Author Archives: Anna

ConversTations – Introduction and How to run

A PhD Student is standing at the front, working himself through a pile of slides. Some people in the audience try to follow, some are working on their laptops and some are just sleeping. A typical research presentation? Not necessarily. … Continue reading

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Editing papers back to front

I have often done this without realising what I do. But a recent tweet (yes, a tweet can also be useful and informative!) from Prof. Arvind Narayanan from Princeton University made me think more thoroughly about it and I want … Continue reading

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Publishing papers

This question is a real evergreen and seems really hard to answer (it is hard). I typically say: aim high in quality, do not overdo it in quantity, and do not waste anything by not publishing it. I am lying … Continue reading

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How to write an article

I get this question all the time – Prof, how should I start? Prof, how do I write an article? Well, the short answer is: simply start writing it, word by word, sentence by sentence. Ok, I know, it is … Continue reading

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Everybody needs time to think

In recent years, I observe a very dangerous development in research and university communities. Researchers are expected to be constantly doing something – writing proposals, answering emails, teaching, supervising, writing papers, making experiments, and so on, and so forth. But … Continue reading

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Manage your tasks, not time

This post is highly inspired by the book of Tim Ferriss “The 4-hour Workweek”. I find the title a little misleading, but the ideas do work also for academics. So let us start straight away. Let us assume you need … Continue reading

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Energy Management

Time management is popular and I have already written about it. However, even with the perfect tools and concepts, there are times when you sit in front of your work and you simply do not have the energy to do … Continue reading

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Time Management Principles

I have been experimenting with time management for almost 10 years now. Early in my career as a researcher, I noticed that if you manage to focus well, you can get extremely productive and will need only a fraction of … Continue reading

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How to start publishing papers

Beginning PhD students are often desperate about this question: how to START publishing? Many universities pose very strict requirements on their students and want to see the first publication in the first year. This is not easy. Here are some … Continue reading

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How to publish more papers

Publish or perish: this is the dogma of today’s research. So, how to maximise your publication output? This depends mostly on your career level, so let us focus here first on master and PhD students, who are most desperate for … Continue reading

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