Blogs by Richard Huysmans
Growing up, my next door neighbour was into gardening. He kept a huge vegetable garden covering half their backyard. Back in those days blocks were a quarter and houses we covered less than a quarter of that. I was reminded of his gardening exploits when I recently shared the same excitement that he did – […]
1. Tenacity: Perseverance through adversity. Not many people stick with one project for a year, let alone three years or more. The ability to stay focused for that long on one thing. On answering one question. That is immensely valuable to potential employers. For some, this could also extend to specific examples within your PhD. […]
1. Problem solving: this should be the number one reason you do a PhD (not to get a job in research, but). You PhD should be all about developing your ability to identify a problem and then subsequently, develop and refine your ability to solve it. Be careful that your PhD does not cover the […]
There are often cries in research “you should have a mentor” but what does that mean, and how do you even get one? IMHO a mentor is someone who has been through some of the things you are going through and can provide advice, guidance, and suggestions on the types of actions and approaches you […]
I’m a huge advocate for academic researchers to be active participants on social media. To me that means three things: Having an account. Interacting with people on that channel. Posting content related to your research interests.
This post is inspired by the book 20 Questions for Humans (by Craig Harper). You can read my thoughts on the book in the book section of my website.
Earlier I wrote ”I’ve Had enough… What Next?” about a possible transition from one part of the workforce to another. I called it moving streams. And I’ve also done a webinar about it.
1. Prewrite as much as you can Most grants require sections that are similar to other grants. These include applicant bios; organisation bios; budget; and track record. Not to mention if you’re doing something that fits into a larger piece of work you like have a good idea of what it is you want to […]
The steps for building a research group or lab are vague, and unclear.
I was an entrepreneur before it was cool. Before being an innovator or agile was a thing. I was an entrepreneur when it was called owning your own business. Being self-employed.