Once you’ve built your LinkedIn profile, you might wonder what on earth you should post. If you struggle to talk about yourself, LinkedIn can be a nightmare. Although the platform is increasingly becoming a vital part of your academic web presence, it feels dominated by attention-seekers and show-offs. But you don’t need to toot your own horn. In this guide, I’ll discuss ways you can post on LinkedIn without feeling grubby or pushy. ...
In the good old days, LinkedIn was just for the corporate world. Increasingly, though, it’s becoming an essential part of your academic web presence. Publishers, funders, employers, collaborators, and participants all expect to find your profile. Given its commercial emphasis, how can you make LinkedIn serve your research interests? In this guide, I’ll walk you through the main sections of a LinkedIn profile and suggest how you can use it to your best advantage. ...
The Delphi Method works for any group decision where thoughtful input matters more than speed. Instead of the traditional bun fight, members respond to questions silently and asynchronously. This approach can be effective for any kind of collaboration, such as a journal article, research project, or team narrative CV. Here’s a simple process you can adapt for your situation: Step 1: Appoint a facilitator Before you begin, designate one person to coordinate the process. This person: ...
We’ve all attended meetings where there’s been a lot of noise, but very little to show for it at the end. The discussion is dominated by a member with one terrible idea that they’re determined to force upon everyone. The quieter colleagues who actually have something valuable to say slump in defeat and start wondering what they’re going to have for dinner. The only outcome is agreement on the date for the next exhausting meeting. ...
Here are the further resources for my workshop on Boosting Your Writing Productivity. Books 📚 Detox Your Writing: Strategies for Doctoral Researchers by Pat Thomson & Barbara Kamler Writing for Social Scientists by Howard S. Becker Stylish Academic Writing by Helen Sword Writing Science by Joshua Schimel Worksheets 📝 Writing Audit - Template for tracking the writing stage. Accountability 👀 Focusmate Write or Else Written? Kitten? Resources 🧭 Using the OCAR Structure for Academic Writing How to Use Zotero with Scrivener Time Tracking for Researchers: Improve Your Project Management with Data-Driven Planning Improve Your Flow with Reverse Outlining To Write More, You Need Less Time How to Defeat Your Inner Critic and Keep Writing Overcoming Procrastination and Staying Motivated: Three Strategies for Getting on with your Writing Overcoming Page Fright: Three Techniques for Planning a Piece of Academic Writing How to Become a Healthy Academic Writer
As discussed in the previous post, for each narrative CV, you need to identify your audience and gather relevant examples. Now it’s time to start writing. OCAR (Opening, Challenge, Action, Resolution) provides a framework for turning your achievements into compelling narratives that show how and why, not just what. In this post, we’ll explore a step-by-step method and some examples for the four modules in UKRI’s R4RI format. The Method For each module … ...
It’s important to remember that all academic writing is storytelling. Yes, even for scientists. The data don’t speak for themselves - you need to create a narrative that explains how you pursued your research, what happened, who was involved, and why it matters. Humans are wired to respond to stories, so it’s the perfect vehicle for communicating complex ideas. If storytelling feels alien to you, there’s good news: successful stories follow a common structure. There are many different structures you could use, but OCAR is especially helpful for academic writing. ...
The Narrative CV format means thinking about your research in a new way. Rather than creating an exhaustive list of all your achievements, you tell a story that explains why the funding body should give you money. In this post, we’ll consider the audience for your story and also what you might tell them. Thinking about your audience With storytelling, you start by thinking about your audience. In this case, it’s the members of the funding panel. What do they want to know about you when they’re reading your application? Well, they’re almost certainly looking for: ...
Many UK funders are adopting a new approach to academic CVs. In the business world, CVs typically occupy just a few pages, but academic CVs can stretch to more than a hundred pages, especially if you’re a prolific researcher. These monster documents are boring to write and also difficult for the recipient to digest. Also, traditional CVs focus on publications, awards, and successful grants. These are your most visible activities, but might represent only a small proportion of your effort. Under the surface, you’re spending a lot of your time on peer review, committees, building collaborations, public engagement, and mentorship. This vital work doesn’t always count. ...
We’re all familiar with the importance of budgeting our money - tracking what we spend, saving for big occasions, and avoiding that expensive overdraft. Our energy deserves the same careful consideration. Just like financial overspending, regularly exceeding our energy capacity leads to serious consequences: burnout, anxiety, and poor decision-making. This is crucial for neurodivergent people and those managing chronic health conditions. Activities that seem straightforward to others can leave us exhausted. It’s hard both to recognise our own limits and to communicate them clearly to others - especially when we’re already tired. ...