Helping academic skills transfer to non-academic careers Thirty years ago, I started training graduate students. I realise now that I had no idea what I was doing. That’s not a big surprise: like virtually all new professors, I’d been taught how to design an experiment and write a thesis, but not (even a little bit)…>
Written by Dr. Stephen Heard
Dr. Stephen Heard is an evolutionary ecologist and Professor of Biology at the University of New Brunswick in Canada. He is the author of The Scientist’s Guide to Writing and of Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider. He blogs about academia, science and many other things at Scientist Sees Squirrel, or you can find him on Twitter as @StephenBHeard.
What DO academics do in the Summer?
“It must be nice to have your summers off” – and other things we don’t know about each other If you’re an academic, I bet you’re like me: thoroughly tired, if not driven to hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing, by the well-intentioned comments you get about your summers. Supposing I had 10p for every time I’ve heard…>
Enhance learning with stimulating lectures
Must the lecture be lifeless? See how you can use different teaching methods to enhance learning. Over my career, I’ve given hundreds and hundreds of lectures (and listened to hundreds more). Which is odd, in a way, because there’s a vocal movement telling academics to ditch the lecture in favour of alternative instructional approaches that…>
Teaching effectively and ethically in a ChatGPT world
Will AI tools advance our teaching, or complicate it? Both, most likely. As instructors, how should we use ChatGPT, and can we harness it in service to effective and ethical teaching?
Using ChatGPT effectively and ethically in academic writing
It’s possible to use ChatGPT as a tool to write more efficiently and effectively, and it’s possible to do so ethically – but doing so takes some careful thought.
Technology can make research more inclusive. Let’s go!
Technology can make research in the natural sciences more accessible and more inclusive, so more scientists than ever before can participate.
How to deal with an apparently unhelpful review
If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will: you submit a manuscript for publication and get back a peer review that leaves you feeling frustrated. “This review doesn’t help me at all! It’s wrong! You complain, “how could a reviewer ever think that?”
Three key tips for successful grant-writing
There’s one tool every academic needs, and that’s research funding. Every academic needs to write grant proposals – and, of course, they ought to be successful ones. Grant writing is a craft, and because it’s a different craft from other kinds of writing, it can seem like a daunting challenge.
Can peer-reviewing papers strengthen my CV?
While for many academics reviewing is part of the service component of a job, for others (like most graduate students and postdocs) it’s a volunteer activity. So why do it?
Why I keep a 37-page version of my CV
I have a 37-page version of my CV, and it’s the most boring document in the world.
Why “boring”? Well, my CV hasn’t reached 37 pages because I’m impressive. I’m not. Instead, my CV has reached 37 pages because I put everything on it – and oh boy, do I mean everything.