Category: Miscellany

This post is by Scott Daniel, a final year PhD student in the STEMed Research Centre at Swinburne University of Technology. His research has focused on making the most out of lectures and trying to understand why so many interesting people give boring lectures. In a past life, he taught high school science and maths, …continue reading.

Last week I announced our new MOOC “How to survive your PhD”. Since then I’ve been overwhelmed by the response, with more than 2600 people signing up in the first week alone, which is far more than I expected! A few people have written to me about how they might use the MOOC to help …continue reading.

A year and a half ago, ANU gave me a chance to make a MOOC. For those of you in the know, a MOOC stands for ‘massive open online course’. ANU has partnered with EdX, a MOOC delivery platform, so that thousands of people have the chance to participate in ANU courses from around the …continue reading.

Parenting through a PhD can be tough, but what about single-parenting through a PhD? Degree of difficulty = high! If you are in this situation is a PhD doable? You bet it is – but it’s likely your university could do more to help. Orla Egan tells us more. Orla just submitted her thesis for …continue reading.

This post is written by Brian Flemming, a mathematician working as a Systems Engineer in Edinburgh.  He completed an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) as a mature student at Heriot Watt University in 2014 and is now appreciating the freedom to continue studying and spend time away on the hills, without the associated “PhD-guilt” of neglecting the …continue reading.

Early this year the Australian Prime Minister, who was under a bit of pressure about a questionable decision at the time, dismissed social media as ‘electronic graffiti’. People in my networks were outraged and, of course, took to social media to express their outrage. For a few days feelings were high, which resulted in a …continue reading.

My twin sister, Anitra Nottingham, finished her masters by research in the Faculty of education at the University of Melbourne last year. She sent me this post when she was towards the end of her project in a moment of clarity… My friend Kevin has a Ph.D. His dissertation is about folklore, which means knows …continue reading.

This month, all around Australia, there will be a whole crop of PhD students starting their degree. It’s an exciting time, but a nerve-wracking one as well. Last time we heard from Jonathan Downie he was parenting a toddler. This time Jonathan has some good words of advice for those of you just starting on …continue reading.

I want to tell you a story about a friend – let’s call him Todd. Todd used to work in an academic ‘think tank’ run by a famous professor, let’s call him Kenny. Kenny and Todd worked together for a number of years. Kenny was a demanding boss. He consistently tasked Todd with a series …continue reading.

It’s time for a Christmas break here at the Whisperer. This short pause is a good time to take stock of the year. Far from slowing down with age, the statistics show that the Whisperer is still going strong. This year there has been 1,320,287 page views, more than a third of the over 3 …continue reading.