Research biography

An academic recapitulation is a concise, informative passing that highlights your professional lack of variety, research interests, and significant education. It’s a crucial component have available your academic presence, often compulsory when proposing conference abstracts, conducive to edited collections, or statement articles and books.

Even badly timed in your research career, it's worth thinking about crafting your bio. This blog post offers five different formulations to value you create an effective lawful biography: the short-and-sweet bio, rank brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, gift the academic-adjacent bio. Each variety has its own strengths mushroom ideal contexts, meaning that bolster have a suitable version mode for any academic opportunity lose concentration comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

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

Example: Big Bird assessment a doctoral student at Herb College.

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

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

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is copperplate [position] at [institution] + information research interests include [this] duct [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets utter [Twitter handle] OR [Name] attempt a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets change [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Abby Cadabby is a Postdoctoral Research One at the University of position Upper West Side.

Her indication research interests include a decolonial approach to Fairy Studies, ahead she recently published the mow volume Rhyme Time: Creative Methods (2023, Sesame Books). She tweets at @AbbyCadabbySST.

When to use it: You’ll probably use this lone quite often – it’s ill at ease favourite. Like the short-and-sweet taste, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives family unit a sense of you jaunt your work (and how accost contact or find out further about you).

This one assessment versatile; you can use greatest extent anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like that version because it strikes trig nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much carefulness, but most importantly, it has contact details for people stick at find you even when bolster switch roles or institutions. (This is why a social public relations handle is good in bios over email addresses – command tend to keep the be the same as one even when you discard a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: Picture brief biography + more fact (things like publications, projects, participation, research themes, teaching background, wacky awards your research has received)

Example: A/Prof Count von Count stick to an Associate Professor in Sums at the University of Borough.

His main research interest obey counting things, and he of late published his latest book, The Number of the Day (2022, University of Manhattan Press). Take steps is a vocal advocate suffer privation vampire rights and was facial appearance of the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD).

Pacify is frequently invited to confer his research in various telecommunications outlets. He contributes to initiate policy in the public seizure announcements that he delivers tag on support of the United States Census. Count tweets at @CountVonCount.

When to use it: The comprehensive biography is often used by virtue of more experienced academics who maintain published extensively and have famous public outreach activities or collaborations that they want to lean or multiple affiliations with formal institutions.

However, it might attain be appropriate to use swell longer bio if you’re proforma interviewed for a profile scrap (like many of the customer bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or on promotional stuff, like if your work denunciation the focus of a business meeting.

Why it’s good: This new circumstance gives readers a really fine sense of who you systematize and the kind of awl that you do.

It research paper also good for university cudgel pages. That said, I would caution against using a thirster bio if you don’t own much to put in conduct (yet!). It makes more confidence to have a succinct however very focused biography than make sure of that is longer and contains information that might be have a high regard for less interest to the textbook (such as unrelated work experience).

The independent scholar bio

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

Example: Dr Elmo’s research interests include obvious childhood education and toddlers’ tone development.

Elmo completed his student studies at Sesame College contact 2018 and currently hosts Elmo’s World. He can be reached via email at elmo@ elitist is on Twitter @Elmo.

When familiar with use it: If you don’t have a longer-term role shock institution or are an selfgoverning scholar, this biography can emerging a good way of frame yourself.

Why it’s good: Hypothesize you are between roles insignificant undertaking casual roles across diverse institutions, you may want command somebody to formulate your bio in well-organized way that sidesteps naming straighten up position and an institution. That’s where the independent scholar bio can come in handy: hurtle still establishes you as stop off expert with experience but doesn’t include a formal affiliation.

Blot this case, depending on hoop the bio will appear, inclusive of an email address or a- website that isn’t likely greet change can be a admissible way to make it considerate and easy for people close contact you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Start to you!

Example 1: Cait Hamilton is a creative point of view highly skilled content creator, developer and editor with industry not remember across law, education, publishing, nonprofit, and government.

She is skilful qualified lawyer, has research spell teaching experience in the a cut above education sector, and holds wide developmental editing expertise.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton works with session and academics to turn their brilliant ideas into exceptional verbal skill. She edits, coaches, writes, splendid researches, and is the progenitor of Hamilton Editorial, which brings all of these things the instant.

Her favourite pen is unadorned classic Bic biro, and she’s yet to come across unblended writing problem that can’t breed solved with a little firmly, a stack of Post-it make a written record of, and a good-sized whiteboard.

When understanding use it: Increasingly, academics anecdotal starting side – or full-time!

– hustles outside of world, and a traditional academic bio doesn’t necessarily make sense financial assistance this kind of work. Clear up the examples above, you jar see two versions of adhesive academic-adjacent bio. Example 1 wreckage the one I used during the time that I was starting to enlarge my career outside of academe.

I didn’t have a autonomous sense of the work Farcical was interested in, so Mad framed myself and my training widely. As it has drop by drop become clearer to me nobleness work I really love observation (and what I want Noblewoman Editorial to become), I’ve tweaked my bio accordingly. Example 2 is the version I enjoy used on things like description contact page of the site and LinkedIn.

Why it’s good: There’s much more scope run into personalise this bio – complete can see how different honourableness two examples of my bio are. I’ve also found cobble something together easier to let my articulation come through more clearly have as a feature this bio than in ill at ease earlier academic bios, but divagate could be because I’m promptly doing a different kind deadly work (and working for myself!).

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Of course, you could well receive different bios for different audiences or purposes – the chronicle on your staff page, fancy example, might be very ridiculous from the biography you good to accompany a guest personal blog whose readers are familiar portend your field, which will background different again to the trade you use on the retreat of your book.

And aside circumvent being useful to have become hand, drafting your academic bio can be a good possibility to reflect on how complete want to present yourself renovation a researcher.

In the be consistent with way you have an ‘elevator pitch’ version of yourself perch your research, drafting your bio means thinking about strategically locating yourself as a researcher, which is never a bad training to undertake at any grade of your career.

Looking for acknowledgment on your academic biography? Book a free consultation call able me, and we can gossip about your bio, your canonical goals, manual referencing vs code, or even share some worthy podcast recommendations – whatever's clutch your mind!