I’ve been contemplating for a while I was thinking either ECON or informatics/CS.

i’m going into IS with high hopes of becoming an FSO. If not, I’d probably take whatever scraps i’m thrown. My uni is really average and I slacked off a lot in school to get into any target schools.

One major flaw with info/CS is that it’s pretty much guaranteed no travel at all and cs is already hyper competitive, nor do I know which major to focus on while internships

ECON sounds fine too, I especially like it as a backup major but I heard a masters in Econ is pretty much needed to find work

For masters, my uni offers a 4+1 for IS and an MBA which sounds great but my only concern is that it might not fit at all for FSOS or NGOS

Please any advice is appreciated!

Not sure if this is common at other institutions. But I am noticing an increasing trend in our admin pre-setting a schedule for search committee meetings (e.g., Deans, VPs, research chairs) in advance of actually recruiting faculty to join that search committee. Is that common elsewhere?

Although I can see how that it seems "efficient" it also seems like its an easy source of inequity as folks who might otherwise want to serve on those committees can't actually join because of the pre-set schedule.

For example, One of our last search committees for a Dean went partially unfiled owing, in part, to an overly narrow schedule window. I thought about applying but I wasn't free for 2 out of 10 of their scheduled meetings. To join a search committee now, faculty have to be available Monday 10am-12pm every 2-3 weeks for the next 8 months and have a specific week in July already scheduled for all-day interviews (no flexibility in dates or times).

To me, its pretty clear that faculty may have many possible other meetings already scheduled including research obligations, teaching obligations, holiday trips, conference travel, doctors appointments, day care obligations, family commitments, which may all be pre-scheduled over the course of 8 months. I feel like a readily doable "When2Meet" poll would solve scheduling issues to recruit otherwise great search committee member that actually want to be on the committee - are they putting the cart in front of the horse here?

I was thinking about bringing that up at some point in the admin "food chain" but wanted to gauge how common that is at other institutions. Thoughts? Maybe I'm just out to lunch and this is the best way to go for the higher-ups involved.

Ive never gotten a fly out before. Never made a job talk before. Totally at a loss and a little bit in denial this is all happening. What makes a good job talk? Im in History and still ABD! Any advice is helpful!

What about for conferences ?

I was looking at Boston University for a PhD in American Studies but that is no longer an options since they are halting PhD admissions to most of their programs for the Fall of 2025.

I noticed that on the program’s website, some graduates students have put their CVs as examples. I was going to use them as a guide for what the field is looking for when applying to other universities.

I noticed one student had put on their public CV “awarded XYZ fellowship [declined].”

So I was wondering if I can say

“Paper accepted at XYZ journal [will be published in 2025]? Or is that something people don’t mention?”

Will this be used against me when suvmiddying my application to PhD programs ? (Is this saying that I don’t have enough achievements so I’m using one that hasn’t even been published yet? Aka a red flag to the admissions committee?)

Hi all. I am a first year PhD student in the humanities in the US.

I am posting this to ask humanities scholars (also STEM if applicable) about projecting necessary funding for grants. When you apply for a grant / for funding, how much funding do you request to work on translation projects / propose a translation project would need?

For example, I’m envisioning applying for a grant and proposing a project translating a very old Japanese religious text into English and then writing a commentary on it. Given lack of experience, I don’t know the monetary value of such a project. I’m curious how each of you go about projecting the costs to successfully receive funding for similar research.

Of course, I will ask my advisor as well, but I am trying to receive a broad number of responses.

Thank you and may you all finish your semesters strongly!

im a 16year old preparing for the frensh bachelor im aiming to become a mathematician or a theoretical physicist but i dont know what's the best path to get a phD in those my dad is a former uni teacher but in socials i've been told by him that i shouldnt go for a license ,masters then fnish my phd instead i should do engineering then phd but based on my research engineers path aims less on the theoretical side so are there any other solutions?

I'm a master's student in psychology and as part of our degree requirements we have to do a 6 month internship at a research institute. I'm doing one at a different university and I just started a month ago. I've been involved in a project since then and tomorrow I'll be jumping on board another one as a side project. My supervisor is a really good guy, he's very helpful and giving me good guidance while still expecting me to come up with my own ideas and be a self-starter. Very bright and friendly guy. All the other professors I've meet seem like nice people as well, some that have gone out of their way to get to know me a bit better.

But I just feel so uncomfortable around them. I feel like I can't even think of anything meaningful or insightful to contribute because all I can really think about is like not stuttering or saying something stupid/obvious and making a fool out of myself and in turn my supervisor. There's such a wide gap between them and me in terms of expertise and education. Like I can explain my project or whatever else I'm interested in to one of the phd students just fine but struggle to articulate the same thing to a professor. I don't really speak up during faculty meetings or workshops. I feel like my self-efficacy just plummets every time I'm around them and then I'll go have a 2 hour meeting with my thesis partner where we spend the whole time brainstorming and bouncing off each other. Even with my supervisor I felt really uncomfortable around at first and I would stutter a lot (I had a speech problem when I was a kid but as an adult it only really comes out in times of stress, which... yeah), though thank god that's gotten better recently.

I don't feel this way around my thesis supervisors either. I just feel so overwhelmed here, and kind of out of place. I think what it comes down to is that I'm perfectly capable of articulating myself in front of people I consider my peers (like my thesis partner or classmates) or those that I'm more comfortable with (like my thesis supervisors) but those that I perceive such a gap in expertise and I don't know well, I really struggle. When it's my ideas and I'm more responsible for controlling the flow of things, I know better what to do but when I'm jumping on someone else's project I just don't know how to proceed. I feel like I constantly have to make a good impression of myself and that's putting so much pressure on me that I end up getting into protection mode. Especially because I was hoping to use some of the connections I get as LoRs. I want to rise to the challenge but I'm very new to this environment, I never know what they're thinking, and I don't know what to say or do to get me out of this and show them my bright, curious side that I know for certain is there because I've seen it before.

I told my supervisor that if he any has any feedback or if I'm not performing well or up to expectations to please tell me and he said that he would. I believe him, he's shot down some ideas I've had in the past without sugercoating anything so I trust him to be honest and upfront. But I still can't shake the feeling that I'm not going to rise to the challenge because I just can't bring myself to be more confident and comfortable around all these strangers that are so accomplished and experienced in their fields.

Any advice? Anybody had any experience with this?

Any advice?

I understand this is an "undergraduate" question in a sense, but it's not just "simple questions", which is why I'm making a post and not a comment in the "Office Hours".

I've been contributing to a research project for the past year. In upcoming years, we plan on submitting abstracts and papers. Regarding authorship, I would greatly appreciate any feedback regarding my current understanding/perspective, answers to the below questions, or general advice. I plan on more discussion of these ideas with the PI. However, I'm interested in independent feedback before I do so. Thank you!!

I'm the undergraduate student lead on a project. We're creating an extensive database of healthcare data from which multiple abstracts and papers could be generated. In collaboration with the PI and two other undergraduate research assistants, I've contributed hundreds of hours to editing and adding to methods, designing the database and coding data processing scripts, and collecting data. The PI recently requested I learn more statistics and analyze data next year. The PI and I recently interviewed and selected a new cohort of five research assistants for the upcoming 1-2 years. Our project has two sites. The other site has 5 data collectors (who will contribute hundreds of hours each as well). All eight (3 old + 5 new) research assistants at our site plan to contribute 500+ hours, each, to data collection over next year+. In accordance with the ICJME recommendations, I'm attempting to proactively delineate authorship expectations.

I have the impression the PI might be relatively more interested in securing opportunity for authorship for me in particular because of my ability. I'm interested in securing opportunity for authorship for the entire team. As leader of the undergraduate team, I want to avoid the situation where physician researchers (likely between 6-10 with minimal ongoing involvement in the project) arrive at the end of the year and exclude the undergraduate team from the process of abstract/manuscript drafting/review. Also, I want to elucidate realistic expectations for authorship in order to motivate the team to collectively contribute thousands of hours of unpaid, tedious work, as this work is essential to meet the study aims and not readily replaceable.

I've reviewed the ICJME guidelines for criteria for authorship:

"1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

2. Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND

3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND

4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved."

The new cohort of students likely won't have the same opportunity as I had with regard to method design and other duties, as our methods are now solidified, and a protocol has been documented. I'm considering that they may only be able to contribute substantially to data acquisition. Accordingly, I'm interested in obtaining a clear description of what quantity, quality, and timeline of data acquisition defines an individual's contribution as substantial. Should this description be documented in writing, and should it be distributed to the entire team? Would this document be beneficial in case of future attempts to exclude the student team?

I also reviewed the ICJME guidelines:

"These authorship criteria are intended to reserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work. The criteria are not intended for use as a means to disqualify colleagues from authorship who otherwise meet authorship criteria by denying them the opportunity to meet criterion #s 2 or 3. Therefore, all individuals who meet the first criterion should have the opportunity to participate in the review, drafting, and final approval of the manuscript." (Emphasis mine).

I'm interested in how I can secure the opportunity (for all team members who meet our criteria for substantial contribution) to participate in the review, drafting, and final approval of the manuscript. How is this process typically performed? I want the process to be accessible to the entire team, in order to maximize our collective human resource and promote equity. Should this process for drafting and review be documented in writing, and should it be distributed to the entire team?

I brought some of these topics up with our PI. He made some interesting comments. The first is that the students could receive acknowledgements without authorship.

Per ICJME guidelines:

"Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged." However, my priority is to ensure opportunity to meet all 4 criteria for substantial contributers. Then if students are unable to meet all criteria despite opportunity, acknowledgement alone would be indicated.

He also noted that our project intends to combine databases from multiple healthcare sites. With the new cohorts, there are 13 students total across sites. Our project intends to apply for approval regularly and collect data for decades. And our project intends to expand to additional sites. As such, the number of individuals with substantial contributions to data acquisition will, hopefully, continually expand greatly over the years. Because of this, the PI's second comment was that students could form a consortium for authorship.

I understand that establishing a consortium will eventually be a practical necessity for providing opportunity for authorship, as the years go on. I also understand that journals can allow individual authorship in addition to consortia authorship if an individual's contributions exceed that of the general consortium. But for the time being (the next couple of years), the number of undergraduate researchers will be only slightly more than the number of physician researchers. It seems likely that, due to attrition or inability, not all undergraduates will fulfill all criteria for authorship even if given opportunity, and the number of undergraduates and physician researchers that might receive credit would be roughly equal in number. If all members meet our criteria for substantial contribution, are provided opportunity for drafting or critical review and approval, and fulfill those criteria, then there may be 20 or so authors, and some journals have limits to the number of authors. However, other journals apparently don't have as restrictive limits. If the journal doesn't have an applicable authorship limit, what reason is there to not give individual authorship to the undergraduate students, if they meet all criteria?

Thank you!

Hello, I am a local Filmmaker from US, doing a doc on SLI, will send a zoom link and it will be a very brief interview with a few questions!

Please be qualified!

This is something that has come and gone over the years but I wonder if microblogging will make a resurgence or if we're destined for audio & visual content only.

It seems like every time I publish a new article I get a couple or so emails inviting me to present at some international conference that has basically nothing to do with what I published. Wondering if anyone has actually accepted one of these invitations and what happened? :)

I received this invitation last night and initially was excited, I do publish in this field and have for several years, but the website looks like it’s hosted by a group called Sciinov which claims to be a “scientific events organizer and provider of regulatory solutions, data, intelligence, databases trends, insights”

Something about it just doesn’t feel right.

Has anyone else heard of them?

Email:

To XXXXXX, I hope you are well.

We would like to invite you to speak at the “Gender and Sexuality Studies 2025” Conference, taking place March 10-11, in San Francisco, CA, USA. Your expertise in this field would be a valuable addition to the event.

https://genderstudycongress.com/edition2

Let us know if you are interested in participating or reach me back for any quires, I feel happy to share you more details.

Best regards, Bhushannagari Conference Secretary| GSSC 2025,

Hello! I have to do a research paper to graduate. I have to write a paper on the impact of socioeconomic status on access to alzheimer's care. I did my literature review, but I need to find a database and analyze some sort of data to help prove my argument. Does anyone know where I can find a database for this? I can also pay if someone helps me out. DM me if you are interested in spending time to help me out. Thanks in advance!

I had a campus visit ending ~11 days ago (Thursday and Friday, week before last) and I was told that I was the final campus visit (of three total).

I was told the committee would meet and discuss the next week, then get approval from the college, but to also note that the next week contained a college break Wednesday-Sunday (U.S. Thanksgiving).

They are now one day back from break, and I have not heard from the chair. I did hear from an admin assistant asking if I have any receipts as they are looking to close out the search budget. Should I take this as a likely reject? Or do the college approvals sometimes take time (I really have no idea what is a “rubber stamp” and what is not)? I was also a bit surprised they’d be able to vote so soon after my visit since I met with so many different admins and faculty from other departments, but maybe they do have that system dialed in?

I’m trying to maintain my sanity for the next few days and it is hard.

Hi,

I recently submitted a manuscript to a journal that is a perfect fit for my research. My work aligns with their scope, and I compare my work to the papers they’ve published. However, the paper was desk-rejected after an associate editor’s assessment, without any explanation (literally nothing).

The rejection felt arbitrary, and I can’t help but think the outcome might have been different with another editor. Someone suggested to resubmit to the same journal, but using a different account and selecting a different subject area to possibly get assigned to a different editor. Does it make sense?

Has anyone tried this before or faced a similar situation? I’d appreciate any advice or thoughts!

Thanks in advance!

I always wanted to be a scientist. But here in my country, Brazil, this isn't even a job, there's no future in being a scientist here in my area ( I study in a physics degree ). So, whorthy to be a scientist in other countries? If it dont work here I guess that I can try in other country like germany ou USA, maybe get my master in one of these. By people who are from this places, what are your opinion?

Hi all! I am a PhD student and presented a paper on a country-wide congress on chemistry and I received a lot of emails that invites me to other conferences based on the paper I have presented. One of them is MassSpecMeet 2025 (https://scisynopsisconferences.com/mass-spectrometry/about-us) I would like to know if this is a legit conference or just one of the other fake ones.

Thank you!

Hi I wanted to ask how can I start learning research? I’m a public health/healthcare professional just beginning my career(LMIC), and I’m currently contributing to a scoping review with a global team in a mentorship program. I still find myself struggling with things like citations and everything. I want to learn properly and just want tips/courses/programs that can teach me that

So I'm an undergrad engineering major who really wants to get involved with research. There's one lab at my uni that I'm particularly fixated on, but my biggest challenge has been getting in contact with the PI. I sent her an initial email in August, a follow-up 10 days after that, and another nearly 3 months later. I can't tell what's excessive, because when I sent those first 2 emails, it turned out she was out of state and not checking her email.

I've had more luck contacting grad/undergrad members of her lab (gotten responses from 3 people; that's how I found out she'd been out of state), but it's still radio silence from the PI. I just don't know when to give up. I really want to join this lab - the work they're doing is the exact niche I'm interested in, and no other lab on campus is doing what they're doing - but I kind of just feel like a nuisance at this point. Any tips for what I should do? I was initially so enthusiastic about it all, but it's just felt discouraging after months of silence.

My work was published online this morning (peer-reviewed journal etc.) after nearly a year in the making. This is my first, and also my first first-author publication as I am only in the 2nd year of my PhD.

I know there are many unwritten rules in academia, and I have looked for answers on r/AskAcademia but these are more geared to pre-writing/pre-publishing/dealing with peer reviews etc.

So I am wondering where do I go from here? I know I am probably overthinking but like, do I get my supervisors a gift for their input? How annoying can I be posting my work on linkedin and twitter before it gets cringe? What are some things you (published/unplublished) have noticed people mess up on or have done well re: moving on from their first paper?

Hey all, I don't know if this is the right subreddit for the topic, but I really am in a loss.

I recently graduated from my Master's course and a paper of mine was published in an academic journal. After this, I'm constantly emailed (on my academic email sponsored by my university) by other academic journals who read it, asking me to either join them as an editor or for a work of mine to publish in their journal.

One of them automatically went into my spam folder and I made the mistake of opening it. It was another journal asking me for a paper of mine for them to publish. I thought it was a great idea so I sent them one of my papers, they notified me that they received it and to wait for a few days. Around a week and more passes, and I'm emailed with an approval letter and a money request on PayPal for $600 plus $50 for any additional page over 15. The original email did not mention anything about me paying. Thing is, even if I was willing to pay to have my work published, I don't have that money by any means. I emailed them back almost immediately and told them thank you but I don't wish to proceed with the cooperation, after all. So far, I haven't received a response, but to be fair, it hasn't even been a day since I emailed them.

Reason I'm worried is because they mentioned something about having read my paper and being in the process of editing it/making corrections and also told me to make several corrections and add new sections. I don't mind that they have my paper or anything, they can do anything they want with it, for all I care. I'm really scared, though, of getting in legal trouble and having to pay (money I don't have, no less). Again, sorry if this is the wrong subreddit for such questions. Thank you all in advance - any advice is welcome!

Hi everyone,

I wanted to get people's opinion on this situation I am in with my primary PhD supervisor. I'm in Australia doing my PhD on fire management. I have had ongoing issues with my primary supervisor. For example, I assisted in co-authoring a paper, under the premise that I would be allowed to submit this as part of my PhD submission (with the 1st author also submitting for her PhD, which you're apparently allowed to to in Australia). After the first author, I definitely contributed the most to the paper writing, and my name was 2nd author on the word document. Then one day, I woke up and my name was 3rd author, with zero discussion about this. She put the 2nd author as someone who had collected more data for the paper, but who had written maybe 4 sentences in total for the paper. Maybe that's normal, but the level of communication was fucked.

Other issues I have faced were serious delays in getting any fieldwork done in my first year of a 3 year PhD (as in I got zero fieldwork done due to issues completely out of my control). I am now in trouble with the uni because I am behind (surprise surprise), and my supervisor keeps telling me I need 'tighten up my time management', which feels very blame-y and not acknowledging the delays out of my control (and in part due to her poor project management of the bigger project I am working under), that got me here in the first place.

So now I am in a situation where I am doing my data analysis and really struggling. She has been quite unavailable the past month or so (away all the time, marking other PhDs), and also doesn't have any experience in the type of analysis I want to do based on readings of similar methodologies (General linear mixed models, and she keeps pushing ANOVA, which I have tried to make work and doesn't work or really make sense for what I'm doing and the type of data I have). My other co-supervisor isn't very involved, mainly because his domain is Geographic Information Systems, and I have pivoted towards using wildlife camera traps and fauna analyses - very different worlds and I don't think he would have much helpful input. I have been in contact with another lady at my uni who has extensively used camera traps and done work with fauna analyses - she knows her shit. I had floated the idea to my supervisor a while ago about bringing this lady on as a co-supervisor, and she said no. I then sent quite a firmer email today asking the same thing, but really pushing that I think for my PhD at this point (considering delays etc), that it is in my best interest to bring this lady on to assist with analysis given her experience. And my primary supervisor still said no, without giving any specific reason beyond 'at this stage I don't think it's a good idea'. She did, however, say I could consult with this lady about the analysis.

The whole thing just doesn't make sense to me. I'm behind on finishing on time, I'm stuck on the analysis and she doesn't really know much about what I'm trying to do, she is quite busy all the time (and going on leave for a month in January), and my other co-supervisor doesn't specialise in this space I am working in. Like surely it would be in everyone's best interest if we got this other lady involved. Can anyone enlighten me into why the heck she doesn't want this? Is this normal in academia?

And secondly, does anyone have advice on what I can do? Am I overreacting and this is regular PhD life? Is this level of control normal from a primary supervisor? I thought they were just meant to advise - this seems like she is calling the shots on what I can and can't do at this stage. Or is this red flag city and I need to go talk to my school/uni asap about my concerns, especially around the lack of agency I have to make this decision?

My whole experience of academia and with this supervisor has left me feeling crazy and like I'm in some weird parent kid relationship, rather than being my own independent researcher and adult who can make their own decisions, and I just can't tell anymore what is and isn't ok behaviour and dynamics. So some insights from those in academia would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

Hi all, I am starting a PhD thesis covering competition&cooperation structures from a complex system perspective and to do so I rely on a literature ranging from ecosystems in biology to suppliers management strategies or legal aspects.

I want to build strong methods wrt ref management as I am not a well-organized person. The core idea is to automatically integrate ref in dedicated folders (subsujects folders) with backlink refs to notes, comments or other articles and then rely on a LLM assistant to question this research database.

To do so I have identified the following tools: -zotero for 1st hand ref management, metadata, renaming; -DevonThink to keep files organized and for the folder management part; -Obsidian which I already use; -NotebookLM for the LLM part, but not sure on this one, never tried before, does not seem to fit with DevonT.

I can code, but cannot afford to take weeks on it.

I have seen some very interesting posts on similar questions and I would be more than happy to know your opinion on this as I feel like this is the minimal setup to properly handle biblio aspects.

PS: If you think you have interesting references on my subject I’d be delighted to read them, (be it from philosophy, economics, biology, psychiatry…)

Hi, I'll be attending a computer science academic conference in January 2025, where I have a presentation. What should I do if I get asked a question during the conference that I don't know the answer to?

How lenient would the university be, given the money he brings per year? We are in a prestigious (Top 5) university but I am not sure whether 1.5 million would put him in the "protected" list

Hello everyone, I am a graduate student in mathematics.

I got into college this year with 24 years, so since the beginning I felt a little behind, though most people in my classes don't really care or know because I mostly kept to myself.

I hate to blame this on something but a major factor in me being late is my mental health and this semester I just got way worse, fell behind in everything and ended losing the "will to fight" right at the end.

Now, this is something I always wanted. Since I was a little kid I wanted to be a scientist. It still is what I want but lately I've been thinking I'm not meant to this, life always throws everything it has against me, but more than that I'm not strong enough to take it standing.

I don't think I will give up. I've talked to professors and I'm not gonna be out of my university because of this semester. But I'm feeling really down.

I have plans to do better next year, already looked into mental health programs and it's going, even if slowly.

This is mostly me venting but I think I really need some advice.

Would love to be able to add PDFs to an app and listen to them. Are there any apps that can do that?

I just started my first year in my PhD program and wanted to know what people would think about applying for a part-time instructor job at my local community college? I have two masters and two years of TA experience under my belt. I am not TAing this first year as I received an award that covers me, but I will likely begin Instructing/TAing at my current school this coming summer onward. Does anyone have experience with doing both of these things? I genuinely enjoy teaching and it was never really a burden for me during my last master's, and I also really want to try to do as much paid work as possible lol.

I have been tutoring college level general chemistry for three years, aced two semesters in college, and taken AP Chemistry and Honors Chemistry in high school. I have glowing student and faculty reviews from previous tutoring sessions, and an extremely high retention and referral rate.

After having multiple students tell me they wish I was their teacher, I almost want to cold apply for adjunct chemistry professor positions at nearby universities. The goal is to market myself as someone who can take over General Chemistry courses, freeing availability for more experienced professors to prioritize their classes. Furthermore, I'm beyond confident in my abilities to teach a class/construct a syllabus, I've done multiple group sessions, lectures, I TA'ed a lab and served as a camp counselor for high school students interested in pursuing science fields. And due to my experience level, I would be more than willing to accept well below the lowest offered salary, while still definitely providing the same years of specific expertise in General Chemistry higher education.

I don't know how to market this expertise as something that legitimately supplements a Masters or PhD. To the recruiters at least, especially because my degree is in Environmental Science, not Chemistry either. At this point, I can easily recall the specific chapters where material students will need is, and differentiate between Chem 1 and Chem 2 knowledge, while still providing an in depth explanation of the foundational information they need. I know this course like the back of my hand.

Any tips?

EDIT: I should've known posting this in the higher ed Reddit but I want to highlight, this is first and foremost, a question. Implying, I don't know the answer. Contextually, I am on Reddit, so clearly I'm not a part of this community. I had an idea and I wanted to know if that was a crazy idea or if it had any merit. Thank you to everyone who recognized that and acted accordingly. Anyone who commented something condescending about my lack of knowledge on the subject (duh) why are you working at all near education?