PhD Talk
129 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsA podcast in which we discuss PhD life, research mechanics, and the tools for doing research.
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Episodes
Ep. 122 - The role of small university journals in the open access movement (Bonus episode)
April 17, 2024 10:00 - 7 minutes - 4.96 MBI'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 Latindex
Ep. 121 - Why the literature review is important (bonus episode)
April 10, 2024 10:00 - 4 minutes - 3.18 MBA 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.
Q&A - Ep. 120
July 19, 2023 10:00 - 45 minutes - 31.2 MBIn 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 both How do you take care of your mental health in academia Advice for transitioning in and out of academia (between academia and industr...
Interview with Kalin Kiesling - Ep. 119
July 12, 2023 10:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBIn 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 t...
Special Issues - Ep. 118
June 07, 2023 10:00 - 42 minutes - 29.1 MBIn 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 look a...
Interview with Emily Hoppe - Ep. 117
May 25, 2023 01:00 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MBIn 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 diagnosis ...
Grant writing - Ep. 116
May 17, 2023 15:00 - 26 minutes - 18.4 MBIn 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 sources Try both personal and consortium grants Think national and international EU funding is not impossible (althoug...
Interview with Jacqueline Shaia - Ep.115
May 10, 2023 21:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MBIn 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 a...
Presenting at conferences - Ep. 114
May 03, 2023 21:00 - 24 minutes - 16.7 MBIn 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. W...
Starting as a new faculty member - Ep. 113
April 26, 2023 10:00 - 37 minutes - 26.1 MBIn 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 pe...
Introducing season 3 podcast cohost Phil Creswell - Ep. 112
April 05, 2023 10:00 - 46 minutes - 31.9 MBIn 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 Ph...
How to reduce your workload as a professor - Ep. 111
March 29, 2023 04:00 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MBI 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 ...
International collaborations - Ep. 110
March 22, 2023 10:00 - 9 minutes - 6.33 MBWhen 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 skil...
Planning your paper writing - Ep. 109
March 15, 2023 04:00 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MBIn 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?
Good habits to develop at various stages during your career - Ep. 108
March 08, 2023 11:00 - 16 minutes - 11.7 MBIn 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
30 Ways to Tackle Writer’s Block - Ep. 107
March 01, 2023 11:00 - 22 minutes - 15.8 MBAnother 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 that...
What I use to stay engaged with presentations at conferences - Ep. 106
February 22, 2023 11:00 - 10 minutes - 6.96 MBIn 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 presen...
My method for writing an abstract - Ep. 105
February 15, 2023 11:00 - 4 minutes - 3.19 MBI’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 makin...
Season 2 outro and thanks - Ep. 104
February 08, 2023 11:00 - 4 minutes - 3.3 MBA very quick bonus episode today to thank all of those who made season 2 possible!
Interview with Jenny Orlando-Salling- Ep. 103
February 01, 2023 11:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MBIn 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 academia ...
Interview with Malorie Albee - Ep. 102
January 25, 2023 17:00 - 53 minutes - 36.7 MBIn 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...
Interview with Maria Balaet - Ep. 101
January 18, 2023 17:00 - 48 minutes - 33.1 MBIn 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 conditio...
Q&A: PhD labor market, taking time off, WFH setup, hiring differently-abled people
January 11, 2023 11:00 - 26 minutes - 18 MBIn 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 cultures What is your WFH setup? How can you attract differently-abled people to work for you? Which country provides maximum employment after a...
Interview with Jen Loch - Ep. 99
January 04, 2023 11:00 - 30 minutes - 21 MBIn 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 masters ...
2022 in review - Ep. 98
December 28, 2022 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MBIn 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.
Interview with Chantelle Taylor - Ep. 97
December 21, 2022 11:00 - 31 minutes - 21.6 MBIn 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 univers...
Deciding where to publish and present research - Ep. 96
December 14, 2022 11:00 - 40 minutes - 28 MBIn 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 t...
Interview with Charles Grimm - Ep. 95
December 07, 2022 11:00 - 43 minutes - 29.9 MBIn 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," e...
Academic commutes - Ep. 94
November 30, 2022 11:00 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MBIn 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...
Interview with Dr. Cathy Mazak - Ep. 93
November 23, 2022 11:00 - 55 minutes - 38.2 MBIn 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...
Balancing reading and writing - Ep. 92
November 16, 2022 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBIn 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
Interview with Dr. Rasheda Weaver - Ep. 91
November 09, 2022 11:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MBIn 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 the fi...
Q&A: selecting a journal, recommendation letters, postdocs, academic writing - Ep. 90
November 02, 2022 10:00 - 41 minutes - 28.5 MBIn 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 books we...
Interview with Gayannée Kedia - Ep. 89
October 26, 2022 10:00 - 53 minutes - 36.4 MBIn 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 ta...
Expectations for the second year of the PhD - Ep. 88
October 19, 2022 13:00 - 38 minutes - 26.4 MBIn 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 w...
Interview with Malwina Gudowska - Ep. 87
October 12, 2022 12:00 - 44 minutes - 30.4 MBIn 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 of mo...
Doctoral defenses - Ep. 86
October 05, 2022 10:00 - 21 minutes - 14.7 MBIn 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 ...
Interview with Dr. Nathan Henton - Ep. 85
September 28, 2022 10:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MBIn 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 teaching and...
Defending a proposal - Ep. 84
September 21, 2022 10:00 - 22 minutes - 15.4 MBIn 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 tha...
Interview with Dr. Heather Walker - Ep. 83
September 14, 2022 10:00 - 45 minutes - 31.2 MBIn 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 j...
Teaching during the PhD and beyond - Ep. 82
September 07, 2022 10:00 - 41 minutes - 28.3 MBIn 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 teachin...
Interview with Raghavi Viswanath - Ep. 81
August 31, 2022 12:00 - 50 minutes - 34.7 MBIn 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. We...
Q&A: Update, selecting a research topic, reviewing, motivation - Ep. 80
August 24, 2022 10:00 - 38 minutes - 26.6 MBIn 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. The t...
Preparing for a new semester - Ep. 79
August 17, 2022 10:00 - 37 minutes - 25.8 MBIn 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. Fina...
Taking time off - Ep. 78
August 10, 2022 10:00 - 36 minutes - 24.8 MBIn 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.
Taking time off - Ep. 78
August 10, 2022 10:00 - 36 minutes - 24.8 MBIn 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.
Interview with Dr. Martijn Molenaar - Ep. 77
July 27, 2022 10:00 - 30 minutes - 20.9 MBIn 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, Martij...
Planning our days - Ep. 76
July 20, 2022 10:00 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MBIn 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.
Interview with Dr. Marta Porniece Kumar - Ep. 75
July 13, 2022 10:00 - 51 minutes - 35.1 MBIn 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...
Supervision relationships - Ep. 74
July 06, 2022 10:00 - 46 minutes - 32 MBIn 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 stra...