PhD Talk

In today's episode, we learn about Sarah's preparation for the data collection of her PhD. We talk first about the research itself and the research question that the experiments will address. Then, we address the data collection methods that she will use, and the tools she will use for the data collection. We dive a bit deeper into the participant recruitment, which is of particular impo...

In today's episode, we interview Harsha Sheelam, our first guest from India. Harsha is a PhD candidate, published author of children's books and juvenile fiction, business owner, social worker, and business graduate. She shares her story of how her career path developed and how she decided to go do her PhD, as well as the various topics she has been researching from her overall perspecti...

In today's episode, we first do a general update on what we are working on, as well as what is going well and what we identify as our current struggles. Then, we answer the following questions that came in through Instagram and Twitter: How to do qual analysis in Nvivo?  How easy is it to settle down in a different country other than the one where you’d obtained your PhD? Which apps and compu...

In today's episode, we interview Zama Dlamini. Zama is a PhD candidate at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa, working in the fields of gender and religion. She is also a mother of four and entered the PhD at a later stage in life. We learn about Zama's research, and how her background as a Lay minister informed her research topic, and her current work. We touch upon the PhD...

As Sarah is preparing to attend and present at her first conference, she asks Eva for advice on how to prepare for the conference. We discuss what we can set as goals for presenting research at a conference, as well as what makes an excellent conference presentation. Eva recommends to spend sufficient time on the introduction and to think about the "take home" message. We then look at ho...

In today's episode, we interview Martyne Farris, who is an instructor of anthropology and PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research combines anthropology, public policy, education, and linguistics to explore the barriers refugee women experience after they arrive in Canada. Both she and her husband are international PhD students in Canada, and...

In today's episode, we learn from Sarah's experience in writing the literature review of her research proposal: how she found references, how she organized her reading, how she combined the concepts, and what she learned from the process. We then zoom out and discuss some of the common challenges students face when writing the literature review, the types of structures of the literature...

In today's episode, we interview Saima Khan. She is a PhD Scholar in Global Studies at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan; a teacher of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy & Interdisciplinary Studies, GCU Lahore, Pakistan. Her areas of interest and research are multidisciplinary; including Postcolonial theories, Feminism in South Asia, Philosophy of education, Cultural History, Politi...

In today's episode, we talk about moving internationally for our studies. Sarah moved from Canada to the Netherlands for her Master's and is now doing her PhD in Belgium, and Eva moved from Belgium to the USA for her second Master's and then to the Netherlands for her PhD - so we both have experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly of moving internationally. We discuss the reasons...

In today's episode, we interview Ed Southall, a maths curriculum designer at Oak National Academy and a teacher trainer at the University of Hudderfield in England, as well as doctoral candidate. We talk about Ed's doctoral journey, alongside his work - first in academia, and then outside of academia. We learn about his decision to quit his PhD, and then his decision to continue and his...

In today's episode, we discuss writing and defining the research question. We start from Sarah's experience in defining the research question for the proposal she worked on, and what she learned from this experience. We then discuss various topics related to the research question: how to be specific enough, how to tie the research question to the available methods, how to spot the gap in...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Jamiella Brooks , a Black mother-scholar, the first person in her immediate family to learn a new language and pursue a doctoral degree, who occupies the multiplicitous spaces of wife, daughter, and descendant. She has a PhD in Francophone Literature in 2018, and is now at the University of Pennsylvania, where she focuses on programming and support for equ...

In today's episode, we start off with a general update on what we are currently working on, what is going well, and what is not going well. We go into some side tangents on differences in supervision (and writing) of MSc students and PhD candidates, as well as which student writing requires most cognitive effort. We also discuss how we concentrate (or not) when difficult events such as the de...

In today's episode, we interview Brianna Henson. Brianna works for Equus Workforce Solutions and is responsible for the operations and management of the Kentucky Career Centers within Greater Louisville, and is an EdD candidate at Liberty University. She is also the mom of of Audra (17 months), Ira (will be born in June), and step mom of Eli (11), and disabled veteran. In today's intervi...

In today's episode, we interview Rima Kaddoura. She is  a PhD in Epidemiology candidate at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and mother a three-year-old boy. As a PhD candidate in Lebanon and academic mom, she has faced major difficulties: a revolution, economic collapse, deterioration of basic infrastructure, the Beirut blast, and COVID-19. We learn about Rima's career path, her r...

In this episode, we discuss the difference between a paper-based thesis and a long-book thesis. We look at some of the differences in expectations for the doctoral thesis internationally, and discuss the link between these differences between countries and how the doctoral trajectory is considered: as the time for junior researcher to work, or as an apprenticeship. We then discuss the advantages a...

In today's episode, we focus on Sarah's experience writing a research proposal for the FWO. We learn about the requirements for applying to these funding opportunities, the different streams at which one can apply, and the procedures involved. Then, we move to Sarah's personal experience with writing a research proposal for the first time: what she learned from the experience, what...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Mira Vasic. She is the co-owner and senior partner of InTouch, a female leadership and career academy. Originally from Serbia, she obtained her PhD in structural engineering in Italy and worked in the Netherlands in the applied research institute TNO and the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Dutch government, before making a career switch. Listen to this...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Anna Clemens, who went from a PhD in chemistry to a career as an academic writing coach. We learn about her research, how she discovered her love for writing during her PhD, how she switched to writing for a living, editing, and then working as a writing coach. We also learn her best tips for academic writing with the principle of the 3 Cs. We discuss the...

Today's episode is the first one of Season 2! As Rico is focusing on finalizing his PhD, we will continue this podcast in a new setting, with Sarah Cameron as the new cohost of the PhD Talk podcast. In this episode, Eva interviews Sarah, so our listeners get to know the new cohost. Sarah returned to graduate school after a few years working in headhunting, and she shares the story of this int...

Today, we interview Christine Streeter, a fifth-year PhD candidate in the School of Social Work, with a specialization in Political Economy at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. As a social worker committed to improving insecure working conditions for care workers in the social work and social services work sector, her research explores precarious work and safety at work. Christine shares her...

In today's episode, we interview Deborah Navarro Rosenblatt, who works at the Ministry of Health of Chile at the evidence informed health policy unit and is doing her PhD in public health at the University of Chile. In this episode, our main topic is being an academic parent during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Deborah has a 4-year-old daughter. We also reflect on what has changed in being a PhD...

We recorded a Q&A episode a while back in the middle of the Fall semester, but only got to publishing it now as we slowed down to one episode every other week. In this episode, we give a general update on how our Fall semester is going so far, as well as what we currently are working on.  In the next part of the episode, we discuss a few questions that came in. The first question is about the...

In today's episode, we interview Dr. Cindy Harley, Associate Professor of Biology at Metropolitan State University in St Paul, MN. First of all, we learn about Cindy's career path, and how her career path is interwoven with the stage of life in which she had her son. We then dive deeper into her research, and learn about her research on leeches. The main topic of today's episode is...

We've been talking about open science and open access publishing in previous interviews, but today we wanted to evaluate if we practice what we preach. We identify various parts of our research that we've made more open: publishing our databases or research data online, using available datasets. We also discuss how we are moving towards more open access publishing, the role of open peer...