), and disabled veteran. In today's interview, you will learn more about Brianna's winding career path, as well as what it is like to do an EdD degre...

In today's episode, we interview Rima Kaddoura. She is a PhD in Epidemiology candidate at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and mother a three-year-old boy. As a PhD candidate in Lebanon and academic mom, she has faced major difficulties: a revolution, economic collapse, deterioration of basic infrastructure, the Beirut blast, and COVID-19. We learn about Rima's career path, her research - and how her research has been affected by the recent events in her country. We also learn a...

In this episode, we discuss the difference between a paper-based thesis and a long-book thesis. We look at some of the differences in expectations for the doctoral thesis internationally, and discuss the link between these differences between countries and how the doctoral trajectory is considered: as the time for junior researcher to work, or as an apprenticeship. We then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the paper-based and the long-book thesis. Finally, we look at Eva's experien...

In today's episode, we focus on Sarah's experience writing a research proposal for the FWO. We learn about the requirements for applying to these funding opportunities, the different streams at which one can apply, and the procedures involved. Then, we move to Sarah's personal experience with writing a research proposal for the first time: what she learned from the experience, what she wished she'd known before, and what is coming next. In the second half of the episode, we look at other typ...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Mira Vasic. She is the co-owner and senior partner of InTouch, a female leadership and career academy. Originally from Serbia, she obtained her PhD in structural engineering in Italy and worked in the Netherlands in the applied research institute TNO and the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Dutch government, before making a career switch. Listen to this interview to learn how Mira's core values made her study civil engineering, and how the same values ...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Anna Clemens, who went from a PhD in chemistry to a career as an academic writing coach. We learn about her research, how she discovered her love for writing during her PhD, how she switched to writing for a living, editing, and then working as a writing coach. We also learn her best tips for academic writing with the principle of the 3 Cs. We discuss the barriers PhD candidates and faculty face when it comes to writing, and how we can dissolve these bar...

Today's episode is the first one of Season 2! As Rico is focusing on finalizing his PhD, we will continue this podcast in a new setting, with Sarah Cameron as the new cohost of the PhD Talk podcast. In this episode, Eva interviews Sarah, so our listeners get to know the new cohost. Sarah returned to graduate school after a few years working in headhunting, and she shares the story of this international transition in today's episode. She also has excellent advice on how to select a PhD progra...

Today, we interview Christine Streeter, a fifth-year PhD candidate in the School of Social Work, with a specialization in Political Economy at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. As a social worker committed to improving insecure working conditions for care workers in the social work and social services work sector, her research explores precarious work and safety at work. Christine shares her PhD journey through her blog and Instagram @ScholarCulture where she aims to create a space for g...

In today's episode, we interview Deborah Navarro Rosenblatt, who works at the Ministry of Health of Chile at the evidence informed health policy unit and is doing her PhD in public health at the University of Chile. In this episode, our main topic is being an academic parent during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Deborah has a 4-year-old daughter. We also reflect on what has changed in being a PhD candidate who is a parent from before the pandemic. Another topic that we touch upon is the PhD in ...

We recorded a Q&A episode a while back in the middle of the Fall semester, but only got to publishing it now as we slowed down to one episode every other week. In this episode, we give a general update on how our Fall semester is going so far, as well as what we currently are working on. In the next part of the episode, we discuss a few questions that came in. The first question is about the social media platforms we use for our research, and why. We discuss ResearchGate, LinkedIn,...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Cindy Harley, Associate Professor of Biology at Metropolitan State University in St Paul, MN. First of all, we learn about Cindy's career path, and how her career path is interwoven with the stage of life in which she had her son. We then dive deeper into her research, and learn about her research on leeches. The main topic of today's episode is on being an academic parent. We discuss both how having a child changed some of Cindy's attitude towards work a...

We've been talking about open science and open access publishing in previous interviews, but today we wanted to evaluate if we practice what we preach. We identify various parts of our research that we've made more open: publishing our databases or research data online, using available datasets. We also discuss how we are moving towards more open access publishing, the role of open peer review, the importance of preprints, and how Eva's attitudes towards open access have changed over time. E...

In today's episode of the PhD Talk podcast, we interview Dr. Veronika Cheplygina, associate professor at IT University Copenhagen in Denmark, blogger, and cat lover. We learn about Veronika's career path, and how academia has been pushing her away as well as pulling her back, and how she found her current position. We also learn about her research in machine learning, and the applications to medical imaging, as well as some current criticisms on this field of research. We then go into Veroni...

In this episode, we discuss the topic of work-life balance. First, we look at findings from the literature on this topic, which Eva has used to write an encyclopedia entry about (and since this entry is a tiny part of a large project, it will take time before it will see the light of publication). We look at findings from the literature on work-life balance satisfaction in general, the history of the topic, and findings on work-life balance in higher education, with a special focus on the gr...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Lena Karvovskaya. Lena did herPhD in theoretical linguistics at Leiden University. After her PhD, she took up a job as a data manager at Utrecht University Library and then went to the library of VU Amsterdam to become a community manager for research data management. We learn from Lena's research on endangered languages during her Master's studies and her work on possession in languages during her PhD. We also look at the role of a community manage...

In today's episode, Rico interviews Eva on the research she did with a group of international colleagues on the impact of COVID-19 on academic parents. We discuss the main findings of the research, that show that the negative impact on the research of academic parents is considerable, that most academic parents found more challenges than opportunities, and that associate professors are dealing with COVID-19 on top of the mid-career minefield. Another interesting finding is that both academic...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Jennifer Polk, who has a PhD in history (2012) and has been working as a career coach and consultant since 2013. She is an expert on the challenges PhDs face transitioning to employment. We learn from Jen how she went from being a PhD in history to a career coach, and what her research back then has in common with the work she does nowadays. She explains us the different steps one should go through when starting to think about a career after the PhD...

In today's episode, we discuss Rico's experience in replying to the comments of the reviewers on his first journal article. We discuss the timeline between submission and receiving the comments, as well as what one can expect from various journals here. We also discuss the time it takes to implement reviewer comments and write the rebuttal, as well as the process Rico and his colleagues followed. Their approach (and what Eva uses) is based on working through the comments sequentially, but ot...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Marissa Edwards from the UQ Business School at the University of Queensland, Australia. One of the topics she has worked on, is mental health and well-being in students and educators, which is the main topic of today's episode. Join us to learn more about Marissa's research on whistle-blowing, medical negligence, and mental health and well-being in students and educators. We dive deep into the topics on mental health in academia: where the current p...

In today's episode, we address a number of questions that our listeners sent in through Twitter and other sources. Here's a list of topics we touched upon in this mixed mailbag episode: our current work,our summer goals, and how much of it we achieved,our plans for the fall semester,our potential plans for conference travel,leaving industry to start working on research, and what that means in terms of salary,a week in the life of PhD candidacy,any preconceived ideas we had about the PhD or ac...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Ashley Hughes, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Research Health Scientist at the Edward Hines JR VA Medical Center. She received her doctoral degree in Applied Experimental Human Factors Psychology in 2016 and Masters in Modeling and Simulation in 2013 from the University of Central Florida. Her research extends human factors in health informatics to improve work processes, such as technology uptake and data use, to ...

In today's episode we continue on the topic of the literature review. In previous episodes, we discussed our reading habits, and today we take a deeper dive into what comes after reading all these interesting articles: writing the literature review. This episode focuses on writing the literature review section for a journal article as well as writing the literature review chapter of the PhD thesis. We discuss several ways of processing the information from the articles we read, and how to st...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Hao-Ting Wang. She is a Postdoc Fellow at University of Sussex and Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Originally from Taiwan, she completed her BSc in Psychology in National Chengchi University, and then a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at University of York, UK. Her work involves brain-behavioral phenotypes discovery using functional MRI in large open access datasets. Working with large neuroimaging datasets ignited her interests in computation reproducib...

In today's episode, we discuss how to select the right journal for your article. When it comes to selecting a journal, we discuss how to get the right advice and which tools you can use to decide where to send your article. We also discuss other topics to consider when selecting a journal: time to decision, indexation, copyright, open access, and other aspects that can be important for you to make a decision. We then round off with a discussion with our best tips for making your article a...

In today's episode of the podcast, we interview Horacio Perez Sanchez, who is a professor in Spain and host of the podcast Investigando la investigacion. He is the principal investigator of the "Bioinformatics and High Performance Computing" Research Group at the Universidad Catolica San Antonio de Murcia. We talk about his background, and current research. We also learn how much computing power his research requires, and how he finds this computing power available - methods that currently a...

In today's episode, we discuss Rico's experience of writing his first journal article. We discuss how much of the research was done before Rico and his coauthors started writing the paper. We also learn about their co-creation process of writing in work sessions through videoconferencing. Another topic we discuss is what Rico experienced as the easiest and hardest parts of the process, as well as how much time the group of authors took to write the article. In addition, we discussed the ste...

In today's episode, we interview David Cañarte, who recently got his PhD in the department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida. David, who is originally from Ecuador, has a background in design and marketing. He has studied in Ecuador, the Netherlands, and the United States. We talk about David's meandering career path, and how his path and his wife's path have developed over these years. We also learn about David's research on social networks of immigrants, a...

In today's episode, we take a deep dive into the topic of research in difficult times. We look at how COVID-19 has impacted our research and how we work - a topic we've also previously discussed with our guests on the podcast. We discuss what worked to keep going, or how to keep doing some work in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our best advice for dealing with difficult times is: Learn to take stock of the situation and acknowledge the difficulty of the situationPractice self-comp...

In today's episode, we interview Baris Celik from the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. In his PhD research, Baris examines the crisis management operations of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). We learned about the research of Baris, his findings with regard to what drives certain policy decisions in situations of international conflict, as well as how he conducted the semi-structured interviews for his research and ...

In this episode, we address a variety of questions from listeners: How is research similar to content creation? (blog, podcast, Instagram) How have you seen academic parenting evolving through the years you've been in academia? I have the feeling that now it has become more accepted (comparing to when I was an undergrad)Which advice would you give your younger self?We also discuss our plans for the summer, and ask each other the questions we've been asking our interviewees: What is...

We are back with another episode on Open Science. In this episode, we interview Frederique Belliard and Just de Leeuwe from the Delft University of Technology library on open access publishing: from the perspective of the TU Delft library which encourages researchers to publish open access and from the perspective of the TU Delft publishing house. Listen to this episode to learn about how Frederique made the shift from research in an academic context to being in touch with research as a publ...

In today's episode, we discuss our use of analog and digital tools. First, we discuss where we use analog tools and where we use digital tools. We then go into the advantages of these different tools. We also go off on a tangent on keyboard styles and how this influences how we type (and thus, how we write). Finally, we give some advice on how to select your tools for the purpose you have in mind, and how to come to systems that work for you. The tiny voice in the background is Eva's daughte...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Nosipho Makhakhe from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. She holds a PhD in humanities, more specifically in health promotion. We were eager to learn more about her use of qualitative methods and her research in particular. You will learn in this episode more about Nosipho's research with sex workers, her recommendations for qualitative work in vulnerable communities, and the surprising findings of her research that came from truly listening...

In today's episode, we discuss the so-called imposter syndrome, which is generally defined as having feelings of not deserving what you have achieved despite external evidence of the contrary. However, calling this feeling a "syndrome" actually pathologizing a rational reaction to being in a hierarchical, competitive place like a university, surrounded by high achievers (as Patter pointed out correctly). With these definitions and observations in place, we embark on a personal episode,...

Today, we interview Anke Versteeg and Nicole Will from the library of Delft University of Technology to learn more about the topic of open science. We learn what we can do to contribute to open science, and learn how open science is much more than open access publishing, as well as where researchers can learn more about open science (for example the open science MOOC). Data management is key here! Besides the concepts of open science, we also learn how librarians support researchers in their...

In this episode, we discuss our experience with online teaching through the COVID-19 pandemic. We share our best practices, and lessons learned. Here's the summary of our tips: Tips: Less is more, in terms of content and tech toolsMore than just reduce content: put kindness and compassion for students firstMuch more leniency with deadlines and evaluation strictnessFlexibility with office hour time, and accommodate student in different time zones Be consistent in the way you compile your...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Pravina Manoharan, cohost of the Cheeky Academics podcast and Chair of the music department at USM Universiti Sains Malaysia in Malaysia. We learn from her what it's like to get a PhD in ethnomusicology, what doing a PhD in a creative field such as music looks like, some misunderstandings people have on what a musician does (hint: it's much more than only performing!), how she balances her research, supervision activities, and chairing her departmen...