Category: Miscellany

This post is by Dr Alexandra Hogan, a mathematical infectious disease modeller. She submitted her PhD thesis at the Research School of Population Health at ANU in November 2016. She is now working on models for malaria transmission at Imperial College London. For an academic, participating in conferences is important for lots of reasons: sharing research …continue reading.

While many people will suffer ‘the blues’ during the PhD, in some cases the problem is more serious and can lead to or trigger clinical depression. In those cases, all the practical advice in the world won’t help and you need to seek medical attention. If you are worried about how you feel, and nothing …continue reading.

This post is by Shifa Desai, a part-time PhD student at the University of Exeter in the UK. Shifa is doing research on self-initiated expatriate academics who have spent most of their careers working in different countries. She is also an ESL teacher, teetering on the edge of burn-out between full-time employment and part-time research. …continue reading.

This poignant post is by Dr Cathy Ayres, who completed her PhD in the School of Sociology at the ANU in 2016. She’s worked as a research training nerd at the ANU Research Skills and Training unit, and she is now happily working as the Senior HDR Coordinator in the College of Engineering and Computer …continue reading.

This post is by author, editor, writing coach, dissertation nurturer, and spiritual counselor, Dr Noelle Sterne, who has published over 300 writing craft, spiritual, and academic how-to articles and stories and essays in print and online venues. With a Ph.D. from Columbia University, Noelle assists doctoral candidates in completing their dissertations (finally). Her handbook addresses …continue reading.

All over Australia, new PhD candidates are starting their degree. Welcome! You might value this advice from Katy Williams who passed her PhD in Biological Anthropology at the University of Durham in February this year. Katy Williams was born in America, raised all over the world, and studied at universities in England. Between 2011 and …continue reading.

Dear Readers, The summer/winter holidays are upon us and we have come to the end of yet another year of Thesis Whisperer posts! This year I published 50 posts, which have travelled far and wide. There have been 1.3 million views from 780,000 unique visitors, in addition to the weekly mail out to around 30,000 …continue reading.

This post is by Belinda Lawton who is doing a PhD in the Crawford School at the Australian National University Struggling with balance isn’t new for me; I’ve always been a full-throttle, grab-life-by-the-shoulders-and-shake kind of person. So when it came to starting my PhD, saying yes to opportunities to learn and stretch myself alongside the …continue reading.

This post is by Lara Skelly, who graduated about a year ago now I graduated with a doctorate in April this year. “It must feel fantastic”, people say, “you must feel so free”, and “what’s next?” Here’s the thing though: it doesn’t, and I have no idea what to do next. I’ve had a different …continue reading.

This post was sent to me by Nevin, who prefers to remain partially anonymous. “If you work hard enough, you can achieve anything”. “If you put your mind to it, and stick with it, you can do it”. “Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever”. “You cannot dig yourself out of a hole”. The clock in …continue reading.