My fall semesters have been quite challenging in the past years, due to a combination of circumstances: I teach for Ecuador mid August to mid December, my course for TU Delft runs from September through November (including lots of sessions…
When I started blogging back in 2010, it was with the simple intention of documenting my PhD journey. I had kept a blog on MySpace before (consider me Old), and I had a blog about my experience as an international…
In 2023, I participated in the elections for Vice President of IABSE for the first time. I didn't make it that time, but this year, I threw in my hat for the second time as one of 8 candidates for…
This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands. These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those…
As I have been focusing on writing proposals in the past years, I have developed a fair amount of tools that serve for each proposal, and help me remain organized in the preparation stage. Here are the five tools I…
Unsuccessful proposals can sting (allow me to cry into my espresso over just another failed proposal dammit). Our failures often contain the seeds for the next successful project (at least, that is what I am currently trying to tell myself).…
My main struggle at the moment is to get funding for my research. From my position in Ecuador, I have an ongoing staff exchanges project until 2027, and a seed fund until mid 2026. From my position in Delft, I…
Time flies! Fifteen years ago, I started PhD Talk. At that time, I was a 25-year-old second-year PhD candidate with a bit too much time on her hands. Now, I am a 40-year old professor and mom who certainly is…
This year, I stayed a bit longer in Europe to align with my participation in a conference in the last week of August. In earlier years, my research stays were moments during which I could concentrate on research and make…
As always at the beginning of a new semester, I have outlined my goals for the upcoming semester. I will be arriving to my office in Ecuador 2.5 weeks after the official start of the semester for a conference and…
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