I am Jennifer Polk, and This is How I Work

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Dr. Jennifer Polk. Jen helps PhDs launch meaningful careers, during and after graduate school. She speaks and writes on issues related to graduate education and career outcomes for doctoral-degree holders. Find her online at FromPhDtoLife.com, and at her award-winning University Affairs blog. Jen earned her PhD from the University of Toronto.

Current Job: Coach and Entrepreneur
Current Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Current mobile device: Nexus 7 (tablet), Moto G 3rd Gen (phone)
Current computer: Asus Zenbook (2013)

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I work primarily as an academic, career, and life coach for graduate students and PhDs; this business is called From PhD to Life. That means I speak 1-on-1 with clients who are navigating a variety of different situations. They are feeling stuck in some way and want to move forward, and so we make sure that happens, in whatever way is right for their priorities, interests, values, and strengths. I have clients from around the world, but mostly across North America.

I just launched a new online community called Self-Employed PhD. It's in beta mode through January 2017, and I'm really excited to see where this project goes in future.

My other existing business is a partnership with another PhD, Maren Wood. This is Beyond the Professoriate. It started as an annual online conference -- think series of webinars over two days -- and we've now branched out to offer an online Job Search Course for PhDs (beginning again in January 2017). The 4th annual conference is happening 6 & 13 May, and we're also planning a year-long subscription series so we can offer more programming.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
I use Gmail to manage all my email accounts, Google Calendar to schedule everything I need to do, and Workflowy to keep track off all the tasks I need to get to, now or later. I track my time using Toggl. It's been eye-opening to learn how much productive work I do vs how long I'm "at the office."
My clients book appointments with me via ScheduleOnce, which syncs with my Google Calendar. I love it. When I send invoices, I use Freshbooks. I've used PayPal, too. Both work well for bookkeeping and accounting.

I use social media in my personal and professional life, and especially value Twitter. When I'm at my laptop I access Twitter via Tweetdeck (and this is how I run my #withaPhD chats). I also use a scheduler for Twitter, namely MeetEdgar. If you see me posting at 3am, it's probably coming from Edgar! My RSS reader of choice is Feedly. When I come across an article or blog post I want to save, I add it to an Evernote notebook. I also use Google Drive to save .pdfs, especially ones that I want to share with Maren. She and I collaborate on docs and spreadsheets together, too. Other collaboration tools I've used productively include Slack, a great way to communicate with team members (and students enrolled in an online course, or virtual conference attendees) without sending a bunch of emails back and forth.

For keeping in touch with potential clients, I use Mailchimp. To help me manage ongoing networking, I've recently started using Contactually. It's expensive but I think worth it for me. A free tool that I've used more and more over the past few months is mail merge. These days I use Yet Another Mail Merge, which is a Google add-on. It's incredibly useful.

Most of my Canadian clients phone me directly; my other clients connect with me via Skype or Zoom. I'm using the latter to host group events and interviews for Self-Employed PhD, and it works great.

All my websites use Wordpress (both .com and .org), and University Affairs -- a bigger site that I blog for -- is also run on WP.

Phew! I suspect I'm forgetting some things. The ones I listed are all tools I use on a weekly or daily basis. My business mostly lives in the cloud! But when I'm taking notes while speaking with clients, I do it the old fashioned way: with pen and paper. I file those notes in a physical filing cabinet.

What does your workspace setup look like?
I work from home, and my "office" is one corner of my living/dining room. I have a desk, two filing cabinets, bookshelves, and an office chair, as well as a laser printer (it gets occasional use), a separate webcam, bluetooth devices, external keyboard and mouse, and other gadgets. I can sit at my desk or set up a makeshift standing desk using some boxes and milkcrates I rescued from the garbage a couple years ago. Right now I'm sitting at my desk and my laptop is propped up on boxes as well as my MA thesis and PhD dissertation. My cat Izzy is sleeping on the desk to my left. If I don't leave room for her, she'll sit on the printer, which I don't want!



What is your best advice for productive academic work?
I wouldn't get anything done without Google Calendar. Scheduling both meetings & tasks is absolutely crucial for me. I never accomplish as much as I plan, which is something I'd say to others: everything takes longer than you think it will, or should. Leave lots of white space and remember that 25 to 30 hours of actual, purposeful work a week is plenty.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I don't have a perfect system for this, but Workflowy is what I currently use as a task manager. I'm loathe to upgrade to something more complex but I'll probably need to in future.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
I have a tablet that I can check email on, read Feedly, etc. I recently removed Facebook and Twitter from this device, which has helped me relax! I use my tablet primarily as an e-reader.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
I don't work as an academic according to standard definitions, but I do work with a lot of them as clients! I'd like to think that my positivity, honesty, inclusiveness, and commitment to sharing great information, resources, and inspiring stories is what draws potential clients and collaborators to me. I really love the #withaPhD chats -- I think they showcase what I'm all about: bringing us all together, from graduate students to tenured professors and PhDs working in all sorts of different jobs, to talk about what's important to us as people and professionals. We share resources, support each other, reflect back and plan for the future together. That's the idea, anyway!

What do you listen to when you work?
Nothing. I need complete silence (and put up with noise from garbage trucks, construction, and leaf-blowers from the city outside).

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
Always! I read everyday, even if just for a few minutes before bed. Novels. All sorts. I recently started reading Octavia Butler's Dawn on my tablet. The Toronto Public Library is my best friend.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
Introvert! I love working from home. I speak w clients and collaborators almost every day but I need time not to talk to anyone.

What's your sleep routine like?
On an average day I'll wake up around 8am and aim to be in bed for midnight.

What's your work routine like?
I get to work pretty soon after getting up, most days. I generally work 9-5 hours but I can take breaks or run errands during the day as necessary. I try not to work in the evenings, but I do sometimes have clients or other work to do later on, and that's fine. I almost never work on weekends.
I sometimes think I should start a bit earlier and take a regular mid-day break. We'll see.

What's the best advice you ever received?
When people ask me this question, the line that always comes to mind is, "Never explain, never apologize." This comes from a very wise history professor I had during my MA, and it was something I really needed to hear. It's advice I find myself coming back to again and again over the years since.

There are of course many excellent reasons why you would want to explain or apologize, for sure, but I do think in general it's something to keep in mind, depending on what sort of person you are!

I am Vincent Peters, and This is How I Work

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Vincent Peters. Vincent is a 25-year-old PhD student at the department of Management at Tilburg University. He has started his PhD in May 2016 and is specialized in the area of healthcare chains. He has both a MSc (with honor) as well as a BSc in Organisation Science from Tilburg University and completed an Exchange Program at Hanken Svenska Handelshogskolan, Helsinki. Also, he participates in Tranzo, the Tilburg interfaculty research program on health care, to investigate integrated care.


Current Job: PhD Student
Current Location: Tilburg, The Netherlands
Current mobile device: iPhone 5S
Current computer: Macbook Air 13 inch

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I am full time employed at the department of Management of Tilburg School of Economics and Management at Tilburg University. My research focuses on improving collaboration and coordination between service providers in a healthcare chain for people with a complex disease (e.g. down syndrome, oncology, dementia). I make use of the lens of service modularity in order to tackle this problem.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
Outlook, Excel & Word are essential. Skype also comes in quite handy.

What does your workspace setup look like? Do you have a fixed workspace, or do you alternate between a home office, university office and lab?
I do have a fixed workspace at my university and a home office, however I prefer to work at my university office. It’s a great office with a lovely view, since I am located at the 11th floor of our building. I have a computer with double screen and a desk + cabin. I share my office with 1 colleague, however she is not always present at the office.



What is your best advice for productive academic work?
Make sure to block certain timeslots in your calendar for academic work. Turn of your phone and what else can distract you and just focus. Also, your brain tends to focus best on the things you do first, so plan academic work before answering your email.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
Everything I do is marked in my Outlook calendar, so that’s what keeps an overview for me. I also have a whiteboard on which I mark all deadline dates.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
I do have an Apple Watch which I both use for work and daily life in order to get into shape and make sure I burn enough calories during the day for example. Furthermore, I have an Apple TV for streaming Netflix etc. Sometimes it also comes in handy to stream my Macbook Air on a bigger screen to understand a model better and take a step back.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
My perseverance and the fact that I can switch fairly quickly between subjects (In Dutch we call this competence ‘Snel kunnen schakelen’ however I cannot find the right translation). I have a good sense of balance between practical and theoretical subjects.

What do you listen to when you work?
Depends on my mood, but mostly classical music (e.g. Ludovico Einaudi) or Techno livesets from Soundcloud.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
Currently I’m reading the book of Max Verstappen (MAX), the world’s youngest Formula 1 race winner. Most of the times I read books from authors like David Baldacci, Dan Brown. I am mostly interested in American politics, advocacy, law and regulations and organizations like CIA, NASA.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert?
I’m more of an introvert, I hardly talk about my inner emotions with someone else. I have a strong feeling I should do this more often but I find it hard to find the right people to share these emotions with. It does not really influence my working habits, I think. Feelings with regard to work I almost immediately share, sometimes to quick even.

What's your sleep routine like?
I try to sleep around 23.30 and wake up most of the time around 07.15. I aim to have at least 8 hours of sleep but it seems like I function better with 7 hours of sleep. I always feel sleepy when I sleep 8 or more hours.

What's your work routine like?
I try to start work at 08.00 and finish somewhere around 17.00’ish, depending on how the day goes. I feel lucky with the fact that academic work does not have the usual 09.00-17.00 working days.

What's the best advice you ever received?
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you land among the stars. I think this was one of the best advices I ever get. Always aim high and see where you end up. If you aim for the low hanging fruit, it was probably too easy in the end.

I'm Alayna Cole and This is How I Work

Today, I have the pleasure of inviting Alayna Cole to the "How I Work" series. Alayna is a doctoral candidate in Creative Arts (Creative Writing) and a lecturer in Serious Games at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She has broad research interests, but she is primarily focused on creating and analysing narratives that improve diverse representation, particularly of gender and sexuality. Her doctoral thesis—entitled Queerly Ever After—comprises a collection of reimagined fairy tales that seek to incorporate plurisexual perspectives.

Current Job: Games writer and academic (among others)
Current Location: Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
Current mobile device: iPhone SE smart phone
Current computer: Toshiba Satellite laptop

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I am (technically) 18 months into my Doctorate of Creative Arts (Creative Writing), and I am researching representations of sexuality and gender in fairy tales. My research output comprises a creative artefact and an accompanying exegesis. While my doctoral work is in the field of creative writing, I lecture in serious game design, and my publications and conference presentations at this stage have been in both the creative writing and game studies disciplines.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
My system is fairly stripped back. I use Microsoft Word for writing and EndNote for keeping track of my citations, as well as a notebook and pen for jotting down ideas. I’m the sort of person who structures her thesis by moving post-it notes around on the floor. I occasionally use Pomodoro apps or websites to assist with focus on days that are all about my doctorate; one I have recently found helpful is called ‘Forest’.

What does your workspace setup look like? Do you have a fixed workspace, or do you alternate between a home office, university office and lab?
I generally work from home. My desk is organised chaos most of the time, but all of my books and research are in one place here. When I’m not working at home, I work at the Engage Lab at the University of the Sunshine Coast. It’s definitely not a ‘typical’ lab and I love its creative atmosphere. Depending on where I’m up to with my creative artefact or research, I might take my notebook or readings out to the park, on public transport, or to some other random location; a change of pace can shake things up.

Here you can see my home workspace and lab. The photo of my lab was taken during a Women in Games afternoon that I helped organise, so the place is bustling!

home office

Engage lab

What is your best advice for productive academic work?
This is a tricky one! It’s about figuring out how you work best. I edit better in the morning and when it’s quiet, but I write better at night with some background noise. I also work best when I have small, realistic goals and I’ve written them down in a clear to-do list; it can be easy to get overwhelmed with a research project the size of a doctorate if you don’t break it up.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I used to have my doctoral thesis spread across a lot of different Word documents, but I’ve recently compiled them into one file and have it very clearly marked with comments and headings. I use a handwritten diary to keep track of other research, deadlines, conferences, meetings, and so on. I also use Trello sometimes, particularly for collaborative projects.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
That’s basically it, to be honest! I was also using a digital tablet earlier on in my process to read and highlight research papers and books, as I was starting to go cross-eyed staring at so many pdfs on my computer screen.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
Probably my organisation. It helps me prioritise, and ensures I am working efficiently and strategically. It is helping immensely with my doctorate, as well as the other research and publications I am working on, and I think it will continue to aid me throughout my academic career.

What do you listen to when you work?
If anything, I tend to rely on instrumental music from videogame soundtracks. The OSTs of Bastion, Transistor, Journey, The Witcher 3, and Undertale are some personal favourites.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
I’m currently reading novels that are contributing to my doctorate’s literature review or my other creative writing publications. It helps me find time to read when I know it’s actually work! I haven’t read anything that isn’t directly related to my research for a while, partially because I am trying to hold onto a particular creative voice that I don’t want muddied by the different styles of other authors. I’m looking forward to getting back into reading for pleasure.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
I am fairly introverted. I guess it means that I’m rarely distracted by social influences, but also means I can have a pretty negative work/life balance. Still, I make sure I visit friends sometimes, and I limit my work while they’re around. I also have regular videogame nights on Thursdays to keep myself sane.

What's your sleep routine like?
It varies depending on what I’m working on. Late nights while I’m writing, early mornings while I’m editing, and often my teaching schedule dictates when I have to sleep. I like working late into the night though, when I can, as I often seem to be more productive then.

What's your work routine like?
It changes depending on what I have on my to-do list and the deadlines that are coming up. I don’t keep any sort of 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday working-hour system. I work nights and weekends a lot, but it means I can take time off to rest and think when I need it during the week. It also depends on my teaching schedule, which changes each semester.

What's the best advice you ever received?
An academic career is all about strategy. There are a lot of different ways to approach all aspects of it—doctorate, publications, conferences, teaching, etc.—but some methods make your research work for you more effectively and efficiently than others. As for what those methods are? It takes talking to people and experimenting to figure that out.

I am James Towers and This is How I Work

Today, I am hosting James Towers in the "How I Work" series. James holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Nottingham Trent University which he gained in 1996. Since then he has had a varied career in software and systems modelling and has presented both papers and tutorials at conferences and seminars as well as writing and delivering training courses on the subject. He has provided consultancy, training and mentoring to various organisations working in automotive, consumer electronics, finance, information technology, power electronics, telecommunications, rail, retail and supply chain. He is a Charted Engineer, an OMG® Certified UML professional and member of the IET, INCOSE, IIBA and chair of the INCOSE UK Model-Based Systems Engineering Working Group.


Current Job: Consultant Systems Engineer
Current Location: Brighton, UK
Current mobile device: iPhone & iPad
Current computer: MacBook Pro (Laptop) & iMac (Desktop) - Both machines run virtual machines to allow me to have a ‘virtual’ PC too

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I’m a consultant and trainer working with companies trying to adopt Model Based Systems Engineering

I am chair of the the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Working Group at INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) UK Chapter. We have a number of work-streams which research MBSE related topics. These are usually done as collaborations between multiple companies and/or academia.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
General Office Tools (Word, Excel etc), Email, Skype. We also use Slack which is a messaging tool, Mindjet Mind Manger (for drawing mind-maps), Evernote, Things (Task Management) and specialist MBSE modelling tools such as Sparx EA, PTC Integrity Modeller, No Magic Cameo etc

What does your workspace setup look like?
Based in a home office, but often visit client sites where workshops are usually done in meeting rooms.



What is your best advice for productive academic work?
Understand your personal rhythms - not everybody works in the same way and the same time. If I’m writing a paper I find I work best late afternoon, early evening. If I’m researching existing material, or planning, mornings are best for me. Also different environments facilitate different activities. If you’re generally based in a quiet environment then it’s good to go somewhere busy with some background noise to get a different perspective (and the reverse).

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I’m a great list writer so I always have a list of tasks. For larger endeavours I’ll use a formal project plan. I also use ‘Rich Pictures’ for communication.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
Generally wedded to my phone & computer

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
Not an academic, but would like to do more formal research at some stage

What do you listen to when you work?
Generally shuffle my playlist.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure - Tim Harford
Harold Larwood (Biography) by Duncan Hamilton

Time for reading - very difficult! Holidays and train journeys mainly

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
Mixed, but would lean towards extrovert. Which is good as I often have facilitate or run training courses.

What's your sleep routine like?
Pretty good, try for a regular sleep - wakeup cycle

What's your work routine like?
Not very routine! Lots of travel at the moment. When in the ‘office’ usually 9:00 to 17:00 when submission deadlines approach 9:00 to 19:30!

What's the best advice you ever received?
Hanlon’s Razor - ""Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

I am Nels Lindahl and This is How I Work

Today, I am hosting Dr. Nels Lindahl in the "How I Work" series. Nels, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is the author of Graduation with Civic Honors and founder of www.civichonors.com, which advocates development of ways to strengthen the community through volunteering networks. Nels, a Thomas and Barbara Kester Page Scholar, graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in political science and a minor in public service and civic leadership. As an undergraduate, Nels was an Ethan Allen Scholar in public administration, on the National Deans List all four years, and participated in a study on workplace literacy with Kansas City Consensus and the Public Administration Department. Nels received a master of public administration degree from the University of Kansas department of public administration. Nels holds a doctoral degree in public policy and administration from Walden University with specializations in knowledge management and e-government. In addition to academic work, Nels is spending time working on completing a new book dealing with the intersection of technology and modernity.

Current Job: Director IT, CVS Health
Current Location: Denver, Colorado
Current mobile device: Nexus 6 (Pixel XL on the way)
Current computer: Custom built i7 processor Windows 10 system

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I’m both a practitioner and an academic. After earning my Ph.D. from Walden University, I jumped into the workforce and have been working for the last 10 years. Working outside of education has helped support my ability to attend conferences and engage in research efforts. Those efforts involve a few different interests including e-government, e-feedback, multichannel campaign management, and data mining. Over the last few years my research efforts have primarily involved creating automated data collection systems to build out datasets for research projects.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
The data collection systems I have built were written using Perl. I have used SPSS to work with the datasets and create visualizations.

My writing efforts tend to involve Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and EndNote. Recently I have started working with Google’s TensorFlow. I view it as a promising research tool.

What does your workspace setup look like?
My workspace is straightforward. It includes a computer, monitor, microphone, record player, and some speakers.


What is your best advice for productive academic work?
The hardest part of working in the academic space is abandoning your fear of failure and embracing the publication process. That is easier to say than to achieve. If you are passionate about writing an article, then put that passion to work and allow the creative process to take over. You must be willing to take that first step and appreciate the peer review process. Being willing to work with feedback is a part of academic life.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I keep both to do lists and stop doing lists. The to do list typically is broken down into pieces.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
I cannot think of any tools that I utilize outside of a phone and computer.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
My interest in exploring what is possible helps me stay close to the edge of the possibility frontier of technology.

What do you listen to when you work?
I listen to a Warren Zevon, Joe Satrioni, and Steve Via mixed with a ton of podcasts like Tech News Today or This Week in Google.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
Taking a few breaks throughout the day to change directions helps me stay productive. I grab a book, journal article, or read something online for about 15 minutes. Even a 15-minute change of direction usually helps me refocus on the problem at hand. I just started reading The Phoenix Project by Kim, Behr, and Spafford (2013).

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
Without question I fall into the extrovert camp. My Myers-Briggs type is ENTJ. I generally try to push things forward and have to remember to pace myself when working with others.

What's your sleep routine like?
Based on data from my Fitbit I average 7.6 hours of sleep per night. My goal is to start the day at 5:30 AM. That requires making a point of going to bed on time instead of staying up.

What's your work routine like?
I work on coding or writing academic articles from 5:30 AM to 7:00 AM every day. During the work week, the rest of my business hours are generally spent tackling problems and engaging in coaching and development.

What's the best advice you ever received?
The best advice I ever received came in the form of a leadership philosophy. That philosophy was introduced to me by one of the most charismatic thought leaders I have known. The philosophy can be reduced to the following tenants:
1) build a strong culture,
2) let people see your commitment,
3) get to know people,
4) spend time with people,
5) empathize with others,
6) take the time to build future leaders,
7) set standards,
8) be prepared,
9) give back, and
10) foster stability while preparing for change.

I am Sophie Kromholz and This is How I Work

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Dr. Sophie C. Kromholz in the "How I Work" series. Sophie is an art historian, creative explorer, and communicator, who has successfully defended her PhD thesis, “The Artwork Is Not Present – An investigation into the durational engagement with temporary artworks”, at the University of Glasgow. She has taught and lectured internationally and is currently working on publications while she also explores other research opportunities. Sophie also coordinates CoCARe – the interdisciplinary PhD and Postdoc Network for Conservation of Contemporary Art Research. Her expertise lies in modern and contemporary art practices and her research interests include, but are not limited to, ephemera and ephemerality, collecting behavior, conservation theory, and storytelling. At present she is living and working in Catalunya.

General: Recent Doctoral graduate (viva passed, currently waiting for thesis corrections to be read and approved)
Current Location: Granollers, Catalunya, Spain
Current mobile device: iPhone
Current computer: Macbook

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I have just submitted the corrections for my PhD thesis in Art History at the University of Glasgow and am currently pursuing publications and further research and teaching positions.

My research focuses on temporary artworks – physical works built to last for an intentionally limited amount of time and created only once.

I also coordinate CoCARe - the interdisciplinary PhD and Postdoc Network for Conservation of Contemporary Art Research. My research looks at the role of loss and how to promote a durational engagement with artworks which cannot physically endure in a traditional sense. In essence, I am interested in how future audiences can experience artworks which no longer physically exist and alternative conservation and display methods. If it melts, auto-destructs, is eaten, disintegrates, or is unmade through other means – it’s my bag.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
I am a keen Apple user and rely on my Macbook and iPhone. Also, over the course of my doctoral research I have become an absolute wizard with Word.

What does your workspace setup look like?
I work in a combination of places: home, university office, and cafes. Key workspace requirements: wifi and a plug for my laptop charger. Additional things I like to have present: a bulletin board and coffee.



What is your best advice for productive academic work?

1. Do the thing. Whatever it is that you are holding off, just get on with it.
2. Sleep enough.
3. Harness the power of saying “no”, to social things you don’t have the energy for, to additional projects you cannot commit to, to doing things that distract you from the work you need to be doing now. “No” is a powerful word; use it well and use it more often. You are both not a doormat, and not able to do everything all the time, all at once.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I am an avid list maker. I write everything that pops into my head down and keep track of things on a combination of laptop, phone, and paper notes.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
Other than my smartphone and laptop, I tend to go analogue and use old-fashioned pen and paper.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
I am a strong communicator and good at relaying research to non-specialist audiences. Enthusiasm helps, as does creativity.

What do you listen to when you work?
I rarely find I am able to listen to music and work at the same time now. But, if I feel particularly insistent on having a little buzz in the background and find myself in the office, classical tunes without singing. I prefer not to multitask and spread my attention if I can help it. Focus is key and finding ways to optimize it is critical.

What are you currently reading?
I love to read, and have become an avid reader of short stories. They are easy to take along with you wherever you are and squeeze in pockets of time dotted throughout the day.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
I have often said that I am an introvert that doesn’t have the luxury to be shy – you simply don’t get anything done that way. In effect I think I am a combination. I am a social creature and seek activities to promote my research, as well as socialize outside the ivory tower where the air can be a bit thin, because having hobbies is healthy. But I also recognize the importance of being able to recharge on my own with a cup of tea and a book.

What's the best advice you ever received?
Jodi Rose, an artist friend of mine once told me: “Do the thing that you believe only you can do, that is the most valuable use of your time.” In her case this involves pursuing the idea of creating a global symphony of bridges – her work is rather conceptual. I try to apply this concept of “best use of your time” to the projects that I commit to. I say yes to, and pursue the things, that I am willing to give my all.

I am Jenny Lendrum and This is How I Work

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jenny Lendrum for the "How I Work" series. Jenny is a PhD candidate and Rumble Fellow in the department of sociology at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI USA. She is currently conducting an ethnographic study in Detroit, analyzing gendered mechanisms operating in the neighborhood and their effects on the informal economy. She is one of the managing editors of Gender & Society. She is an avid marathoner in her spare time.

General: I am a third year PhD candidate in the department of sociology at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI USA. For my dissertation, I am conducting a qualitative study into the work primarily women are doing in one neighborhood in a large urban city. I have taught an introductory sociology course for the past two years at Wayne State.
Current Job: I am one of the managing editors for Gender & Society. I received a Thomas C. Rumble University Graduate Fellowship for the 2016-2017 year. The fellowship grants me the time to continue my data collection, conduct concurrent analyses, and write. I also teach English as a Second Language (ESL) part-time to expatriates seeking to master the language while assimilating to American culture.
Current Location: Detroit, MI USA
Current mobile device: Droid.
Current computer: Asus laptop (windows).

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I have been conducting an ethnographic study in Detroit since the summer of 2014. This includes participant observations in the “field” (the neighborhood I am studying) and involves spending large chunks of time in the neighborhood, attending community meetings, walking around, engaging in informal and more formal conversations throughout various neighborhood spaces. During these observations, I make a lot of notes (called “fieldnotes”) and take many pictures (I primarily use my Droid for photos). I spend my field days conducting interviews and observations followed by extensive and laborious write-up of notes. On non-field days, I spend time writing and analyzing data as well as engaging with various bodies of literature. Though observations have been the primary source of data collection during the last two years (approximately 200 field hours), I also conduct more formal, structured interviews with people in the neighborhood. Thus far, I have conducted over 40 interviews with men and women who live and/or work in the neighborhood. I expect to be in the field for another several months following by analysis and writing.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
I use a Sony ICD-SX712 Digital Flash Voice Recorder to record my formal interviews and occasionally my recorded fieldnotes. During the transcription process, I rely on the Olympus AS-2300 PC Transcription Kit. I use NVivo Qualitative Data Analysis software to analyze the data in a single accessible space. The program works well in that it allows for various types of analysis of the data including photos, hard-copy documents from the field (such as community flyers and business cards), transcribed interviews, and fieldnotes. I use google calendar to stay organized though I am constantly on the look-out for more efficient organizing tools.

What does your workspace setup look like?

I am fortunate that I have multiple work-spaces.

I have a home office with windows along three of the walls that provide access to a lively and walkable city street below. I primarily utilize my home office for heavy reading and writing days. I also use this as a shared space with colleagues as my home office is within a ten-minute drive from campus.

Home office

Working at home

I have a shared office at WSU that allows for daily access to faculty and colleagues in a space that facilitates intellectual conversations about our research. I prefer to work in this office during early mornings as it’s generally pretty quiet at these times. Because I am a morning person, it has become a productive spot. Bonus: I also have access to the printer/copy machine which helps when printing out stacks of journal articles and teaching materials.

Lastly, I have a shared office at Oakland University (OU) which houses the current editorship for Gender & Society. This space is shared with other feminist scholars and allows us to share literature, theoretical and methodological ideas, etc. in a dynamic and fierce space.

OU office

I alternate between these spaces as well as a favorite local coffee shop. I find that during times of heavy writing, I prefer to be in a public place with some background noise and ordinary life activities.

What is your best advice for productive academic work?
Tapping into available resources. This includes both inside and outside of the institution you’re affiliated with as well as resources through various networks. Accessing others’ knowledge and expertise in complementary disciplines and areas of expertise has been extremely useful for the sharing of intellectual ideas and information.
Most recently, a colleague shared this one that has stuck with me: “Get thy shit together!”. This quote is now a visible note in my offices. It reminds me to stay focused and disciplined.
Lastly, I track my hours spent doing various types of work related to the dissertation. This logging helps to visualize and make tangible my progress.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I must admit, I am old-school in my daily habits. I use post-its regularly in my car and in my various office spaces. I find the act of jotting down hand-written notes helps me to remember and forces my brain to consider questions and conceptualizations in ways I might not consider typing these same notes. Though I must also confess, I, on occasion, lose, forget, or misplace these scattered post-its. Despite these drawbacks, I continue to find this method does work best for my working style.
I also, though irregularly, use OneNote to keep ideas, notes, and literature. I continue to battle with centralizing this information. For now, google calendar picks up some of the slack.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
The rigor I use in my fieldwork helps me differentiate myself from others. While there have been many challenges throughout two years of fieldwork, I have begun to view myself as a strong and impassioned researcher. Because ethnographic research is a lengthy process (from establishing rapport in building and maintaining relationships to the recruitment and interviewing processes to the writing and analysis of pages and pages of fieldnotes and transcriptions), I have learned to be patient and dedicated to this project. I feel grateful to be a part of research I am so strongly connected to intellectually and personally.

What do you listen to when you work?
Some days I use websites that play background white noises (for example: http://soundrown.com/). Other times, I listen to celtic music or heavy metal (depending on the type of writing I am doing at the time). When I am in the midst of heaving reading and writing, I work in silence with my earbuds in to block out exterior noises and distractions.

What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading: “Super Sad True Love Story” by Gary Shteyngart; “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller; “Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line” by Ben Hamper; and “Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck” by Thug Kitchen (to experiment with new recipes).
I read in the evenings when I am not pushing deadlines. I also keep several books in my car so that when I find myself with downtime, I can utilize it well by reading one. Some nights I only read a page or two before conking out.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert?
I identify more as an extrovert and find myself working in spaces that include more interactions or the potential for random interactions. I like the uncertainty of social spaces and the possibilities of conversations and the intellectual sharing of information. Some weeks, I have spent > 20 hours writing at my usual table of my favorite local coffee shop. That said, I do enjoy and appreciate my cozy Detroit apartment at the end of long workdays.

What's your sleep routine like?
I sleep long and hard. I usually aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. I find I am far more productive during the early morning hours. As such, I have extreme (so I’ve been told) sleep habits that sometimes mean I am asleep before 9pm. I also enjoy occasional sleep marathons that may look more like 12-14 hours. Because I am well aware of the many horror stories of fatigue and insomnia (related graduate work), I am grateful sleep has been my refuge.

What's your work routine like?
I aim to work in hour-blocks hovering around 4-6 hours in the early morning hours. During deadline heavy periods, I also return to work in the evenings, but this looks more like 2-4 hours. On an ideal workday, I do my best to write in the mornings and edit/read in the afternoons. I supplement my work schedule with running, preferably in the early mornings, but the summer months offer more opportunities for evenings runs.

What's the best advice you ever received?
“Be your own advocate.” You know, intuitively, the best route to successfully get through graduate school. Follow it, create your own path.

PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: On balancing service with other academic responsibilities

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

Over the past few years, I've take on increasing amounts of service work, including paper reviews, committee work, presentations here and there, and internal service at my institution. The external service work is what I enjoy most, especially if it gives me a chance to work together with other scholars in my field.

Whereas I tend to be rather quiet during meetings (but taking a lot of notes on my tablet-with-keyboard), I tend to compensate by always volunteering when work needs to be done. Ask who wants to contribute on a document, and if I have the knowledge to do so, I'll raise my hand and put in the work. While I have a tendency to volunteer for all the things that look interesting, my main daily tasks are still teaching and research. An article I recently read that mentions that women tend to take on disproportionate amounts of service and (related or not, I don't know) tend to publish less than men, made me wonder if I am taking on too much service and neglecting my research and my publications.

Therefore, I've been thinking about good ways to balance service and other academic responsibilities. Here are some ideas that come to my mind:

1. Make sure you can deliver

Before you raise your hand for anything, or reply an email with an enthusiastic "I'll do it!", make sure you can deliver. Think twice and be honest with yourself. You don't have a magic time machine at home, and your week has only 168 hours.

For example, if you get a request to review a paper and need to submit your reply by a given deadline, check your calendar and see when you would have time to review the paper. If you find that you have time, and if the paper is of your interest, accept the invitation and put a time slot in your planner when you will actually do this. If you will be traveling or out for fieldwork, it is better to decline an invitation than to accept and not be able to deliver.

Along the same lines, whenever someone asks me if I'm available to help on a task, I'll check my planning and give a realistic estimate of when I can work on it. So far, this system has been working well for me, and it helps me in telling others what they can realistically expect from me.

2. It's OK to reject a request every now and then

There is not a single journal editor who will be very mad at you and never talk to you again if you decline a paper review request every now and then. If you won't be able to deliver, don't take on the work. You don't want to be forcing yourself to chew through a math-heavy paper at 11pm after a heavy conference dinner because you still have to submit your review of that paper before midnight.

While saying "no" is difficult (I can't remember if I ever declined a paper review request, unless there was a conflict of interest in my opinion - all that FOMO), declining a request every now and then is not a shame. I have declined administrative service tasks within my institution in the past (admittedly also because I quite dislike mindless administrative tasks which could be done by support staff), and this action has not affected me.

3. Plan for spending time

If you want to find those open spots in your planning to actually reserve time for your service activities, make sure you have some blocks reserved in your weekly template for service work. I have a time block on Sunday to read papers. I either use that time to catch up with recent publications, or to review papers that I have received. Smaller tasks, such as writing coordination emails and the likes, go in my daily "email and admin" time block. Working on collaborative documents is something that goes into my research time. While this task might not involve actual new research, it often involves compiling recent research and writing.

4. Avoid very large responsibilities

Bruce Wooley in his presentation on "Service in Academia" brings up an important point: don't take on a large, ongoing time commitment until you are mid-career. Such a commitment might include being conference chair or journal editor. For these tasks, you will need some administrative support. He adds that being guest editor for a single issue is good. Along the same lines, you can chair a mini-symposium or paper session at a conference, that is manageable if you are early career like me.

5. Set clear goals and dates

For paper review requests, the request will almost always be paired with a deadline. For other commitments, such as working on collaborative committee documents, the deadline might be some time far into the future. The farther into the future, the more abstract the task becomes. Therefore, it might be good to set clear goals when taking on a service commitment. A typical goal would be: we want to have achieved X, Y and Z by our next meeting. If you are meeting infrequently, consider organizing conference calls or video conferences every month or every other month to follow up and set tasks for the next call. This procedure will enable you to again, see what you can commit, and when you will work on it.

I am Carolyn Harris and This is How I Work

Today, I am interviewing Carolyn Harris for the "How I Work" series. Carolyn completed her PhD in European history at Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada in 2012. She is an instructor in history at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and the author of three books, Magna Carta and Its Gifts to Canada (Dundurn, 2015), Queenship and Revolution in Early Modern Europe: Henrietta Maria and Marie Antoinette, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting (Dundurn Press, 2017). Magna Carta and Its Gifts to Canada spent a week on the Globe and Mail Canadian non-fiction bestseller list and Queenship and Revolution in Early Modern Europe received the 2016 Royal Studies Network book award for best book on the history of monarchy. Her writing concerning history and royalty has appeared in a variety of publications including The Globe and Mail, National Post and Ottawa Citizen newspapers, BBC News, Canada’s History and Smithsonian magazines and she frequently provides royal commentary for TV and radio. She is a contributor to a variety of public history projects including Magna Carta Canada and The Canadian Encyclopedia and provide guest lectures for a variety of venues including libraries, museums and cruise ships. She blogs about history and royalty at royalhistorian.com.

Current Job: Historian and Author
Current Location: Toronto
Current mobile device: Alcatel One Touch 6040A (Android)
Current computer: ASUS Zenbook UX305C

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I am currently researching and writing my 3rd book Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting, which will be published by Dundurn Press in the Spring of 2017. I recently finished teaching a course about Imperial Spain at the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies and will be teaching another course, Richard III: Monstrous or Misunderstood? in the fall of 2016.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
I use Microsoft Word for writing projects. I have found Word to be a useful tool for developing articles and book chapters but it is less effective for whole book manuscripts and I am researching alternatives for future book projects.

I use a WordPress platform for my website royalhistorian.com and publicize my writing on a variety of social media platforms including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Goodreads.

What does your workspace setup look like?
I do most of my writing and teaching preparation in the home office. I have a compact white desk, lots of bookcases and a laser printer. There is a laser printer/scanner on top of my filing cabinet, which is especially useful for scanning signed contracts and invoices for freelance work. When I am working on a book project, the desk is often piled high with books and other research materials.




What is your best advice for productive academic work?
My best advice would be to structure the workday around tasks completed rather than hours. Every day, I set particular tasks to complete. As I am currently working on a book manuscript, my weekday tasks include writing a certain number of words per day. This approach allows for flexibility concerning when the work is completed and provides motivation for working efficiently.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
For tracking my freelance writing projects and invoices, I use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, organized by month and year. I have columns listing the date, sponsoring organization, fee and description for each project, accompanied by columns labeled “Submitted?” “Published?” “Invoiced?” and “Paid?” This system allows me to easily track my deadlines and follow up on late payments.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
I have an iPod touch that I use for listening to music and podcasts. There are number of podcasts that I particularly enjoy including This American Life, BBC World Service documentaries, Great Lives and In Our Time.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
My ability to write and lecture about a variety of different topics related to my expertise. PhDs often encourage narrow specialization but my dissertation compared the role of the queen during the English Civil Wars and French Revolution, events that took place in different countries during different centuries. I have applied my interest in the role of women in royal courts to a variety of academic and popular writing projects. For example, I wrote an article about “The Political Significance of Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaevna (1895-1918)” for Canadian Slavonic Papers in 2012 and a chapter about Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise and her time in Canada entitled “Royalty at Rideau Hall” for a book about Canada and the Crown.

What do you listen to when you work?
Lots of different types of music. When I’m writing, I enjoy folk rock. I listen to a lot of Gordon Lightfoot and Cat Stevens.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
In addition to history books related to my research, writing and teaching, I like to have a novel and a work of non-fiction (such as a popular history, biography or travel book) on the go at all times. I am currently reading Louis de Bernières’s historical novel about the First World War, The Dust That Falls from Dreams and David McCullough’s history of the construction of the Panama Canal, The Path Between The Seas. I often read in the evenings or while commuting on public transit to lectures.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
According to the quiz in Susan Cain’s book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, I am an ambivert, a personality type that includes both extrovert and introvert qualities. I am happy both spending long hours in solitude research and writing a book manuscript and traveling to museums, libraries and bookstores to sign books and meet with readers.

What's your sleep routine like?
My sleep routine is highly variable depending on my work schedule. For example, I recently provided historical commentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News Channel and the CTV News Channel about the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday in April and June 2016. On those days, I woke up at 4:30am in order to be in the studio by 6am. In contrast, when I gave lectures at Fort York in Toronto about Magna Carta in the fall of 2015, my talks were at 2pm and 8pm so I slept later in the mornings to ensure that I was energetic for public speaking and book signing in the evenings.

What's your work routine like?
I start by making tea. If I am working from home, I sip different types of loose leaf tea all day while writing. I’ve accumulated quite a collection of different black, green, white, rooibos and herbal teas. Then, I take care of e-mail and publicizing newly published articles on social media. I spend most of the day writing or preparing for teaching. I also travel to give guest lectures. I try to restrict writing/teaching preparation to weekdays but that’s not always possible if I have a lot of deadlines around the same time.

What's the best advice you ever received?
Seize the opportunities that come your way! Since completing my PhD in 2012, my career has gone in unexpected and interesting directions. I have had the opportunity to contribute expertise to the media, write books, travel across Canada on a cross-country book tour promoting my first book, Magna Carta and Its Gifts to Canada, and give history lectures on cruise ships sailing around Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean.

PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: What I learned from supervising MSc students during my PhD

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

During my PhD at TU Delft, I had the opportunity to supervise 3 MSc thesis students and a teaching assistant. I've come a long way from dumping all my knowledge and all the papers on poor young students, and have been striving to find a balance between guiding students and giving them enough space and time to let their own thoughts blossom.

If you have the opportunity to supervise MSc thesis students during your PhD, I would strongly recommend your doing so. Not only can they help on some peripheral research questions, ut they also make you grow as an academic. Once you graduate with your PhD, you are expected to be an independent researcher, and someone who can take the lead in research projects that may employ researchers in more junior stages of their careers.

Here are the 7 main lessons I learned from supervising students during my PhD:

1. How to define a thesis research topic

The first challenge lies in identifying a good MSc thesis topic. You want the student to work on research related to your own, so you can for example look at a smaller open question that remains in your work. You could as well see if an experimental technique you are using can be applied to study a different type of sample. Or you can get delegate the coding of a tool that you might need.

Keep in mind that an MSc thesis topic is significantly smaller and with less theoretical depth than a PhD thesis topic - so make sure you find a piece of work someone can successfully finish in the given amount of time (typically 1 year).

The thesis topics of my MSc students dealt in 2 cases with the nonlinear finite element modeling of my experiments (something we had defined as not being part of my research), and giving me a hand in the lab. Another student started off from nonlinear finite element models to study in more detail the interaction between punching and shear, by running a number of computer tests that were benchmarked with my experiments.

2. Teach your research

Taking on students who will work with you, implies that you need to be able to communicate the gist of your research and teach your most important findings to them, so that they can build on your work. Explaining all the details and procedures of your research will not be necessary, but to find the most important parts of your work and communicate them, is a skill that will serve you well at conferences and to communicate with a broader public about your work.

3. Take a step back to see the broader picture

What is the most important part of your research that the student really needs to understand? Maybe not everything you calculated, tested or modeled is equally successful or important. Take a step back from your work and honestly evaluate the picture you see in front of you: what are the most important outlines of your work that you need to communicate to someone who wants to work on this topic? Again, this skill will help you communicate your research.

4. Identify again the basis of your work

What are the key references a student should read? What are the basic assumptions of your work? When you take on people who work on the same topic as you, you need to be able to tell them about the fundaments of your work: what is your work based on? What is essential to your research? Avoid pulling in all the interesting information and bombarding students with every possible interesting paper - go back to the clean and pure starting points of your work, and share this basis with your students.

5. Be surprised by new ideas

The joy of working with students lies in that moment when they start to come up with their own ideas. When they come and propose something you hadn't thought of, when they have a working model, when their approach suddenly fits yours, when they have an interesting results in the lab,... those moments are the culmination of your work as a supervisor. I clearly remember those moments of joy with all students I supervised - it is indeed a special feeling, and something you will see repeated in the future as you work with more students at different levels. Give them time and space so that their work can bear the fruit and result in new ideas.

6. Let go of predetermined thoughts

Even though you might feel tempted to start explaining a student in detail how you think he/she should tackle his/her research question step-by-step, hold your horses. Don't overload students. Don't spoonfeed students. Just give them some basic information, and then send them out on their own. Doing so, you will leave more room for their own creativity and research abilities - which, in term, might result in them surprising you with new ideas.

7. Learn to be a gentle guide

All the previous steps come together in learning how to be, what I call, a "gentle guide". Be gentle, don't force your thoughts upon students, and leave them space to explore new options. At the same time, you need to be a guide: give them some guidance, introduce them to the world of research, give them their little starter toolkit, and be there when they need advice (about the research, or when they freak out and think they'll never graduate in time). It's a process, and it also means being able to let go of some parts of the research that you might have considered as completely yours, and it means opening up to new research talent. And that, my dear readers, is in a nutshell what you will be doing as an independent scholar as well.

I am Benjamin Bowman and This is How I Work

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Benjamin Bowman in the "How I Work" series. Benjamin is a PhD student working on young people's politics in the UK. He's interested in how everyday life and young people's everyday lives influence the ways they develop their own ways of thinking about politics and doing politics. He submitted his thesis in May. He told me that this has been a big year for him because he has been teaching full time while writing up, and became a father for the first time in August, so he wanted to contribute his experiences to PhD Talk about parenthood and PhD work.


Current Job: Teaching Fellow in Comparative Politics
Current Location: University of Bath
Current mobile device: Google (LG) Nexus 5
Current computer: Samsung something-or-other laptop, it was a donation from a friend!

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I am marking dissertations and essays, hoping to get a contract for next year, and invigilating exams. It's a busy time of year.
In my research, I am hoping to get a few articles published out of my thesis work. I also have a book forthcoming with Routledge on political theory, and I'm also part of a nationwide project interviewing students about the UK-EU referendum.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
I use Google stuff because they all speak to each other reliably. Google calendar syncs well between my phone and my partner's phone, so we know where each other are.

Zotero and NVivo got me through my PhD and I recommend them to students, too.
In teaching, I've really enjoyed using clickers to wake up lectures and get students engaged. My University subscribes to a provider called TurningPoint, but I know there are others out there.

At the end of my writing up, my thesis (and my students) started to dominate all my waking life and I used an app called (offtime) to basically disable my phone outside working hours, so that I wasn't getting email notifications or re-reading supervisor comments all day and all night.

When my kid was younger we also used a phone app called Feed Baby Pro to track his feeds and sleeping, so I could take over when I got home. It was really useful for being able to know what is going on when you've had three hours sleep and a full day's work, and you're probably too tired to spell "nap" but still need to know when the next nap is scheduled...!

What does your workspace setup look like?
I have a desk at the University where I keep all my books, meet students and work on campus. It's in an office I share with three other teaching fellows, but we get along great so it works out.

At the moment there's no teaching and hardly any students need to meet me, so I work from home when I can. Working at home makes it a lot easier to eat lunch with my kid, to change him and make my partner coffee, and so on. It also cuts down on my travel time.



What is your best advice for productive academic work?
Keep working hours, and if you're not in working hours, don't work. Like, at all.
If there's a job you can do that takes less than 5 minutes, do it straight away.
And finally - don't be afraid to leave emails until later.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I keep a spreadsheet of all my projects and a to-do list of the tasks I have to do, and I keep both on my Google drive so that it doesn't matter whether I'm in the office or at home, they're synchronized.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
I use clickers in lectures, and a USB presentation controller so I can walk around during a lecture without losing control of the slides. I also have a voice recorder that I use for my fieldwork.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
I like to think my research and my teaching share those spaces with other people as equals. I want participants in my research and students in my lectures to feel like I respect them, and that the process we're in together is less like me writing the music and more like a collaborative remix. I use participant digital photography in my research a lot for this reason. Having a photograph that you took yourself is a great way in my experience to say to someone, "I'm the expert in this", and in my research I want exactly that, for my participants to be the experts in their own lives.

What do you listen to when you work?
When I'm grading students' work there are a few things I like to listen to. Old 80s-90s hip-hop like A Tribe Called Quest or Slick Rick. I grew up listening to funk around the house so I listen to a lot of George Clinton, Parliament, Bootsy Collins, Rick James and Prince when I want to feel at home. The other side of music I like is really heavy metal like Sunn 0))) or one of the spin-offs, like Thorr's Hammer, or something similar like Electric Wizard or Acid King. That stuff is good for a tall pile of essays.

For just everyday work I like to put on a 90s radio station or my Spotify playlist, which is more varied.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
Meg and Mog, and Judith Kerr! I read to my kid every night and sometimes during the day too, if he wants. If he really needs to sleep we are about halfway through Treasure Island. When he was a tiny baby I used to read him Moby Dick or the sports section of the paper, which would put him to sleep.

Reading for myself - I haven't really done that since I started writing up. I get to the end of the day and just want to check out. But I'll get back into it in the autumn. I have a stack of books waiting for me!

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
I'm an extrovert so I have to socialize in order to feel like I've done anything at all. I talk to my colleagues a lot about football or just go shoot the breeze with the other PhD students in the student office. Throughout my PhD I worked really hard to build and maintain little social groups: a seminar series in the Department, a student-run journal at our regional doctoral training centre, student conferences and so on. It's really vital that PhD students communicate with each other because we need to build our own communities most of the time.

What's your sleep routine like?
I usually go to bed at 10:30 or 11:00 and then my kid wakes me up at 6ish and we get up and play, have breakfast, and then I wake up his mom so I can get to work.

What's your work routine like?
Right now, all over the place because there's very little structure to my marking. I am waiting on dissertations and coursework to be first marked and submitted. My other projects get stuffed into the gaps.

What's the best advice you ever received?
"It's wrong to work"! It's easy to start thinking of your work as something moral or dutiful when you're a PhD student, and I think that's destructive. You start to feel bad when you're not working, and resent work when you're doing it. It's a hazard of the job. Students should think of their work like any other work: something you do in order to live happy and be yourself. So there's a time to work, and a time to be happy, and you should structure your work and your working hours so that at all other times you can live, be happy and put it all behind you.

Time management for MSc students

Today, I am inviting Esraa Farag to talk about her experiences with time management during her MSc studies. Esraa got her M.Sc. degree in Information Technology in February 2016, after long struggles with procrastination, lack of motivation and miscommunication with her advisors. Now, she is writing her Ph.D. while working as a full-time Software Development Team Lead. In the time she is not doing research, not working, she likes to run, to read, to write and to hang out with friends.

Are you struggling to meet tight deadlines? Are your efforts scattered around multiple tasks and projects and hardly gets anything done?

I was once in your exact position, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of things I have to do in the limited time I have... But I had learned only one thing that actually changed my perspective: there is never enough time to do everything you have to do. That’s why choosing what you do in the time you have, determines how much work gets done. Here are some tips I used that helped me to finish my master’s thesis.

1-Plan your day the night before
Before you go to sleep spend 30 minutes planning what you are going to do the next day. Make a list of the tasks you are planning to work on, and break down each task to its detailed steps. The more detailed the tasks, the less overwhelming they seem, the more motivated you will feel to work on them, and the easier for you to do them.

Trust me, those 30 minutes will save you at least 2 hours of the next day.

2- Decide the 3 most important things
From the task list you created, choose the most 3 important, urgent tasks, that you have to do tomorrow. Do these 3 tasks the very first thing in the morning, or schedule them at a certain time during the day. When you complete these important tasks you will feel accomplished, productive and confident. Afterwards, you can proceed with the remaining tasks with high enthusiasm.

Doing the important tasks in the morning will free up evening time to spend with family, friends, gym or you can simply rest. This will prevent feeling frustrated at the end of the day knowing that you wasted the day in less important tasks.

3- Do only one task at a time
When performing a task, make sure that you give all your focus to the task at hand. Don’t try to multitask; multitasking is a lie - it actually reduces your productivity. Giving all your focus to one task at a time dramatically increases your productivity.

If focusing on one thing at a time is a hard thing for you, then try the 30 minutes rule. The 30 minutes rule simply means that you focus on the tasks at hand for 30 minutes with no distractions. Spend the 30 minutes without checking emails ,answering the phone(swaitch your mobile to the silent mode), checking social media or doing anything else. Just focus on what you are doing.

After the 30 minutes are over, you can then take a break for 10 minutes (you can make phone calls, check Facebook, talk to a friend, write an email, take a walk, ..etc.)

These three easy tips can help you get more done in less time and more enthusiasm.

Time management is a skill you must have as a grad student. The good news is that it can be learned :) .

PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: How to stay afloat during a particularly hard semester

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

I now have been in universities for the last 12 years, and employed as an academic for the last 7 years. And somehow I've come to the understanding that the Flying Spaghettimonster has the ability to make all difficult things come together in a Semester of Doom. His noodly highness pulls the strings of academia, and seems to enjoy observing whether we'll sink or swim in a particularly hard semester.

Spaghettimonsters and pirates aside, today I want to give you some tips on how to stay afloat during a Semester of Doom. The kind of semester in which you need to teach three new courses and start a new lab, or when you need to set up one new class and get all the paper deadlines and your research has deadlines but your finite element software gives every possible license error under the sun? Been there, done that, didn't even get a T-shirt for it.

I could be brief in discussing this topic: the key is in planning and time management (gnagnagna), and, on a similar note, making sure you don't crash and burn. Getting sick in the 6th week of the semester never got you to the end of the semester in style. So here are my best tips for avoiding to become like the owl in the famous meme:



1. Make a list of what you need to do

Feeling overwhelmed by all your tasks? Write them out in a list. Before every semester, I make an overview in my notebook of my responsibilities for the upcoming semester, in the following categories:

• research projects
• papers to write
• teaching responsibilities
• committee work
• conferences to attend

Next to each task I write (in pencil, so I can erase and roll with the punches) in which weeks of the semester I will need to work on that task. Some tasks, like bigger research projects, will take an entire semester.

2. Prioritize

If it's all too much, see what you *really* need to get done this semester, and what you can shuttle over to the (near?) future. I'm bringing up the urgent-important matrix here again:



Obviously, the urgent tasks are the ones that will have deadlines, and that you can't postpone to a later time. However, don't let your important - not urgent tasks fall behind, because doing so will cost you in the long run.

3. Don't postpone writing

Talking about important - not urgent tasks: your first submission to a journal does not have a deadline (unless you are participating in a special issue). That does not mean you should postpone writing altogether to another semester. Try to schedule time for writing frequently, try to move your manuscripts forward. Slow but steady will get you there. Set a goal for yourself, and stick to it: an hour a day, 750 words a day, two hours in three blocks during the week, every Friday afternoon - make sure your goal is not just "I will write", but measurable, regular and attainable.

4. Schedule

Develop a blueprint for the weeks of your semester. I've written about my experiments with schedules: from my ambitious attempts in my first semester of teaching, to a more open schedule in the next semester, and my observations on why rigid scheduling can conflict with the creative nature of scientific work. Similar musing and an even more open schedule is what Dr. Pacheco-Vega recommends.

In general, if you commit to tasks you will work on, try to identify how many hours a week you will spend on these tasks. Put blocks for these in your schedule, and build in buffer. If you put 2 hours for writing, know that this timeslot will be easily reduced to 1,5 of effective writing, when you factor in all kinds of smaller disturbances. And that's OK - you're not a robot. Schedule in 1 - 2 hours every day for email and admin. All in all, in an 8 hour working day, you can schedule maximum maximum 6 hours of core tasks.

If you see you won't be able to make it, not even if you throw in 55 hours of productive work a week, go back to step 2, and see what you can postpone to the future.

5. Streamline processes

Automatization is your best friend. Set up spreadsheets to facilitate grading. Code scripts for processes you carry out often. Process email in a quick way: either reply right away, or schedule time to take care of a certain task. Process email and admin tasks during a set timeslot during the day. Silence your phone during a number of timeslots. Plan your meals, prep meals and batch cook.

6. Renegotiate tasks

If your schedule shows you can't possibly deliver on all your commitments, go talk to your PI or dean and tell them you are overloaded. Most of us in academia really love our job and research, and don't even feel it when we work long days - but at the end of the day, you're paid for 36 /38/40 hours (whatever is the legal maximum in your country) of work. If you really need to put much more time and effort, you have too much on your plate and/or are seriously underpaid.

An option is to shed administrative tasks to colleagues or supporting personnel (having professors fill out too much administrative documents which your secretary could fill out too is bad for university - imagine the extra paper you could write in a semester if you could shove off the standard administrative procedures!).

7. Get support from students or colleagues

If there is a lot of research work to be done on a project, see if you can enlist a MSc student for a thesis project. See if your colleagues can take some more tasks related to governing your department while you try to survive this semester. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Yes, there will always be Haters who start talking behind your back that you were simply not able to get everything done because you're not smart/good/supercalifragilisticexpialidocious enough. Haters are gonna hate, potatoes are gonna potate - and you need to get through the mud without losing your boots.

8. Find joy

If your semester is extremely loaded, it's easy to fall in the trap of starting to just count down the weeks, hold your breath and wait for the torture to be over. Don't do this - try to find joy in small things instead. Try to take at least one day a week off (for me, that's usually my Saturday, which is reserved for crossfit, groceries, cooking, sometimes a restaurant visit or party, music, gaming, reading, long skype talks, and more fun stuff - whatever I feel like).

Find joy in the small things: a good espresso during a break, a piece of chocolate while grading, an evening of reading, grading from home with a cat chasing your pen, ...

9. Stay healthy

Every action you take that is Good for You is like putting some money in your savings account to guard you for the future. Don't let exercise, eating well, and sleep slide to the side. These are not things you can postpone to another semester. Simple meals and batch cooking can get you a long way in the eating well department. Put exercise in your schedule. Try to have a cut-off time every night for work.

10. Find a routine and eliminate choices

With a schedule for work, some easy (but yummy) recipes to rely on for healthy food and an exercise routine you can stick to, you will find a routine. During my research stays in Delft, I need to squeeze in pretty much all my research of a year into 1 - 2 months. For that short period of time, I live a simple, yet enjoyable routine.

• Work from 7:30 am to 6:20 pm
• Training from 7 pm - 8 pm
• home at 8:30 pm for cooking and preparing my food for the next day
• 9:30 pm - 10:30 pm for blogging or replying personal mails
• One weekend off to visit family in Belgium, one weekend on (work both days)

While such a routine is extremely regimented and intense, it keeps me afloat for the short time that I am enjoying my research stay, and makes sure I eat well, exercise, sleep enough, and, of course, get as much work done as possible