I’m working on the second edition of ‘How to fix your academic writing trouble’ with Katherine Firth at the moment. We’re doing a new chapter on writing process, specifically how to think with generative AI tools. For inspiration, I am thinking about Artist Studios and how they support making work. Artist studios are filled with tools and materials for creating, as well as storage for supplies and finished works. At the center of any decent artist’s studio is a workbench, where projects come to life. An artist’s studio is also a place of self expression: filled with inspiring objects to prompt ..read more

In May 2023, Eirini Tzouma asked me participate in a panel on Neurodiversity at the Durham Centre for Academic Development post graduate research conference. Sadly, I had prior commitments, but we did arrange to meet afterwards so Eirini could share what happened with me. I don’t publish guest posts regularly anymore, but after this discussion I did invite Eirini to write up this session. If you’re interested in my ongoing work around neurodiversity/divergence in the PhD, you can join my research news mailing list here. ————————– My role as an Academic Development Advisor focuses on support of ..read more

It is a truth almost never acknowledged, that university communities are absolutely, totally, tragically addicted to gossip. I was reminded of this truth when the identity of the new ANU VC was announced last week. It was goodbye to the much celebrated and respected Brian Schmidt and hello to the much celebrated and respected Genevieve Bell. Everyone I talked to seemed happy about the change in leadership. And when I say ‘everyone’, it feels like I talked to almost everyone last week because the gossip network was running HOT. I’ve not seen the gossip network run this hot since… last time we c ..read more

Hey, before I start this post, I’ve got a couple more events coming up at Cambridge if you are around: On 11 July we are holding a forum for ThinkLab at Cambridge for PhDs and PostDocs who are interested in accessing the non-academic research job market (no online option, sorry). You can book for free here. I’m giving a lecture about the PhD in uncertain times where I will talk about the latest data we have on the UK market for research skills, at Kings College, Cambridge on Monday 10 July, 5:30 – 7:30pm: you can book for free here If you are interested in the neurodiversity research ..read more

Hey – Before I start, here are some upcoming events I’m doing at Cambridge University, which are open to the public: A lecture at Wolfson College, Cambridge on Tuesday 6 June at 5:30pm, which touches on themes from my new book with Simon Clews ‘Be visible or Vanish’. There’s an in-person option if you can get to Cambridge, and an online version if you can’t: you can book here. I’m giving a lecture about the PhD in uncertain times where I will talk about the latest data we have on the UK market for research skills, at Kings College, Cambridge on Monday 10 July, 5:30 – 7:30pm: you can book here ..read more

I’m on sabbatical for the next three months and have committed to doing a literature review on neurodiversity and PhD study. Ugh. I hate doing literature reviews. I’m just going to say it: most academic writing is BORING and doing a big review means reading lots of it. The thought of reading more than 200 papers in 3 months makes me want to poke my eyes out with a pen. The good news is I can use ChatGPT to help me write this review. There’s something of a moral panic around ChatGPT, or, as my twin sister amusingly calls it: ‘ChattieG’. We’ve heard much about the perils of misinformation and ho ..read more

Like many academics, I have too many things on. By ‘things’ I mean projects of all shapes and sizes, from ‘write a book on neurodiversity and the PhD’, to ‘Fix up the Bootcamp page on the ANU website’. Exhibit A: I’m going on Sabbatical in the UK from May to August. To minimise disruption to the team, I bunched my first semester of teaching into two months. At the same time I stupidly decided to do a new podcast series with my sister about the Apple TV show Severance: (it’s going to be a blast, you can listen to the teaser trailer and subscribe via your favourite pod platform here!). This ‘li ..read more

It’s been a busy month here at Thesis Whisperer HQ… I am doing #LazyPost this month by recycling a bit of my teaching content. This post is about organising yourself for a ‘binge writing’ session. While ‘snack writing’ (writing small amounts, consistently) is good practice, there comes a time when deadlines require the strict application of bottom to seat. These binge writing sessions are much better if you prepare well in advance. As I write this, I’m running a thesis bootcamp weekend at ANU, where we challenge people to write 20,000 words of their thesis. Long time readers may recall Liam Co ..read more

Writing a thesis or book is an enormous task that takes years and involves reading hundreds, sometimes thousands, of books, papers and articles. At the same time, you must produce your own words and make sure you don’t accidentally plagiarise other people. People end up with all kinds of home-brew solutions to solve this epic information management problem. Just like hooch, the quality of the home-brew information management solutions can vary enormously – either bringing joy or slowly killing you. As Peg Boyle Single wisely said ‘Collect notes, not articles’. I try to concentrate less on fili ..read more

Happy new year friends! They say how you spend NYE night sets the tone for the year. If that’s the case, I’ll be eating Indian takeaway with my girlfriends and going to bed at 9:30pm. I’m VERY ok with this plan after the eventful couple of years we’ve had. I followed up the quiet start with a quiet ‘going back to school’ activity: prepping my Bullet Journal for the new year. While I love my digital task manager Omnifocus, for the last couple of years I’ve been supplementing it with the Bullet Journal method (#BuJo) designed by Ryder Carroll. Doing part of my organising and planning work by han ..read more