tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42806507350197311862024-03-06T05:52:35.290+01:00PhD Talk... random thoughts on the process of doing a PhD, research on shear in reinforced concrete and everything remotely related to this...Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.comBlogger1132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-71007769247443468262021-02-16T18:00:00.004+01:002021-02-16T18:00:01.566+01:00Editorial: Diagnostic and Proof Load Tests on Bridges<p>I recenlty published an editorial for the jounal Frontiers in the Built Environment: Bridge Engineering on the topic "Diagnostic and Proof Load Tests on Bridges". You can access the editorial <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbuil.2020.586704/full?utm_source=F-NTF&utm_medium=EMLX&utm_campaign=PRD_FEOPS_20170000_ARTICLE">here, and the editorial forms part of an open access collection of articles on the same topic.</a></p>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-35980253864721219492021-02-11T18:00:00.000+01:002021-02-11T18:00:03.465+01:00What to do when you encounter plagiarism<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ79w6GYnFuY_eQAX0Y-Rw4jAT3LPGhRrkJhtfdleAgwSnCQLrNQwHBmDroa0y_oSdZ0zpjUYS20CdVShg30OyzXmEqj4wzS6H9v7WMVsF-1KEq98N70T8L_qORe_mzRPSN_2jsfyKcZ7/s1600/logo_phdtalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="156" data-original-width="416" height="75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ79w6GYnFuY_eQAX0Y-Rw4jAT3LPGhRrkJhtfdleAgwSnCQLrNQwHBmDroa0y_oSdZ0zpjUYS20CdVShg30OyzXmEqj4wzS6H9v7WMVsF-1KEq98N70T8L_qORe_mzRPSN_2jsfyKcZ7/s200/logo_phdtalk.jpg" width="200" /></a>I recently was in for quite a surprise: a paper in my field turned out to contain information I had developed earlier, without the authors giving credit to my work. They had taken an elaborate table of mine which summarizes the state of the art in terms of equations, and added one equation on the bottom. They used a database I developed, published, and made publicly available, and while they referenced in the paper to my database paper, they did not then mention that the database they used was not their own developed database. <br />
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Don't get me wrong - I'm happy to see people continue my work. I'm glad to see my database is useful for others. However, I do think one should give credit where credit is due.<br />
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In my case, I wrote the publisher to flag this issue. I'm surprised with all the digital tools we have to check this, it can still happen. <br />
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If you are wondering what to do in a case of plagiarism, you can check the <a href="https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/suspected-plagiarism-published-manuscript">committee of ethics in publishing's requirements here.</a>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-76245514777224616702021-02-09T18:00:00.021+01:002021-02-09T18:00:02.591+01:00Q&A: Finding a supervisor and thesis topic<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ79w6GYnFuY_eQAX0Y-Rw4jAT3LPGhRrkJhtfdleAgwSnCQLrNQwHBmDroa0y_oSdZ0zpjUYS20CdVShg30OyzXmEqj4wzS6H9v7WMVsF-1KEq98N70T8L_qORe_mzRPSN_2jsfyKcZ7/s416/logo_phdtalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="156" data-original-width="416" height="75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ79w6GYnFuY_eQAX0Y-Rw4jAT3LPGhRrkJhtfdleAgwSnCQLrNQwHBmDroa0y_oSdZ0zpjUYS20CdVShg30OyzXmEqj4wzS6H9v7WMVsF-1KEq98N70T8L_qORe_mzRPSN_2jsfyKcZ7/w200-h75/logo_phdtalk.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />I recently received the following question:<p></p><p></p><p><i>I have been trying to find a PHD topic for years and most importantly a
potential supervisor who might be interested in the research area I
would like to explore. Would you or anyone have some thoughts in
regards to the process to follow in trying to 1) establish if the topic
would qualify as a PHD research topic and 2) finding a supervisor who
can help refine the topic/interested in the potential PHD research
project? By the way, I have not studied for years and perhaps this is
why it has been difficult for me to find answers to the above-mentioned
questions</i></p><p><i> </i>Here's my answer:</p><p><i>Dear XX,</i></p><p><i> Thank you for reaching out to me through my blog. </i></p><p><i>First of all, it would be important to know where your funding is coming from. If you have a scholarship to do your PhD research or are bringing in your own funding, then you have more flexibility in selecting a topic. If you are applying to a program on an available research assistant position, then your research would be more bound by the description of the project and its deliverables.</i></p><p><i>In terms of finding an advisor, you need to find a person with whom you will be able to work well for the next years - personality and working style matter here as much as your potential advisor's professional trajectory. You may want to refer to t<a href="https://phdtalk.blogspot.com/2014/02/phd-talk-for-academictransfer-selecting.html">his post on how to select an advisor. </a></i></p><p><i>In terms of finding a topic that is worth a PhD: you will need to review the literature first, and carry out a literature review, before you can identify your research question. That's the first step in outlining a PhD-worthy topic.</i></p><p><i>Hope this helps!</i></p><p><i>Eva </i><br /></p>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-54253435444686130742021-02-02T18:00:00.002+01:002021-02-02T18:00:00.734+01:00Monitoring Shear Behavior of Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girders Using Acoustic Emission and Digital Image Correlation <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1YbvrsA9F8UoJTgUWOk22CaglFI8xZ-P9IIJKioTOZNqSMyA2H57ikO3AGregvJQonNn_X3tP598OgVog3uAYwj3zhzCq46iaQM-2pFG6dw3AV26ZG7GmKR6idi6N5GHf2HLppYyXARN6/s816/sensorspaper.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="816" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1YbvrsA9F8UoJTgUWOk22CaglFI8xZ-P9IIJKioTOZNqSMyA2H57ikO3AGregvJQonNn_X3tP598OgVog3uAYwj3zhzCq46iaQM-2pFG6dw3AV26ZG7GmKR6idi6N5GHf2HLppYyXARN6/w400-h354/sensorspaper.tif" width="400" /></a></div><br /> My colleagues and I have recently published a paper titled "Monitoring Shear Behavior of Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girders Using Acoustic Emission and Digital Image Correlation " in the journal Sensors. Access the open access paper <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/19/5622">here</a>.<br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>The abstract is as follows:</p><p><i><br /></i></p><i>
In the Netherlands, many prestressed concrete bridge girders are found to have insufficient shear–tension capacity. We tested four girders taken from a demolished bridge and instrumented these with traditional displacement sensors and acoustic emission (AE) sensors, and used cameras for digital image correlation (DIC). The results show that AE can detect cracking before the traditional displacement sensors, and DIC can identify the cracks with detailed crack kinematics. Both AE and DIC methods provide additional information for the structural analysis, as compared to the conventional measurements: more accurate cracking load, the contribution of aggregate interlock, and the angle of the compression field. These results suggest that both AE and DIC are suitable options that warrant further research on their use in lab tests and field testing of prestressed bridges.</i>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-86392657514284180342021-01-29T02:47:00.012+01:002021-01-29T02:47:00.517+01:00Receiving coaching to become a full professor<p> As I'm chewing over some questions on how to make a bigger impact with my work, I am exploring the possibilities to receive individual coaching. At the same time, I have joined the DrivenWoman network, to get group coaching, and I fondly remember the group coaching I had during my PhD. I love how I can learn from my ways of thinking and working in such sessions. To see if my story is common, I ran a poll on Twitter. It turns out that it is not as common as I thought!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I want to know: if you currently are a tenured professor, did you receive coaching at some point in your academic career.</p>— Dr Eva Lantsoght (@evalantsoght) <a href="https://twitter.com/evalantsoght/status/1307136698887933961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-63272955805980865452021-01-26T18:00:00.000+01:002021-01-26T18:00:08.589+01:00Influence of structural system on shear capacity of wide members without shear reinforcement <p> With my colleagues in Brazil, we have been working on further analysis of database results. As a result, the paper "Influence of structural system on shear capacity of wide members without shear reinforcement" was accepted for presentation at the virtual fib Shanghai symposium and published in November.</p><p>The abstract of the article is as follows:<i> </i></p><p><i>Most models of shear strength used to estimate the shear capacity of wide reinforced concrete members without shear reinforcement do not take into account the structural system or the support conditions. However, some experimental results indicate that bending moment can have a positive influence on members with predominant flexural action, contrary to most of the mechanical models governed by tensile strain in the control section. This indicates that the structural system or the support conditions can have an influence on the shear strength of wide members without shear reinforcement commonly neglected. In this paper, we investigate the influence of the structural system on the shear strength of wide members. For this purpose, we review the available test results that varied the structural system, and we compared the accuracy and precision level of shear strength models from the literature according to the structural system of the members. In the analyses, we observed that the ratio of tested to predicted shear capacity is 5 – 10 % smaller for cantilever members than for simply supported beams. On the other hand, the ratio of tested to predicted shear capacity is on average 10-20% larger in continuous members than in simply supported ones. Although these results may indicate some influence of the structural system in the shear behavior, in this study, we did not identify physical reasons to validate this hypothesis. In this way, this tendency of results could be addressed to some bias in the database. However, we verified that the correlation between the shear capacities of wide members could be better correlated with the shear slenderness by taking into account that the behavior of some continuous members under uniformly distributed loads is similar to the simply supported ones with a reduced span length.</i></p><p></p><p><br /></p>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-92077507382045790142021-01-21T17:00:00.000+01:002021-01-21T17:00:05.731+01:00Proposal for scientific literacy in secondary schoolThe covid-19 pandemic brought out the conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers like never before. I feel sad when I see that people in my family believe that scientists are not independent, that our colleagues and friends who are working day and night to find a cure and a vaccine are "fake" and that the scientists are part of an elite or the illuminati or deep state or bribed by Bill Gates. <br />
<br />
What I notice here, is that in these days when we can look up everything on the internet, it is more important than ever to be able to critically analyze data, have a basic understanding of statistics and uncertainty, and be able to distinguish random junk on the internet from evidence-based work. So, I'd like to propose to include scientific literacy in all secondary schools. You can find the wake of this proposal here. It's just a rough idea, but let me know if you want to work on developing a pilot - from the academe or school system.<br />
<br />
<iframe class="wakeletEmbed" width="100%" height="760px" src="https://embed.wakelet.com/wakes/nOgbeTkE5wobXKrfdyWHH/list" style="border: none" allow="autoplay"></iframe><!-- Please only call https://embed-assets.wakelet.com/wakelet-embed.js once per page --><script src="https://embed-assets.wakelet.com/wakelet-embed.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-49560411018872183882021-01-19T17:00:00.000+01:002021-01-19T17:00:00.834+01:00Further thoughts on "Why we sleep"<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=phta-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=1501144324&asins=1501144324&linkId=f09da606ae2e6a6d7f439240a06f6fa2&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"><br />
</iframe><br />
I've mentioned the book "Why we sleep" by Matthew Walker a few times on this blog - <a href="https://phdtalk.blogspot.com/2019/12/are-we-sleeping-enough.html">when running a poll on sleep</a>, and as <a href="https://phdtalk.blogspot.com/2019/12/ten-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html">one of my favorite books read in 2019.</a> <a href="https://phdtalk.blogspot.com/2011/01/silent-creativity-killer-lack-of-sleep.html">I also blogged about the problem of sleep deprivation in the past.</a><br />
<br />
A reader was kind enough to point out that the facts in "Why we sleep" don't hold up. <a href="https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/">His fact-checking is extremely thorough, so I recommend you check out his website.</a><br />
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In addition, one of the main topics I struggle with that are not addressed in the book is sleep for parents of young children. The way in which my nights are disturbed is hard to predict. I sort of count on sleeping through the night, and just tend to shrug it off if that's not the case. I (*think I*) can function properly on 5 hours of sleep when it happens one day, but not a few days in a row.<br />
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In general, I think I sleep enough - although I sleep in on the weekend and am a bit sleep-deprived during the week. I've also noticed that my average sleep per year has been going down. <br />
From my fitbit I know, that I slept on average"<br />
- in 2015: 7h43min<br />
- in 2016: 7h50min<br />
- in 2017: 7h59min (very skewed data: lots of sleep during pregnancy, then a steep drop after baby was born)<br />
- in 2018: 7h41min<br />
- in 2019: 7h22min<br />
- in 2020: 7h12mmin<br />
<br />
Note that in 2019, the algorithm of my fitbit changed, now logging only "time slept", so subtracting the 30-45 min a night in total that I am awake. Adding that to the results of 2019 and 2020 shows that my average length of sleep has not changed over time. <br />
This shows, I guess, that overall, my amount of sleep hasn't changed much as a parent. But it is lived in a different way, with the occasional nap and with sleeping in on the week.Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-75675535632620454112021-01-14T17:00:00.000+01:002021-01-14T17:00:09.648+01:00Q&A: Post-doc or not?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15gBJ5OCS4yqWWw-rdF7dsn4Bawh11vYuYV3zGNtB5S-k-pbluWvcDW9wd6pparPHc_yHAGw1mnmlioYbmcY97vjHQvar85D7z1SKLZdBa0ht9tPnaVc8FlW6QQcLaMrKEzmbFdwwgAt4/s1600/pasha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="746" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15gBJ5OCS4yqWWw-rdF7dsn4Bawh11vYuYV3zGNtB5S-k-pbluWvcDW9wd6pparPHc_yHAGw1mnmlioYbmcY97vjHQvar85D7z1SKLZdBa0ht9tPnaVc8FlW6QQcLaMrKEzmbFdwwgAt4/s200/pasha.jpg" width="200" /></a>I recently received a question on doing a post-doc after the PhD or not (edited for anonymity):<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Dear Dr Lantsoght,<br />
<br />
I recently discovered your blog through the Academic Transfer website when I was looking for jobs. I really enjoyed the posts, specially the tips about writing the thesis, they will certainly help me during this period. And given your experience in working in different countries, I would like to know your opinion regarding where I am in my career.<br />
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I am in Country X finishing my PhD, I have a Masters in and a BSc both done in Country Y(I'm in the XX field). Originally, I thought about following the traditional academic career, becoming a university professor, and I received extensive research training during my studies. But along the way I discovered that what I really like to do is teaching. Preparing materials, giving lectures, helping students, been in the classroom. I love that, and I would like to continue doing so, only the teaching part of the academic career, not the research part.<br />
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For that reason, my job search has been a bit frustrating, since it feels like I'm searching for a job that almost doesn't exist. And I fear that if I don't do a post-doc and leave research to the side, I will damage my chances into getting an academic job, since almost all of them are for assistant professors to start a lab and conduct independent research (and teaching being a secondary activity). The problem is that thinking about doing a post-doc and work mostly on research projects to pump up my CV is not something I want to do anymore.<br />
<br />
Do you think that not doing a post-doc would damage my chances to get a teaching position in higher education? Are there post-doc positions that focus more on teaching than research? Do you know anyone that has gone through something similar, a blog maybe? Is there space in academia for people that only want to teach, not research?<br />
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I am looking forward to your reply.<br />
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Sincerely,<br />
XX</i><br />
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Here's my answer:<br />
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<i>Dear XX,<br />
<br />
Thanks for reaching out to me through my blog!<br />
<br />
With regard to your question, there are plenty of universities where professors have a teaching load only, or a combination of administration/management and teaching. Not all professors do research. You find this in the USA in teaching universities, in Europe in “Hogescholen” (BSc degrees only), and in Ecuador where I am working, teaching 4 courses per semester is the regular workload (research is not very common).<br />
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You can apply to such a position without needing the postdoc. I don’t know about postdoc positions that are teaching-only or teaching-oriented: mostly, post-docs are indeed research positions.<br />
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Don’t hesitate to talk to the career counselor at your university as well to help you orientate for the future.<br />
<br />
Hope this helps!<br />
<br />
Eva</i>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-77944093611026058882021-01-12T18:00:00.028+01:002021-01-12T18:00:03.753+01:00Reflecting on 10 years of blogging<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmcPfpCe-Q5DVgdOuIiDl1uVIxcu_W054szpk7WiGEbcsSOtbW6-spPcR-_31hBw9ORv1NChF44z2Qnmxycn1E6MPXcawmVdDQlFmhN2s0EvoJFbAqCR9egnXv5Ihq1Fs-F4xYNYlI6HAt/s3872/DSC_5299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3872" data-original-width="2592" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmcPfpCe-Q5DVgdOuIiDl1uVIxcu_W054szpk7WiGEbcsSOtbW6-spPcR-_31hBw9ORv1NChF44z2Qnmxycn1E6MPXcawmVdDQlFmhN2s0EvoJFbAqCR9egnXv5Ihq1Fs-F4xYNYlI6HAt/s320/DSC_5299.JPG" /></a></div><br /> On September 14th 2020, this blog celebrated its 10th birthday. Blogging for 10 years makes me something like a dinosaur left over from the days when blogging for the sake of blogging was more popular than now. If I count my previous blogs and websites, I've been writing on the internet for 20 years. <p></p><p>I wanted to make an ordered list here of the 10 main things I've learned from blogging in this space for the past 10 years, but I've taken a more organic, meandering approach. This blog developed in an organic and meandering way, and I want to keep this post in the atmosphere of the blog itself.</p><p>This blog is not as popular as it used to be. If I consider page counts, then this blog is dying out. Sometimes I wonder if the dropping stats mean that it's time to pull the plug on this project. But I started blogging for myself, and I still enjoy looking through old pages and reflect back on my journey.</p><p>This blog hasn't changed layout since 2013. I should move this blog over to wordpress, turn the page into a professional site, learn to make some money from it and get overall a new layout. In theory, that is. In reality, I just don't feel like. I like writing, and the rest doesn't interest me so much. I've learned from all these years of blogging that it's writing that I like, and writing for the purpose of reflection on my work. Maybe some day my interests will change, and I will clean up house here and get a nice 21st-century-style layout. </p><p>I started blogging when I was a second year PhD student. I'm a professor with tenure at two universities now. It's nice to look back at times to see how far I've come. For that reason, I still post presentations and papers. I also feel that this is part of "reporting" on what I did to make tenure twice, and what my particular path has been.</p><p>When I started off, I focused on giving advice. By now, I still give advice, and especially in my posts for AcademicTransfer - but at the same time, I've created more space here to reflect: to reflect on my semesters, my goals, and just current state of my work and life in general. Even though I blog under my personal name, I feel safe enough to write about myself and my work.</p><p>Will I still be blogging in 10 years from now? Time will tell - but until then, allow me to celebrate that I've been sticking with this blog and this writing for 10 years. <br /></p>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-45126929537847227522021-01-05T18:00:00.010+01:002021-01-05T18:00:01.407+01:00CONEIC 2020 Presentation<p>In September, I had the pleasure of giving a lecture (online) for the 2020 CONEIC conference, of the Peruvian association of civil engineering students. While I could not give the lecture live because I had already planned something else during the timeslot I ultimately got assigned, I managed to give the presentation by prerecording it through Zoom and sending it in. </p><p> Here are the slides of my presentation:</p><p> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="485" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/mxPcjfzpMZEodW" style="border-width: 1px; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="595"> </iframe> </p><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"> <b> <a href="//www.slideshare.net/elantsoght/coneic-presentation-2020" target="_blank" title="Coneic presentation 2020">Coneic presentation 2020</a> </b> from <b><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/elantsoght" target="_blank">Eva Lantsoght</a></b> </div>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-36765212640564933802020-12-22T18:00:00.000+01:002020-12-22T18:00:02.175+01:00Some thoughts on working from home without childcare<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ79w6GYnFuY_eQAX0Y-Rw4jAT3LPGhRrkJhtfdleAgwSnCQLrNQwHBmDroa0y_oSdZ0zpjUYS20CdVShg30OyzXmEqj4wzS6H9v7WMVsF-1KEq98N70T8L_qORe_mzRPSN_2jsfyKcZ7/s1600/logo_phdtalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="156" data-original-width="416" height="75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ79w6GYnFuY_eQAX0Y-Rw4jAT3LPGhRrkJhtfdleAgwSnCQLrNQwHBmDroa0y_oSdZ0zpjUYS20CdVShg30OyzXmEqj4wzS6H9v7WMVsF-1KEq98N70T8L_qORe_mzRPSN_2jsfyKcZ7/s200/logo_phdtalk.jpg" width="200" /></a>As I read the post "<a href="http://something-remarkable.blogspot.com/2020/08/help-me-sort-out-our-schedule.html">Help me sort out our schedule</a>" on Something Remarkable, I found it OK to share with her some things that worked for us.<br />
<br />
Here's what I wrote - it may help you as well if you find yourself back in a position without childcare while having to work from home:<br />
<br />
<i><br />
Can you put the schedules of all three of you next to each other in a spreadsheet to see when there are opportunities?<br />
Some things that worked for me in the 2 months of no childcare (one child recently turned 3 and does not sleep through the night, husband with very irregular schedule - mostly outside during the day, lots of grad student supervision and teaching 1 course/semester, research-heavy position):<br />
- setting up something to play (box with surprises etc) which can buy me up to 1 hour<br />
- I take calls on my phone while she plays in the park<br />
- telling her we are reading - mom is reading an article and she pretend-reads a book / with variable success<br />
- expecting that I can do max 3 things in a day<br />
- an evening work block<br />
- too much screentime when all else fails<br />
<br />
Now, the Empress goes a few hours a day to her grandma, which has allowed me to get more thinking and writing done.</i>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-11824241377489567052020-12-17T18:00:00.000+01:002020-12-17T18:00:08.158+01:00User committees during the PhDAt our research group in Delft, we often have user committees for the PhD projects. These user committees are made up of people from the industry and/or government, who meet twice a year to give feedback on the practical aspects of the research. I was wondering if this practice is common, so I set up a poll.<br />
<br />
You can find the results and the wake here:<br />
<br />
<iframe class="wakeletEmbed" width="100%" height="760px" src="https://embed.wakelet.com/wakes/I35FCjGiX-D5vW3sy176U/list" style="border: none" allow="autoplay"></iframe><!-- Please only call https://embed-assets.wakelet.com/wakelet-embed.js once per page --><script src="https://embed-assets.wakelet.com/wakelet-embed.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-29449092326204966512020-12-15T18:00:00.000+01:002020-12-15T18:00:04.397+01:00Q&A on consistency in schedules<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PGi-IOav_lF-i_4_S05o2cc6nFjEWhy_9m6z6rG06yiIyskaUyG9Q_yVQE7TNhQC6IPYJKizEnmZOPC2kv1zaVTbnbVtlZruZvMOQEvjsEkQL3CwmoMF81PAttHTLDZcGcfhm848rqve/s1600/cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="740" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PGi-IOav_lF-i_4_S05o2cc6nFjEWhy_9m6z6rG06yiIyskaUyG9Q_yVQE7TNhQC6IPYJKizEnmZOPC2kv1zaVTbnbVtlZruZvMOQEvjsEkQL3CwmoMF81PAttHTLDZcGcfhm848rqve/s200/cat.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Some time ago, on <a href="http://phdtalk.blogspot.com/2014/03/my-phd-schedule.html?showComment=1493810855173#c7207223449786314027">one of my posts</a>, I received the following comment/question.<br />
<br />
<i>Hi,<br />
I have read your schedule. And I draw some kind of inspiration from it. Currently I am into research. I am pursuing Masters.<br />
I just want to know that how do you maintain consistency in your schedule?? If experiments get down, it affects the entire schedule. What do you do to make sure that you follow your daily routine??</i><br />
<br />
There's a number of things to address here:<br />
<br />
<b>1. Overall planning</b><br />
If an experiment fails, or a pandemic* makes your lab close, then your overall planning may be going south. If something major like that happens, then you should discuss with your supervisor and your funder, and ask for an adjustment of your timeline.<br />
<b><br />
2. Buffer</b><br />
I work buffer into my schedule on a daily basis and within projects. I try to finish projects weeks before their deadline. For everything I plan on a daily basis, I plan to work about 75% of the timeblock assigned to the task. This accounts for disturbances and delays, and does not take into account just bad days when I can't focus on anything (and yes, with the COVID-19 situation, I've had days that were spent alternating between the news and Twitter and fretting over my family in Europe).<br />
<br />
<b>3. Daily routines</b><br />
If notice that your daily routine does not have sufficient lab time in there, then extend the amount of time you spend in the lab and devote less time to other activities (I am NOT advocating here for just working more hours... that's only a last resort when you need to buckle down to make a deadline).<br />
If the time you are spending in the lab daily is adequate, for example because you can just spend a certain amount of hours behind a machine or because you need to wait for a reaction to take place, then stay with the same daily routine, and let your supervisor know about the overall delay of the project.<br />
<br />
* I am writing this post on March 15th, the borders of Ecuador are closed and Tuesday we go in lockdown. In Delft, the lab is closed for an indefinite amount of time. Certainly, I did not see that coming in my planning, and my overall planning for this year is a big question mark and I don't even know if I'll be traveling to Europe in a few weeks for my annual research stay.Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-10484920293858607042020-12-10T18:00:00.000+01:002020-12-10T18:00:01.622+01:00IABSE online lectureI recorded an online lecture for IABSE. The full version is available to members online.<br />
<br />
Here's the trailer:<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2kgrAxJaFEg" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
You can find the slides of the presentation here:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="485" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/2BTyoZJCpgIPri" style="border-width: 1px; border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="595"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<b> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/elantsoght/load-testing-of-structures-234488710" target="_blank" title="Load testing of structures">Load testing of structures</a> </b> from <b><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/elantsoght" target="_blank">Eva Lantsoght</a></b> </div>
Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-4913798230516033202020-12-08T18:00:00.000+01:002020-12-08T18:00:04.212+01:00The place of my desk at home<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_P3l_qYugf86N_0BB__T9yZeAqwSbzSmMergSkbaYzLoOrdfa9qOtOApZYir0o5zSNamhOzB5KxdeYfP6JTCGtpmhyphenhyphenrsd_mXwVcydnrABHnfoXg6FAO6Uhg05HUmG5LIO6KWZCZzCKUJ/s1600/schrijfkoffie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="749" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_P3l_qYugf86N_0BB__T9yZeAqwSbzSmMergSkbaYzLoOrdfa9qOtOApZYir0o5zSNamhOzB5KxdeYfP6JTCGtpmhyphenhyphenrsd_mXwVcydnrABHnfoXg6FAO6Uhg05HUmG5LIO6KWZCZzCKUJ/s200/schrijfkoffie.jpg" width="200" /></a>Welcome to an episode of full-on navel-gazing!<br />
<br />
I've been moving my desk around our apartment a few times.<br />
<br />
Originally, I had an entire spare bedroom I claimed as my home office. Then, when my daughter was born, that spare bedroom became her room, but she slept in her crib in our bedroom (and then, mostly in our bed) until she was two. When she was two, I decided to rearrange her room - old, borrowed furniture and babystuff went out, and I got her new furniture and her own bed.<br />
<br />
My desk then went to the hallway - we have a "central" open space where the 3 bedrooms come together, and my desk fit there perfectly. March 2020, when I started to work full-time from home, revealed that this position is not ideal. If I'm teaching in the hallway, for sure people will start walking behind me during my lecture. There's no door I can close. And - biggest problem: our hallway has no daylight. So I sat under my lamp for half of the Spring semester and the entire Summer semester. My eyes hurt. My eyesight may have worsened even more.<br />
<br />
So in August, I made space in our bedroom and put my desk next to the window. Now I have daylight and a door I can close when necessary. The only drawback now is that I will temporarily need to sit at the dining table or somewhere else when I have an early call and my husband is still sleeping. We'll see how my new working space works out for me - as we will all be working from home for quite some time.Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-70157029762801856192020-12-01T18:00:00.000+01:002020-12-01T18:00:00.619+01:00When regular schedules aren't working anymore<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOdY9DRr-uv5iQ51E482ft-nffdv76t3st-8ggpH8JZevQWG477OEKsG3ArMgoCkE-E0l-rh5lM22l0tYvUSMDGjiT-eJDG0XMePk0048dSPVp8g9cnL7IQdQ-UpTGDLtHXPNSuMOQyD2P/s1600/weekly+template.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="1076" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOdY9DRr-uv5iQ51E482ft-nffdv76t3st-8ggpH8JZevQWG477OEKsG3ArMgoCkE-E0l-rh5lM22l0tYvUSMDGjiT-eJDG0XMePk0048dSPVp8g9cnL7IQdQ-UpTGDLtHXPNSuMOQyD2P/s400/weekly+template.tif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My template from Fall 2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
For many years, I was the person who wrote first thing in the morning (at least, of the morning part of my work day), every week day (except when traveling).<br />
<br />
Recently, I've been encountering two challenges with this approach:<br />
- early morning meetings<br />
- working from home<br />
<br />
Let me delve deeper into this.<br />
<br />
As I've gone from researcher to assistant professor in Delft, I am supervising way more students (7 MSc and 3 PhDs at the moment, with 3 more PhDs co-supervised internationally). When I'm in Ecuador, the hours 7am - 10am are 2pm-5pm in the Netherlands - which means that many days the only possible time to meet my students and colleagues overseas is in my sacred morning writing block time. At this moment, it is even so that most weeks, I have only 1 or 2 of my early morning writing blocks that sit untouched from meetings.<br />
<br />
The second issue is that there's a big difference between 7am-9am in my university office at the end of a hallway where nobody finds me and my desk at home, which, during rush hour in the morning sits in the middle of everything: my daughter waking up, my husband walking around calling on the phone, and the cat crying for food. Needless to say, I don't get the concentrated writing done.<br />
<br />
So, what have I done to solve this? So far, honestly, I am struggling with my writing. 2020 has not been a good year for writing articles. It's been a lot. <br />
<br />
But, I've tried to move forward by doing the following:<br />
<br />
<b>Focus on what needs to be done, not when</b>: If it's not going to happen 7am-9am, it's OK to write later in the day. As long as I find some time during the day, often a shorter block than 2 hours, I can make progress. Some progress is still better than no progress at all.<br />
<b><br />
Get breaks to refresh</b>: There's a difference between writing fresh in the morning and writing after 3 back-to-back Zoom calls. What I've been using these past months is going out to walk around the block to reset my head. Sometimes I listen to a podcast or a motivational talk, but many times I set out with the goal of thinking through the next part I will write. As I circle around my gated community, talking to myself (I assume nobody can see this behind my mask), I flesh out ideas and then write these down when I return to my desk. <br />
<br />
<b>Plan on a weekly basis</b>: I use my weekly priorities to identify which paper needs to progress during which week. If I'm not able to write every day for 2 hours, I may be able to fit in a writing block on a different day - a longer block, or a later block - to move my manuscript forward.<br />
<br />
<b>Pomodoros</b>: If I'm tired after Zoom calls, I return to my pomodoros to focus for short amounts of time and move my writing forward.<br />
<br />
As a last thought: my identity of the person who writes first thing in the morning every work day is something I developed in 2014, as I had just moved to Ecuador. For my PhD, 8am lab work meant that early writing sessions were not an option. I wrote my thesis in the evenings, after lab work. I need to remind myself of my past: <b>I can adjust back when my regular schedule isn't working anymore.</b>Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-25972796155155017782020-11-29T02:38:00.002+01:002020-11-29T02:38:30.551+01:00Join me on my new website and mailing list! [Freebie!]Hi readers!
If you can read this, it means you receive my blog posts through Feedburner.
Unfortunately, I recently lost access to my feedburner feed. The posts that are scheduled to come out, will still land in your mailbox.
If you'd like to stay up to date with my blog, please head over to the new email list on my new website <a href="https://www.evalantsoght.com/">evalantsoght.com</a>
To make up for this inconvenience, I've put together some templates for your when you sign up to my new email list.
Thanks, and I hope to see you back on my new website and mailing list!
EvaEva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-23554873694586130662020-11-26T18:00:00.001+01:002020-11-26T18:00:00.474+01:00On appreciation of the engineering program at Vrije Universiteit Brussel<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTUsDEa-w9xtAclLis9aCvUEnYS4y28hNoM-7a0AC1nrlwlNldZGwMoframZQBS29OadHavy9h9ekQVkq2Kp-NAwJLEj9RkhlG0tGF2nu781G4sz-CEbIq9B-NJNnzg0nroxykI_D8eR1/s1600/16729376_10155129839816694_2042530069006390652_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="206" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTUsDEa-w9xtAclLis9aCvUEnYS4y28hNoM-7a0AC1nrlwlNldZGwMoframZQBS29OadHavy9h9ekQVkq2Kp-NAwJLEj9RkhlG0tGF2nu781G4sz-CEbIq9B-NJNnzg0nroxykI_D8eR1/s200/16729376_10155129839816694_2042530069006390652_n.jpg" width="200" /></a>As I am reading Deep Work by Cal Newport, I realize that perhaps I am trained to do good work because of my studies at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. I've written before <a href="http://phdtalk.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-i-started-to-take-my-own-deadlines.html">about the large amounts of material students at VUB need to chew through before an exam</a>, and that therefore the exam period in Belgium is longer than in the United States.<br />
<br />
While we could discuss the value of all the theory we chew through in Brussels for a practicing engineer, I consider my years in Brussels as the period when I learned to do deep work like never before. If you have three weeks to work your way through a pile of paper that reaches from the floor to your knees, there's no space for distractions. You need to buckle down and master the complex ideas. <br />
<br />
I struggled with learning to do deep study. I never had to study much at all during secondary school, so I never had to concentrated for long hours on end on difficult problems. At the beginning of my years in Brussels, I struggled with distractions. In those days, it was internet forums. I got so distracted by these and by browsing the internet that I had to hide my network cable in a drawer and allowed myself only to take this out at the end of the day.<br />
<br />
As I learned to concentrate for longer stretches of time, I also learned how enjoyable it can be to enter a state of deep concentration and flow. Time flies when you are really "into" it. <br />
<br />
After my studies in Brussels, I never had to work through such large amounts of paper anymore. But I've noticed that my concentration muscle has remained strong, and helps me in my research. When I decide to study a new topic, whether that be the action of fibers in fiber reinforced concrete, or the literature related to doctoral defenses, I find that I can still get into a new topic, study the state of the art, and then develop my own ideas.<br />
<br />
So, I am very grateful that I studied at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (and it's a very fun place to be as well!).Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-11109212213691011522020-11-25T19:42:00.001+01:002020-11-25T19:42:27.264+01:00TestTesttestEva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-7558427728261362892020-11-24T18:00:00.001+01:002020-11-24T18:00:00.176+01:00Digital Minimalism - a review<a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549433350l/40672036._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549433350l/40672036._SY475_.jpg" width="132" /></a><br />
<br />
I recently finished reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I've read his book "So good they can't ignore you" before, and -as I am writing this- am working my way through Deep Work*.<br />
<br />
While I generally like Newport's books, I was a little bit disappointed in Digital Minimalism, for two reasons: the assumption that we have large pockets of leisure time to ourselves, and some half-baked ideas.<br />
<br />
The first problem is the assumption of large pockets of leisure time for the pursuits Newport recommends (making things, long walks, etc). Newport is a father of three children, so I wonder how he can find the time to do his tinkering around the house (without kids running off with his tools or trying to electrocute him). I somehow assume that his wife is the primary caregiver in their house, but I would have liked a discussion on this.<br />
<br />
My second point of criticism is that some ideas in the book seem to contradict each other. What's to be prioritized: long walks and solitude, or working out with a group of people for the social aspect of it? The beginning of the book seems to recommend that we should steer clear from all social media, whereas the second half of the book recommends us to use social media in a smart way - I am bit confused as to what the may message is now.<br />
<br />
On the topic of making things: he seems to undervalue crafts in favor of things like welding, changing the oil of a car, etc. I think there should be more space for people individually to explore which things they want to learn to make with their hands - whether that be a patchwork blanket, a vegetable patch, or a piece of furniture.<br />
<br />
*I'm reading the Dutch translation of Deep Work, as this version was significantly cheaper in my Kobo store (with Dutch settings standard). The translator did a horrible job and butchered the clear voice of Newport's writing, and laced the text with Dutch slang, which makes it annoying to read for a Belgian. The translator also provided footnotes that sometimes are wrong (an associate professor is NOT a docent - but a universitair hoofddocent, for example).Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-6314987797965770612020-11-19T18:00:00.001+01:002020-11-19T18:00:01.018+01:00Finding more joy<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8G17PuSQ6Zz61synCyQysgFdMfEPvNLikV6NMhZUpaPGr6qNFHE4lwXqWHdfRmJaXjc8EyPiu6DJUWEF0GR_7Ycyv2DTVwTbDQiOrfR7jHF2kMpjC1aSA9xWmtsMdO4o2DffF-kEWQgS/s1600/study.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="741" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8G17PuSQ6Zz61synCyQysgFdMfEPvNLikV6NMhZUpaPGr6qNFHE4lwXqWHdfRmJaXjc8EyPiu6DJUWEF0GR_7Ycyv2DTVwTbDQiOrfR7jHF2kMpjC1aSA9xWmtsMdO4o2DffF-kEWQgS/s200/study.jpg" width="200" /></a>About 1-1,5 years ago, I found myself bogged down by the daily stress of work (and leaving work on time to be home with my daughter before 4pm), taking my daughter to her activities through Ecuador's crazy traffic (and, even under normal circumstances, I do not like driving), and then the dinner-bath-bed rush. <br />
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I was feeling tired, loaded with responsibilities, and simply not finding much joy in my days. So I decided to do a project to find more joy in my days. Since then, as my daughter has grown a bit more, I've taken a different approach.<br />
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My first approach was to find more joy on a daily basis. I made a monthly spread in my bullet journal, and vowed to log one thing per day that gives me joy. To be able to log something, I had to do something of course. So I started to look for opportunities to just take a small breather at some point in the go-go-go of the day. I'd sit with my coffee and drink it in (attempted) peace before moving on. Instead of throwing dinner together, I'd cook something I really like. I'd find two minutes to sit in the sun with my daughter and just enjoy it.<br />
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As the number of night wake-ups started to reduce, and the fog of exhaustion was lifted a bit, I felt things going better. I stopped doing the daily log of little things. However, I do (still) try to journal a tiny bit daily and write down three things I am grateful for that happened during the day - and I manage to automatically get more often a tiny break in my day that gives me joy. I guess the conscious logging for a while helped me train myself to do so.<br />
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Now that my daughter is a bit older, I've started to use a different approach. I make "fun lists". I identify 12 fun things to do during a season (with the holiday season as a separate one). Since we don't really have "seasons" in Ecuador, I try to adhere a bit to the calendar of the northern hemisphere when putting together the fun lists, but add enough things outside of the house as well. I then plan those activities of my fun list, to get a break from our regular routines. Not every activity on the fun list is a big thing - some are as small as listening to a story together. But planning them in, and making time for them, and having that little change (listening to a story instead of me reading) makes it all the more special.Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-42069225530969013242020-11-17T18:00:00.000+01:002020-11-17T18:00:10.548+01:00A word of caution on my poll "Parenting during the PhD"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15gBJ5OCS4yqWWw-rdF7dsn4Bawh11vYuYV3zGNtB5S-k-pbluWvcDW9wd6pparPHc_yHAGw1mnmlioYbmcY97vjHQvar85D7z1SKLZdBa0ht9tPnaVc8FlW6QQcLaMrKEzmbFdwwgAt4/s1600/pasha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="746" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15gBJ5OCS4yqWWw-rdF7dsn4Bawh11vYuYV3zGNtB5S-k-pbluWvcDW9wd6pparPHc_yHAGw1mnmlioYbmcY97vjHQvar85D7z1SKLZdBa0ht9tPnaVc8FlW6QQcLaMrKEzmbFdwwgAt4/s200/pasha.jpg" width="200" /></a>I recently ran a poll on Twitter to get an idea of how many PhD students are parents, and <a href="https://phdtalk.blogspot.com/2020/04/parenting-during-phd.html">I wrote a blog post about it</a>.<br />
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I received an email from a reader, which I find a very pertinent observation, so I wanted to include this comment here, for my reader to reflect on:<br />
<i><br />
Hi Eva,<br />
<br />
regarding your blogpost on the proportion of parents among PhDs:<br />
<br />
I could imagine that there's some self-selection bias in this rather small sample. For example, I had found your blog two years ago, _because_ you are PhD _and_ a parent. Probably via the FB group "PhD and Early Career Researcher Parents".<br />
<br />
Maybe 1 out of 5 PhDs that follow your Twitter/blog are parents, but I don't think this is representative of all PhDs in general.<br />
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I'd agree with your personal observation though: Out of 100 PhDs that I know, 2 became parents at the end of their PhD, shortly before becoming PostDocs and a third is turning fourty, three kids, doing her PhD part-time ...<br />
<br />
Best regards and stay safe and healthy,<br />
Reader X</i><br />
<br />
So, a word of caution with regard to these statistics. I do need some data for the book about the PhD Defense that I am coauthoring - but I'll need to chew on this a bit more.<br />
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If anybody has data from his/her/their university on this topic, please let me know!Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-65503261646699111572020-11-12T18:00:00.000+01:002020-11-12T18:00:03.970+01:00Q&A: Question on etiquette after PhD Defense at TU Delft<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIlX1qnBRrvIz7AtXh9QMY51InZeVtdrwv1eIHwVPzQM9TLC5Zb19MyzLvZdCLkkegsUl6v0wadlYsJ9hE642XXx1AVGF3Xk0vU0VhVQIHulYUTG1NezRaTqihftZqiWwclhmldfE3_HVr/s1600/16996086_10155204394806694_6835811731512427622_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="206" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIlX1qnBRrvIz7AtXh9QMY51InZeVtdrwv1eIHwVPzQM9TLC5Zb19MyzLvZdCLkkegsUl6v0wadlYsJ9hE642XXx1AVGF3Xk0vU0VhVQIHulYUTG1NezRaTqihftZqiWwclhmldfE3_HVr/s200/16996086_10155204394806694_6835811731512427622_n.jpg" width="200" /></a>Some time ago, I received a reader question. I actually wasn't able to reply on time because my mailbox got so full, but I still think it's an interesting question to address. Here's the question, edited for anonymity.<br />
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<i>Hello Eva,<br />
Thank you for your posts. I am defending on Some Date. Since I am not from Holland (I did my PhD remotely from the USA), I was not sure about the etiquette regarding the reception and dinner. Is it expected that I take the entire committee out for dinner after the reception? Or only my promoters? How about their families?<br />
Regarding the reception, how much food is considered appropriate? I am expecting less than 50, but planning for about 25 tea/coffee/pastries + 25 orange juice/water/sandwiches + 25 beer/wine/snacks/nuts/pretzels. Would something like this suffice?<br />
Appreciate your thoughts, and sorry for so many questions!<br />
Regards,<br />
A Reader</i><br />
<br />
Let me take this question by question:<i><br />
Is it expected that I take the entire committee out for dinner after the reception? Or only my promoters? How about their families?</i><br />
Yes, it's indeed expected to invite the entire committee and extend the invitation to their partners. Most of your committee members may need to travel back home and won't be able to make it, but it's expected to invite all committee members. Looking back at my defense, of the 8 committee members, 5 joined the dinner (3 with their spouse). <br />
<i><br />
Regarding the reception, how much food is considered appropriate? I am expecting less than 50, but planning for about 25 tea/coffee/pastries + 25 orange juice/water/sandwiches + 25 beer/wine/snacks/nuts/pretzels. Would something like this suffice?</i><br />
Yes, that sounds appropriate indeed! I remember I ordered too much food (but my defense was at noon, so I couldn't gauge well if everybody would want a sandwich or not). The other part of uncertainty is that, since the defense is public, it's sometimes difficult to know who will show up (and how many people will be there for the reception). Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280650735019731186.post-87330987152928883542020-11-10T18:00:00.000+01:002020-11-10T18:00:10.149+01:00Presentation on testing prestressed girders<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVjofV18UiJ18H5QZUG4-e_jMD-wsWIAy8LJGgSjIrQDHH3ejYEd_cqONf10f9PlAkHf2nOGzj6Z1F7_c1TF9C_YWieZoRceGJXR_Y0dhKQqx2muPm0cCgEg7BfM1nB1ZyLBrZSGr8l1O/s1600/unach.tif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVjofV18UiJ18H5QZUG4-e_jMD-wsWIAy8LJGgSjIrQDHH3ejYEd_cqONf10f9PlAkHf2nOGzj6Z1F7_c1TF9C_YWieZoRceGJXR_Y0dhKQqx2muPm0cCgEg7BfM1nB1ZyLBrZSGr8l1O/s320/unach.tif" width="320" /></a>I recently gave a presentation for the University of Chimborazo (UNACH) on the recent testing of prestressed girders we did in Delft.<br />
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You can find the slides here<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="485" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/gtlOlLbk9hOnFU" style="border-width: 1px; border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="595"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<b> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/elantsoght/pruebas-de-cortante-en-vigas-postensadas" target="_blank" title="Pruebas de cortante en vigas postensadas">Pruebas de cortante en vigas postensadas</a> </b> from <b><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/elantsoght" target="_blank">Eva Lantsoght</a></b> </div>
Eva Lantsoghthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06038354550224140273noreply@blogger.com0