An ever-growing series of video and podcast 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.
🚨 How to Use This Page
Each link below goes to a detailed webpage on that topic, which usually contains an:
- embedded tutorial video 🖥️ from YouTube,
- a 🎙️ Podcast Link 🎙️where you can listen to the audio version,
- timestamped topic listing from the video and
- more detailed notes.
You can also go straight to the:
- YouTube playlist which contains all videos, each with timestamped topics, but without the detailed text notes.
- Podcast, which contains the audio versions
🚨 Note that the text-based tutorials lag the videos and podcasts slightly: so if you’re after the most up-to-date, complete set of resources, always check out the YouTube playlist and Podcast directly.
Have a request for a topic – get in touch 📧!
📝 Publishing and Research
- Writing Papers People Love to Read
- Tips for Writing Compelling Grants
- Structuring Robotics Conference Papers
- Ideation for Research
- Practical Tips for Writing Robotics Conference Papers that Get Accepted
- Tips and Tricks for the Final Stages of Writing a Good Robotics Conference Paper
💼 Career Development
- Struggling During Your PhD
- The Importance of Timing
- Success and Rejection Rates in Academia – An Informal, Personal Account
- Breadth versus Depth: Key Considerations for Focusing or Diversifying in Your Career
- Flying Close to the Sun and Why it Can Be Exhausting
- Being Young For Your Career Stage
- Key Considerations for Transitioning to Leadership Roles
- Should I Stay or Should I Go? Leaving Your PhD Lab
- All About Mentors in Academia
- Pragmatic Advice for the Postdoc Career Stage in Computer Science [no video]
- Negotiating in Academia
🎓 Applying for Academic Positions, PhDs and General Jobs
- What a PhD is Like (in the Australian system, in robotics and related disciplines)
- Shortlisting and Interviewing for a PhD
- Interviewing Well With a Focus on Entry-Level Academic Faculty Jobs Part 1: Context and Structure
- Interviewing Well With a Focus on Entry-Level Academic Faculty Jobs Part 2: Interviews and General Principles
- Benchmarking Yourself for Job, Prize, PhD, Grant or Fellowship Applications: As Easy as 1, 2, 3
- Applying and Interviewing for PhD Positions
- Finding the Right PhD Supervisor For You
🏆 Funding, Fellowships, Prizes, Applications
- Rolling the Dice for Grant Funding Pipelines
- Rejection Still Sucks But In Different Ways
- Writing Effective Grant Rejoinders
- Writing Compelling Fellowship Applications
- Applying for Small Research Grants: Tips, Tricks and Key Differences to Larger Grants
🗣️ Soft Skills, Outreach and Engagement
- Tearing Your Hair Out in Meetings
- Running Research Projects Without the Meltdown
- How to Ask for Funding
- Some Insights I’d Tell My Younger Self About Leadership
- Side Gigs and Lessons Learned
- Mentoring Alignment and Other Concepts
- Working While Travelling
- Leadership Principles and Pitfalls
- Public Profile Building: Why, Why Not, and Your Options for How
- Budgeting for Research Centres and Major Groups, Part 1: Key Concepts
- The Power and Perils of Implied Messaging
- Interpreting Robot Tech Demo Videos
- Effective Generation and Filtering of Industry and Government Leads in Volatile Sectors
- Interpreting and Communicating New Technology Concepts
🤔 General Life Philosophy and Life Hacking
- Why Me? Why Not Me?
- Confidence Zones
- Trusting Your Gut: When and When Not to Listen and Why
- Choosing Your Preferred Rejection Mode
- Pushing Your Limits and Flirting with Burnout
- Lifestyle Crafting Research
- The Importance of and Art of Taking a Break from Work
- Carry On Only Baggage Travel Tips and Tricks
- Intelligence: Overrated, But Also Under Accounted For
- Understanding and Managing Professional Rejection
- Breaking the “I Have To” Cycle
💡 General Thoughts on Various Topics and Stories
- Experiences With and Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence: April 2025 Update (April 23, 2025)
- Camera versus LiDaR (March 24, 2025)
- The Australian Research Ecosystem: Reality Risk and Reform (March 21, 2025)
- The Great Tape Prank (May 31, 2024)
- Giving Research Funding Bodies a Memory: An Idea for Improving the Research Funding Ecosystem (April 12, 2024)
- Common Sense and Natural Interaction: A Turning Point for Robotics? (March 14, 2024)
- Why Recent AI Developments Are Not Business as Normal (March 24, 2023)