COVID has taught us so much. Including the value of a good plan. And the value of getting rid of old plans when they no longer suit us. One planning technique often named, but rarely implemented well is the strategic plan. If you’ve often wondered what’s the difference between a plan and a strategy. Or […]
Six steps to living your priories: Determine the period of time you’ll focus on. Schedule deadlines. Schedule ideal delivery dates. Allocate time to your ideal work at the ideal time for you. Know your measures of success. Plan your celebration/reward.
Getting better at writing is one of the best ways to increase your research output. Yet, we spend very little time learning or practicing writing. So here are 5 tips to improve your writing: 1. Read the style of writing you want to write. 2. Write assuming people will skim and skip sections. 3. Use […]
Other than social media, conference presentations are likely the largest audience you can present your work to. And, let’s be honest, you could have had a barbecue during COVID19 with all of your research-related followers and not violated social distancing laws. So conferences are huge opportunities. But, so much of the focus is on the […]
Funding for research is hard to come by at the best of times. But like a rubber band you want to be able to stretch your money to cover as much as possible. In this FREE on-line workshop I’ll go through some ways you can make your grant money “go further” than it might have […]
Sometimes working in an academic institution can feel like a tug-of-war. With competing priorities pulling in multiple different directions. However, there are a small number of cases when you can get priorities to align. One such case is the use of international university ranking schemes. If you want to know how you can leverage your […]
University ranking schemes are like stars – there are lots around, but we really only pay attention to the ones that are the brightest. And like stars, there are small number of ranking schemes that have a disproportionally large impact on our lives. For example – did you know some governments base funding decisions on […]
Twenty Questions for before you start or go back to studying (a PhD). They aren’t in any order. Just as they popped into my head.
Across all areas of training there are essentially five streams of work: (1) Practitioner – doing the work you were trained to do. (2) Researcher – investigating a topic of interest. As an academic you are simultaneously a Practitioner and a Researcher (3) Educator – Training others based on your skills, experience and training. (4) […]
Strategy and planning are common outside research. Increasingly business-based approaches are being applied to research. Not just applied, but required. Take, for example, applications for new centres and institutes. Not to mention large national competitive grants. Smaller research groups are now also applying strategic planning approaches to facilitate progress. Working through a series of […]