Resources

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. ...

Here are some additional resources for my workshop on Creating a Strong Academic LinkedIn Profile. Guides 🧭 LinkedIn without Tears: A Guide for Academics How to Build Your Academic Network on LinkedIn What Should You Post on Academic LinkedIn? What Should You Include in Your Academic LinkedIn Profile? Academic publication platforms 🎓 You can link to them as websites in your Contact Info ORCID Zenodo Knowledge Commons Sources for cover images 🖼️ Canva Unsplash Pexels

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: ...

Team Narrative CV: Climate Stories Collective ⚠️ Disclaimer: This is a fictitious team narrative CV created to demonstrate the OCAR structure in response to an equally fictitious funding call. Any resemblance to real research is coincidental. It’s designed to help you understand how the R4RI format works, not to provide a template to copy, not to provide a template to copy. Your narrative CV should reflect your team’s authentic experience and voice. Every funder has different requirements - always check current guidelines. There’s no single “correct” way to structure your narratives. Use this example for understanding the approach, then make it your own. Key features: ...

This template shows the structure of a narrative CV with space for planning your OCAR elements. Copy and paste into your preferred writing app and adapt as needed — you might need fewer or more examples per module depending on your word limit. ⚠️ Remember: these bullet points are for planning. Your final narrative CV should be written in full prose paragraphs, not bullet points! Use these fictitious examples for inspiration: ...

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. ...