News: phd
Book reflection: the sense of style – by Steven Pinker
In between all of the reading I have to do for my Ph.D., I intentionally read something a bit more literary. I find that after long bouts of reading academic pieces and re-writing thesis drafts renders me a bit stuck in my writing. I understandably become too bogged down with the data, that I forget that I actually have to be able to effectively communicate my data. My writing becomes robotic and boring, which doesn’t really help in getting people to care about my research or at least get anyone interested in it.
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HDRs and grow your career week
It’s still about two years until I complete my thesis and (hopefully) finish, but with everything that’s happening with the health and economic crisis, it won’t hurt to start preparing for the future right now. Grow Your Career Week was helpful in getting myself thinking about the future. I attended three of the offerings during GYCW. One was on developing your personal brand, the other one was how to leverage LinkedIn, and the third one was showing up at the Hub to get a photo taken from my LinkedIn profile. (I thought it was about time. The current photo I have on there, although also professionally taken, was from nearly ten years ago, pre-baby!) The sessions I virtually attended were effective in helping me reflect on the skills I have already mastered, but also made me think about the areas I needed to develop. Of course, I needed to have thought about the ideal career, but then also the kind of job I wanted if I couldn’t get the dream career (yet). One of the key insights I had was on the significance of networking, especially in the current circumstances, even for researchers. I like metaphors so I thought pass on what I’ve learned by using a marketing perspective: you – your qualifications, skills, and experiences as the investment or the product, and them, the buyers, representing the visibility concept, your researcher profile, social media, peer groups, mentor/sponsor relationships, and so on.
Self-care reminders for student-parents (aka finishing the marathon)
In a recent job letter, I wrote, ‘completed PhD while parenting three children and working part-time’. Ergo, I eat conflicting deadlines, a busy workload, and high pressure for dinner.
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Looking back at my PhD journey so far – passing on some tips
It’s been back to campus for a lot of students this semester and there’s a renewed vibe and feeling at uni at the moment – it’s great!  It’s been so great in fact that I feel really motivated. I’m only halfway in my candidature, but since it seems like campus has re-opened, I feel like I’m at the beginning again and there’s this chance for a fresh start. I’ve also been seeing more of the other HDRs in my cohort and we have all been reflecting on our first days as a PhD student. Here are some of the things we’ve learned first-hand, but also some of the tips that’s been shared with us.
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One PhD Milestone Down
Having completed (and hopefully passed) this first milestone of my PhD, I think it is a good time to reflect on the process so far.
Why cry over spilled milk
It was the end of a long week, the first full week of being back to full-time PhD study and working part-time. In addition to babbling ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma, pulling herself up to stand on her own, my seven-month-old daughter also got her first tooth. The teething phase that came before the tooth finally erupted wasn’t as painful as I had expected it to be, but all the developmental changes meant that my little one was waking quite a bit during the night. That of course meant a rather sleepless week for me. Still, the excitement and joy of witnessing my child’s magnificent progress made it all worth the many hours of rocking her to sleep, in between PhD writing, emails, and all other home and motherly work that I could do while she was asleep. But I digress — what I was wanting to share with you was that night, at the end of the week.
Easy mid-winter comfort food on a student budget
My go-to comfort food is normally pizza and pasta, but I felt like making something different and a bit more special. Read on to find out what...
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Coming back to campus
I was able to come back for a quick visit to campus this last week. How are you feeling about returning?
Presenting your research online
I’ve attended various webinars and Zoom meetings this year but have yet to deliver a presentation on my research. Read on for some wisdom...
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