Sometimes, plans don't work out or change. This semester, my weekly template had to undergo some changes near the start of the semester: I realized right before the start of classes that my Monday-Wednesday class got moved to Tuesday-Thursday. So,…
Examiners (or committee members) decide on what makes a good thesis based on two aspects: the reading experience, and the technical contents of the thesis - these align with the expectations of the normal reader and the academic expectations. This…
Due to the pandemic, it's been a while since I was able to work from and in the Netherlands - and I now double appreciate the good things about working from the Netherlands. To celebrate that I could be in…
It's been almost a decade since I started to combine my positions in Ecuador and the Netherlands. I've learned a few things along the way that may be of value to those considering a similar way of employment. My arrangement…
I have been writing about my experiences with teaching in the past, and how I've developed systems to streamline my teaching. Today, I'm focusing on seven teaching lessons that I have learned over the past years, that I'd like to…
After more than a year of interviews for the PhD Talk podcast, and many years of hosting the "How I Work" series on this blog, I've come to one conclusion: PhD trajectories are never straight paths In fact, no life…
This Fall semester, all over the world enthusiastic young (or not so young) people start their first job as a faculty member. If you are one of them - congratulations! But also: beware, you are in for quite a ride...…
At the beginning of every semester, I first make my task list for the upcoming semester. In this task list, I review my upcoming deadlines and responsibilities in terms of research projects, graduate students, papers to write, service responsibilities, teaching,…
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…
At the beginning of every semester, I evaluate (publicly) my goals of the previous semester. Summer 2022 contained three big blocks for me: time in Ecuador, time in the Netherlands, and holidays. As such, I planned a bit differently than…
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