PhD Talk

In today's episode, I share my methods for staying engaged with the presentations at conferences.
Here are my seven strategies:

1. 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 presenter? How many hours of listening on a day can you stomach? Then, use this information to plan which sessions and presentations you will attend.
2. Take notes: For me, taking notes is key. I’ve learned over the years that taking notes by hand (or on a tablet with pencil) works best, as I like sketching things and drawing arrows in my notes. Typing out notes works much less for me.
3. Think of questions: To engage more with the contents, you can think of questions you’d want to ask the presenter. You don’t need to actually ask these questions, but just identifying questions will already help you understand the material at a different level.
4. Relate to research: Try to find out how this research is interesting for your research. Are the findings directly relevant for your work? Is the methodology something that can inspire you? Could you use this information for teaching?
5. Note down action items: What will you do with what you’ve learned? Maybe you want to try out the methodology they propose on your data, or check their test results against your model, or maybe you want to read the full paper after the conference. Jot down at least one action item for each presentation, and put this task on your schedule for after the conference.
6. Follow up: If a presentation is particularly interesting for you, go talk to the presenter afterwards or send them a follow-up email after the conference. As you get to talk more about their research, you’ll gain an even deeper understanding of the work and its implications.
7. Sleep: If you want to be fresh and able to learn, get enough sleep. Getting enough rest at a conference can be particularly challenging if the social program runs late into the enough. I will often have to make a conscious choice between attending an early session and attending a dinner, to make sure I don’t get too drowsy for the actual conference. I also try to add a buffer day when I have a difference in timezone between home and the conference to adjust to the jetlag (and to have a buffer in case something goes wrong with the flights).

This episode is based on an earlier blog post.

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 cultures
• What is your WFH setup?
• How can you attract differently-abled people to work for you?
• Which country provides maximum employment after a PhD degree?

We also discuss which books we enjoyed reading in 2022, and what we are currently appreciating.
References

• The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
• This tender land - William Kent Krueger
• Lauren Groff - Matrix
• Hela Haasse - Oeroeg
• Haruki Murakami - Norwegian wood

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 masters and doctorate, she spent several years teaching biology at local colleges, worked at an aquarium, and as a biologist for a local government. We talk about her career path and how it took a while for all conditions to line up for her to get started with a PhD
Jen's research has focused on predatory fishes and their habitats, as well as how they are influenced by anthropogenic pressures (e.g., fishing and habitat alteration). We learn about her research, how she used fieldwork, and some of her main insights.
She is married to her husband of 11 years and they have two daughters, who were born during the course of their doctorates, and are now 3 and 5 years old. We learn about their experience being doctoral candidates with children, the support Jen's university offered, and how she combines academia and parenting.
Finally, we will hear Jen's best advice for PhD candidates, how she sets boundaries around work, the impact of COVID-19 on her doctorate, and what a day look likes in the life for her.

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 focus in her business on empower academic womxn and the ways in which academia tends to thwart the progress of those of minorities.
She has a PhD from Michigan State University and is the editor of several scholarly collections and the author of numerous textbooks and academic journal articles. In her work as a professor at The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez she attracted external funding for her work in bilingualism and higher education and co-founded a research center. We learn from her experience in how she crafted her PhD research journey towards her position at The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez and how she could get her dream job after her PhD.
Her popular podcast, Academic Writing Amplified, teaches how to use writing to resist the racist, ableist, patriarchal culture of academia. She is the author of Making Time to Write: How to Resist the Patriarchy and Take Control of Your Academic Career Through Writing - part manifesto and part writing advice book, and we get to hear Cathy's advice on how to decide which writing projects to take on.
Finally, we learn about Cathy's experience as an academic mother of three and how she balanced academia and motherhood, as well as her best advice for PhD candidates, how she sets boundaries to work, how COVID-19 impacted her work, and what a day in the life looks like for her.
References

• Cathy Mazak's website
• Making Time to Write: How to Resist the Patriarchy and Take Control of Your Academic Career Through Writing
• Academic Writing Amplified
• Navigate - course for writing
• Amplify - pre-tenure program
• Elevate - post-tenure program
• Academic mission statement
• Calendly
• Acuity

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 select the right journal, how to identify the right audience for a paper, and look into the discussion on publishing open access or not. We also discuss when we know when work is ready to be sent to a journal, and Eva shares how she usually works with her PhD candidates through various versions of a manuscript.