I started writing the draft of this post 10 years ago - so yes, I also procrastinate on things... Originally, I wanted to write about how you should learn German during (or ideally, before) your PhD. In my field, a…
My first PhD candidate graduated! Besides the major milestones that this event marks in my life and academic career, it was also the first time that I attended a defense in Brazil. So, as the defense-nerd that I am, I…
If you read certain productivity advice, we should be banging out work like machines throughout our workday. In reality, we ebb and flow through our day. We have times of the day when we can concentrate better, and times when…
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…
I'm experimenting with some new boundaries around email. In particular: I have deactivated work email from my phone. I know that this is not a major thing and a lot of people (also on the PhD Talk podcast) have mentioned…
Writing is still one of my top priorities, but the way in which I write papers has changed over time. During my PhD and post-doc years, I would work on a first draft and then send this to my coauthors,…
As I recently served as a committee member for a doctoral defense, I thought it would be valuable to share here the various steps I went through in examining the thesis and the candidate: Read the thesis: I guess this…
I've been writing about the insights I get from time tracking for quite a while. Recently, I was asked to tell a bit more about how I actually track my time. So, let's discuss the ins and outs of time…
Working in the Netherlands and Ecuador is different. I even feel different in these two places. Today, I am not bringing you an extensive analysis of the work life of employees across these countries. I will just share a few…
I recently read the book "De Professor als Proefkonijn" in which economy professor Irene van Staveren details her study of the literature around migraine, and her own implementations of possible solutions. What called my attention is the way in which…
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