Hacking Academia
An ever-growing series of tutorials (with detailed notes) filled with practical, experience-driven tips and tricks for being effective, happy and successful in modern day academia and related careers.
Episodes
73 episodes
Running Effective Meetings
๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ฅIf you go into an academic or research career, chances are you'll spend a lot of your time in meetings.I am by no means an expert (and don't always do a great job of following my own advice), but ove...
Should I Do a Postdoc?
๐๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ ๐๐จ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐จ๐? ๐ค๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ๐๐๐ฒ, ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ ๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐จ๐?These are two of the questions that I get the most often, and also one of the most requested
Hitting Your Actual Ceiling
๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ One of the nuanced phenomena in academic and research careers occurs when individuals put great effort into developing themselves, persisting against all the obstacles and barriers thrown in their way, la...
Dealing with Difficult Situations
๐คฏ A somewhat less cheerful but oh-so-important topic to cover in #HackingAcademia: dealing with Difficult Situations!
On Expertise
A slight twist on my normal Hacking Academia video intended audience: today's "On Expertise" video is targeted more at the myriad industry, government and other sector workers who are interested in getting expert advice and wonder how to find a...
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Do You Ever Sleep? The ins and outs of how many hours people work
Do You Ever Sleep??? ๐ด I periodically get variants of this question: "When do you sleep?", "Do you ever sleep", and the more constructive, "how the heck do you manage your time?"In today's #HackingAcademia video, I cover so...
Separating Process from Outcome
I have a massive backlog of #HackingAcademia videos to shoot: right at the top of the pile, prompted by a heap of conversations in recent months, is this one: the art of:Separating PROCESS from OUTCOMESThis is one of the most im...
Adapting to Changed Circumstances
๐ Free leftover food in the kitchen โ first come, first served!As a PhD student, those emails were great - Iโd drop everything and sprint to the tea room. Free food - what's not to love!Two decades later, I still have that insti...
The Four Combinations of Student Supervisor Meetings
๐ Did you know there are (at least) four ways to combine supervisors and PhD students for your regular meetings โ and that each serves a different purpose?That's the topic of todayโs ๐๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ video โ and meeting type number thre...
Fakes Frauds and Fallacies
๐ฅ New #HackingAcademia episode just dropped โ and it's a sensitive but hopefully somewhat cathartic one, perfect for a Friday afternoon:๐ ๐๐ค๐๐ฌ, ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฌ๐คฏ โThat guy sounds like a total fraud.โ๐ โI have no idea how ...
Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Context-Framing Questions for Industry and Government Meetings
They say you should see the forest for the trees ๐ฒ๐ณ - to understand the larger context rather than getting lost in the details without grasping this vital bigger picture ๐งฉThatโs what todayโs hashtag#HackingAcademia video is all about ๐ฅ:...
"I don't have time"
There's a laundry list of phrases that trigger me in #academia and related professions: one of the most frequent ones is "I don't have time" / "They don't have time."The reason it triggers me so often isn't so much that the statement do...
Simplifying and Not Trying to Achieve Everything at Once
When is having a good awareness of the "big picture" in a PhD or general research not helpful?When you need to focus in on the "little picture", to preserve your sanity, lower your sky high stress levels, and make some concrete, tangibl...
Talent Strategy Recruiting and Retention
This week I had coffee with a new colleague and the conversation got onto the realities and challenges of recruiting, and retaining, the talent you want to work with and need to fulfill all those exciting research, industry and government proje...
Tearing Your Hair Out in Meetings
This meeting is driving me INSANE ๐ก๐คฏI regularly take requests for my #HackingAcademia series: today's request was one of many about how to deal with meetings where you're frustrated beyond belief, and want to tear your hair out....
Why Me? Why Not Me?
๐ค ๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐? ๐คทโโ๏ธ ๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐๐?In your career, youโll regularly hit moments where your confidence doesnโt match everyone elseโs.๐ค โWhy Me?โ Someone suggests nominating you for an award - and you think, โNo way Iโm worthy...
Experiences With and Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence: April 2025 Update
Time for an update on #ArtificialIntelligence, from my personal perspective in a professional context: my continued exploration of its intense usage in a day-to-day career (2 and a bit years and counting).Key concepts include:๐ง
Running Research Projects Without the Meltdown
๐ฉ Are you regularly stressed out, feel like you're in over your head, and wondering how you ended up working at 2โฏam on a Monday morning to meet a project deadline?You're not alone: I, and much of academia and research, have regularly fo...
How to Ask for Funding
๐ฅฃ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ซ, ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฅ OR๐ผ ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฒ!I thought a little bit about sending the wrong messaging with this image thumbnail (referencing Oliver Twist) about power dynamics, any ...
Confidence Zones
The Goldilocks Zone is the just-right distance from a star ๐ where a planet can sustain liquid water ๐ง - not too hot, not too cold, but ideal conditions for the possibility of life to exist ๐ฑ.The Goldilocks zone is also one of three "con...
Some Insights I'd Tell My Younger Self About Leadership
What would I tell my younger self at the point I was starting my leadership journey? ๐ค๐ฃThat's the topic of today's Hacking Academia video ๐ฅ โ I like to do the more philosophical ones on a Friday afternoon! ๐งโโ๏ธ๐ค๏ธI, like most peopl...
Rolling the Dice for Grant Funding Pipelines
๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ฒI've been wanting to do this video for a while now, and thanks to Maceon Knopke's lovely 3D printed dice, here it is!This is also my 50th ๐ Hacking Academia video ๐๐๐ !!!A ...
Camera versus LiDaR
LiDaR versus CamerasThe recent "Can You Fool A Self Driving Car?" video by YouTuber Mark Rober has 17.5 million views [1], is generating a lot of buzz, and is already the subject of a number of counter- and critique videos [2].I...
The Australian Research Ecosystem Reality Risk and Reform
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ: ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ค ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆThe Australian Research Ecosystem is the subject of at least two major reviews, that could result in the biggest change to how things like grants are assessed and enacted.
