How to survive your PhD

/0 Comments/in /by

When you just started on a PhD project, where do you begin? A daunting task ahead, which questions to ask, what people to turn to, which techniques to master?

Read more

A Taoist tip for doing research

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Sometimes when you are trying to focus on a research puzzle, or when you open up a document to write that methods section you have been avoiding for a while, you may notice your mind flittering everywhere in stead of concentrating at the task you sat down to do. This constantly happened to Chris* as he was finishing his thesis. So he came to me and asked: “How can I create more focus and improve my motivation in this final thesis stage?”

Read more

Preparing for the Fall semester

/0 Comments/in , /by

This Fall I will be teaching no less than 3 multiple day masterclasses for PhD candidates at the Erasmus Graduate School for Social Sciences and Humanities. This challenge takes me to all stages of a PhD project. The first course is for beginning PhD candidates:

Read more

Philosophers who work outside of academia – part 4

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

A couple of weeks ago Helen de Cruz conducted in-depth interviews with philosophers who work outside of academia. She published the complete interview series at the New APPS: Art, Politics, Philosophy, Science group blog: part 1, 2, 3. The interview series has also been featured at the Atlantic. I have been posting selections from the interview she had with me (here, here, and here). Below I elaborate on some of the points and add some answers that did not make it into the original series for reasons of space.

Read more

Philosophers who work outside of academia – part 3

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A couple of weeks ago Helen de Cruz conducted in-depth interviews with philosophers who work outside of academia. This is a selection from the interview she had with me. Helen published the complete interview series at the New APPS: Art, Politics, Philosophy, Science group blog: part 1, 2, 3.

Read more

Philosophers who work outside of academia – Part 2

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

A couple of weeks ago Helen de Cruz conducted in-depth interviews with philosophers who work outside of academia. This is a selection from the interview she had with me. Helen published the complete interview series at the New APPS: Art, Politics, Philosophy, Science group blog: part 1, 2, 3.

Read more

Philosophers who work outside of academia – part 1

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

A couple of weeks ago Helen de Cruz conducted in-depth interviews with philosophers who work outside of academia. This is a selection from the interview she had with me. Helen published the complete interview series at the New APPS: Art, Politics, Philosophy, Science group blog: part 1, 2, 3.

Read more

How to take a punch like a Stoic in academia

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Doing science is about researching and then going public with your findings. If you keep your findings to yourself, you are just privately musing, but not doing scientific research. However, going public with your research can be daunting, especially for PhD’s. What to do when you are scared to show your first piece of writing to your supervisor? When you dread nasty questions about your presentation at a conference? Or when you feel ready to quit because you just received stinging criticism from a reviewer on that article of yours with the top results of your research? Here is a bit on how to face criticism without letting it take you down.

Read more

On supervisors

/4 Comments/in , /by

Inevitably you will experience moments during your PhD where things between you and your supervisor do not go as smoothly as you would like. Small wonder: a PhD is a pretty intense project in which you yourself go through a considerable personal development and in which your supervisor has to balance two roles that are hard to combine, that of coach and that of examiner.  Most supervisors know exactly which role to adopt at a given moment, but there will be a day, or days, where e.g. you receive fierce criticism while you actually badly needed a pat on the back.

Read more

Gun jij jezelf tijd om te mijmeren?

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Een maand na ons gesprek (zie vorige blog over stress in de realiteit van je ‘droombaan’) mailt Ella dat het tot dusver heel goed is gegaan, maar dat ze zich nu toch voelt afglijden in zelfkritiek en haar oude patronen die haar zoveel stress en onrust opleverden voor het lesgeven en presenteren van haar paper op conferenties en symposia. Dat is niet zo gek, want het is niet makkelijk om de manier waarop je jarenlang gewerkt hebt zo grondig te veranderen. De gedachte aan een afgesproken coachsessie geeft gelukkig al wat rust en ruimte om de negatieve spiraal te stoppen: “als het echt zo erg is,” weet ze bij zichzelf, “dan is er bij die afspraak ruimte en aandacht voor.”

Read more