PhD Talk

Online teaching - Ep. 24

May 12, 2021 10:00 - 43 minutes - 29.8 MB

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 tools More than just reduce content: put kindness and compassion for students first Much more leniency with deadlines and evaluation strictness Flexibility with office hour time, and accommodate student in different time zones Be consistent in the way you compil...

Interview with Dr. Pravina Manoharan on getting a PhD in Music - Ep. 23

May 05, 2021 10:00 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MB

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 department, a...

Virtual conferences - Ep. 22

April 28, 2021 14:00 - 22 minutes - 15.6 MB

In today's episode, we talk about virtual conferences: our experience with attending virtual conferences, the different formats of virtual conferences and why understanding the format matters when it comes to getting most out of the conference, our best tips for attending virtual conferences (while the rest of the world keeps spinning around you), and our best tips for presenting at virtual conferences. References to this episode: From the PhD Talk blog Tips for attending virtual co...

Interview with Tanya Golash-Boza, professor and blogger - Ep. 21

April 21, 2021 10:00 - 39 minutes - 27.5 MB

In today's episode, we interview Professor Tanya Golash-Boza. Professor of Sociology at the University of California - Merced. As a writer, speaker, and teacher, she tells stories of people and of systems to help colleagues, students, readers, and listeners understand how racism and capitalism structure our lives and what we need to do to change this country and the world. We talk about her career path, fieldwork abroad with a family in tow, her current research, and how blogging has influe...

Q&A: Selecting a research topic, when to contact advisors, podcasting, skills & struggles as researchers, and favorite books and albums of 2021 so far

April 14, 2021 10:00 - 34 minutes - 24 MB

Today's episode is a Q&A episode. We received questions about how to select and narrow down a research topic, when to contact potential advisors, and what our major skills and struggles as researchers are. In addition, we discuss what we've learned from the last 4 months of podcasting, as well as our favorite books and albums of 2021 so far. If you have questions for us for a future episode, feel free to send them in! Here are the resources we mentioned in the recording with regard to defi...

Interview with Arjenne Louter, the Dutch PhD Coach - Ep. 19

April 07, 2021 10:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MB

In today's episode we interview Arjenne Louter, the Dutch PhD coach. Listen to today's episode to learn more about how Arjenne became a PhD coach, how a PhD coach can help PhD students, and what is often missing in doctoral education and supervision. We learned from Arjenne about the most common struggles of PhD students, challenges for international PhD students in the Netherlands, and what supervisors and universities can do better to support their PhD students. In addition, we learn...

Supervision issues - Ep. 18

March 31, 2021 10:00 - 32 minutes - 22.4 MB

In today's episode, we discuss supervision issues - issues we have observed around us and issues we have experienced ourselves. We look at the different types of supervisions issues that are common, what you can do when you encounter an issue in the working relationship with your supervisor, and what you can do at the start of your working relationship with your supervisor to prevent issues in the future (within what is reasonable). We also look at the perspective of the supervisor, and the ...

Systematic reviews: Interview with Jonathan Guillemot - Ep.17

March 24, 2021 10:00 - 46 minutes - 32 MB

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Jonathan Guillemot, a lecturer and researcher at the School of Medicine of Universidad San Francisco de Quito. We talk about doing a PhD part-time, Jonathan's current responsibilities, his best advice for PhD students, the impact of COVID-19 on his work, and we take a deep dive into the topic of systematic reviews. The resources mentioned in this episode are: Cochrane library Youtube video - Jonathan's workshop on systematic reviews You can find Jona...

How to search for articles - Ep. 16

March 17, 2021 10:00 - 23 minutes - 16.4 MB

In today's episode, we discuss how we gather references when starting a literature review. We discuss where to find references, and some tips and tricks to find hard-to-find references. Here are the websites we use for finding articles: Engineering Village Scopus Google Scholar ResearchGate Here are some of the structural engineering particularities we mentioned: SSRP from UCSD Ritter 1899 reference IABSE SEI Here are some extra links to explore some of the topics we mentioned furt...

Interview with Kaelyn Apple: on combining the PhD with owning a business and a YouTube channel

March 10, 2021 11:00 - 42 minutes - 29.4 MB

In today's episode, we interview Kaelyn Apple, first year PhD candidate in African American history at Yale, YouTuber at The Redhead Academic, and business owner of Accepted. We discuss her path from UCLA (with an exchange at Cambridge), Oxford to Yale, the way she combines her studies with her online presence and her business, and her best tips for getting in the university of your dreams. Kaelyn also shares her insights on the role of academia in racial and social justice, and how she ...

Reading the literature - Ep. 14

March 03, 2021 11:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MB

In today's episode, we look at how we read research articles for the literature review of your PhD thesis as well as in the later career stages. Listen to today's episode to learn more about how to read broadly and deeply, how often to read, how to take notes of what you read, and how to digitize the articles you read and your associated notes. Software we mentioned: Reference management tools: Endnote Mendeley Zotero Note-keeping tools: Evernote Check out this resource on how to fin...

Interview with Christina Shenvi: MD after PhD, Time management, and making audacious decisions

February 24, 2021 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MB

In today's episode, we interview Christina Shenvi, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, the Associate Residency Program Director and Director of the UNC Office of Academic Excellence (OAE). We learned from Christina about going for an MD after her PhD in chemistry, how to create a life you love, how to manage time and expectations, and how to make audacious decisions. This episode is full of nuggets of wisdom for anyone in academia (from students to senior faculty), those thinking abou...

Q&A: Day in the life, Apps, Meditation, Coaching programs - Ep. 12

February 17, 2021 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MB

In today's episode, we addressed a few questions that came in through the PhD Talk blog. We discuss what a day in the life looks like during COVID-19 for both of us, the programs and apps we use on a daily basis (and the ones that tend to suck us in for too much time), our experiences with meditation and the effects we have noticed, and coaching programs during the PhD year and mid-career years. The programs we mentioned are: PhDometer Toggl Track Evernote Todoist Google Keep Headspace Medi...

Writing habits - Ep. 11

February 10, 2021 16:00 - 25 minutes - 17.6 MB

In today's episode, we talk about writing habits. We discuss Rico's lessons learned from struggling with writing his entire MSc thesis, Eva's experiences of writing her PhD thesis, writing during the tenure track years, and current writing habits. At the end, we give our best tips for consistent writing and developing good writing habits. The PhDometer mentioned is available for download on the PhD2Published website The best advice on thesis writing that Eva read during her PhD years (and ...

Interview with Michelle Crowther on how libraries and librarians support research - Ep. 10

February 03, 2021 16:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MB

In this episode, Rico and Eva interview Michelle Crowther. Michelle is the learning and research librarian for humanities and languages at CCCU Canterbury Christ Church University (Canterbury, UK) and PhD candidate in English Literature at CCCU. We discuss the work of a university librarian, and how librarians can support university students and researchers, on campus as well as in the digital realm. Listen to this week's episode to learn more about the work of a university librarian, how th...

Grants and Scholarships for Graduate Studies - Ep. 9

January 27, 2021 11:00 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MB

In this episode, Rico and Eva discuss various options for grants and scholarships for graduate studies. Listen to learn about options for funding graduate school in Canada, Belgium, the USA, the Netherlands - as well as our own experiences with various types of funding.

Lab work - Ep. 8

January 20, 2021 11:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MB

In today's episode, we learn from Rico's experience in an engineering PhD that has an experimental component. We discuss lessons learned, planning in the lab, the practical aspects of making and testing specimens, and then have a quick look at data processing after an experiment. We also discuss how things have changed since Eva did her PhD on an experimental topic.

Interview with Ivan Carrera on the journey to and of his PhD - Ep. 7

January 13, 2021 11:00 - 27 minutes - 18.9 MB

In today's episode, we interview Ivan Carrera, a PhD candidate in bioinformatics and Ecuadorian professor. His scientific career has taken him and his growing family from Ecuador to Brazil, Portugal, and Colombia. Listen to today's episode on Ivan's research, his experiences abroad, and being a scientific father. Follow Ivan on Twitter @elprofe_ivan or Instagram @elprofe_ivan and check out his blog papacientifico.com

Goals for 2021 - Ep.6

January 06, 2021 18:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MB

In this episode, Rico and Eva discuss their professional and personal goals for 2021. We discuss research, writing, teaching - how we expect the pandemic to influence these in the year to come, and how goals relate to. Eva shares goals regarding service and admin as well. We then discuss our personal pandemic-proof goals for 2021.

2020 in review - Ep. 5

December 30, 2020 11:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MB

In this episode, we reflect on 2020. We discuss how the pandemic impacted our research, what progress we made, as well as our personal goals.

2020 in review

December 30, 2020 11:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MB

In this episode, we reflect on 2020. We discuss how the pandemic impacted our research, what progress we made, as well as our personal goals.

Interview with Silvia Pugliese on doing a PhD in a Marie Curie european ITN (international training network)

December 23, 2020 13:00 - 21 minutes - 14.6 MB

In today's episode, we interview Silvia Pugliese, who is doing her PhD in a Marie Curie european ITN (international training network) . We talk about the project, her part in it, the logistics, and lessons learned from the pandemic.

Interview with Silvia Pugliese on doing a PhD in a Marie Curie european ITN (international training network) - Ep. 4