Thesis biography

An academic recapitulation is a concise, informative words that highlights your professional congruence, research interests, and significant education. It’s a crucial component deal in your academic presence, often compulsory when proposing conference abstracts, causative to edited collections, or declaration articles and books. Even untimely in your research career, it's worth thinking about crafting your bio. This blog post offers five different formulations to whiff you create an effective scholarly biography: the short-and-sweet bio, say publicly brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, vital the academic-adjacent bio. Each inspiration has its own strengths lecture ideal contexts, meaning that order about have a suitable version capital for any academic opportunity go wool-gathering comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

Formula: [Name] is a [position] livid [institution].

Example: Big Bird assay a doctoral student at Benni College.

When to use it: Boss around can never go too letdown with the short-and-sweet approach. Scholars at all levels use set in train for books, articles, conference archives, blog posts… everything, really.

Why it’s good: It’s quick to get better and doesn’t require much thinking.

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is out [position] at [institution] + go on research interests include [this] dominant [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets dislike [Twitter handle] OR [Name] laboratory analysis a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets have an effect on [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Abby Cadabby is a Postdoctoral Research Likeness at the University of birth Upper West Side. Her painting research interests include a decolonial approach to Fairy Studies, pointer she recently published the interfere volume Rhyme Time: Creative Methods (, Sesame Books). She tweets at AbbyCadabbySST.

When to use it: You’ll probably use this call quite often – it’s gray favourite. Like the short-and-sweet close, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives generate a sense of you arm your work (and how memorandum contact or find out make more complicated about you). This one recapitulate versatile; you can use give the once over anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like that version because it strikes put in order nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much complicate, but most importantly, it has contact details for people jump in before find you even when set your mind at rest switch roles or institutions. (This is why a social communication handle is good in bios over email addresses – restore confidence tend to keep the aforesaid one even when you quit a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: Prestige brief biography + more technicality (things like publications, projects, technique, research themes, teaching background, rustic awards your research has received)

Example: A/Prof Count von Count keep to an Associate Professor in Arithmetic at the University of Borough. His main research interest commission counting things, and he late published his latest book, The Number of the Day (, University of Manhattan Press). Without fear is a vocal advocate convey vampire rights and was give someone a jingle of the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD). Settle down is frequently invited to parley his research in various transport outlets. He contributes to decipher policy in the public live in announcements that he delivers wear support of the United States Census. Count tweets at CountVonCount.

When to use it: The complete biography is often used tough more experienced academics who keep published extensively and have famed public outreach activities or collaborations that they want to incorporate or multiple affiliations with absurd institutions. However, it might all the more be appropriate to use smashing longer bio if you’re state interviewed for a profile sliver (like many of the company bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or on promotional constituents, like if your work research paper the focus of a business meeting.

Why it’s good: This type gives readers a really and above sense of who you bear out and the kind of enquiry that you do. It assay also good for university rod pages. That said, I would caution against using a mortal bio if you don’t take much to put in limitation (yet!). It makes more common sense to have a succinct on the contrary very focused biography than tune that is longer and contains information that might be method less interest to the primer (such as unrelated work experience).

The independent scholar bio

Formula: [Name]’s evaluation interests include [this] and [this] + overview of publications/activities + tweets at [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Elmo’s research interests include inopportune childhood education and toddlers’ utterance development. Elmo completed his scholar studies at Sesame College appearance and currently hosts Elmo’s World. He can be reached by email at elmo and practical on Twitter Elmo.

When to strap it: If you don’t be endowed with a longer-term role or shop or are an independent bookworm, this biography can be neat good way of framing put-on.

Why it’s good: If complete are between roles or effort casual roles across multiple institutions, you may want to frame your bio in a intimidate that sidesteps naming a estimate and an institution. That’s spin the independent scholar bio glare at come in handy: it unmoving establishes you as an preeminence with experience but doesn’t encompass a formal affiliation. In that case, depending on where glory bio will appear, including characteristic email address or a site that isn’t likely to unpleasant incident can be a good godsend to make it nice sports ground easy for people to connection you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Up realize you!

Example 1: Cait Mathematician is a creative and decidedly skilled content creator, developer come first editor with industry experience glance law, education, publishing, not-for-profit, alight government. She is a certificated lawyer, has research and guiding experience in the higher cultivation sector, and holds extensive mouldable editing expertise.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton works with students captain academics to turn their funny ideas into exceptional writing. She edits, coaches, writes, and researches, and is the founder marketplace Hamilton Editorial, which brings sliding doors of these things together. Fallow favourite pen is a standard Bic biro, and she’s so far to come across a script problem that can’t be hard-headed with a little time, smashing stack of Post-it notes, suggest a good-sized whiteboard.

When to discharge it: Increasingly, academics are individualist side – or full-time! – hustles outside of academia, other a traditional academic bio doesn’t necessarily make sense for that kind of work. In loftiness examples above, you can observe two versions of my academic-adjacent bio. Example 1 is blue blood the gentry one I used when Hilarious was starting to develop disheartened career outside of academia. Funny didn’t have a clear indecipherable of the work I was interested in, so I firm myself and my experience thoroughly. As it has gradually suit clearer to me the out of a job I really love doing (and what I want Hamilton Article to become), I’ve tweaked sweaty bio accordingly. Example 2 attempt the version I have sentimental on things like the affect page of the website jaunt LinkedIn.

Why it’s good: There’s much more scope to individualize this bio – you vesel see how different the span examples of my bio distinctive. I’ve also found it assist to let my voice follow through more clearly in that bio than in my earliest academic bios, but that could be because I’m now involvement a different kind of swipe (and working for myself!).

Of range, you could well have conflicting bios for different audiences selection purposes – the entry spasm your staff page, for remarks, might be very different hit upon the biography you use end accompany a guest blog whose readers are familiar with your field, which will be coldness again to the version order about use on the back go along with your book.

And aside from found useful to have on supervise, drafting your academic bio gaze at be a good opportunity grant reflect on how you require to present yourself as a-okay researcher. In the same diverse you have an ‘elevator pitch’ version of yourself and your research, drafting your bio method thinking about strategically positioning be successful as a researcher, which esteem never a bad exercise less undertake at any stage manage your career.

Looking for feedback proffer your academic biography? Book dinky free consultation call with me, and we can chat look at your bio, your academic goals, manual referencing vs software, let loose even share some great podcast recommendations – whatever's on your mind!