The Early Career Researcher Podcast

Inspired by recent life events, Charlie and Rachael meet to discuss what it is like to leave a job (or a degree programme) in academia, and what ECRs should be thinking about when starting a new role. As we know well, leaving an academic post can be very stressful: it can involve a lot of uncertainty, self-doubt, and pressure. But there are also huge positives to starting in a new post, and we want to emphasise these and embrace the challenges! We talked about: how it can feel to be leaving a job and starting a new one (and how...

In this episode, we welcome back Rosie, and witness the long-awaited return of one of our founders, Olivia! Like many people who are coming to the end of their time as PhD researchers, Olivia is now exploring the ways in which she can start publishing her research. One of these potential avenues, is to turn some of her research into an article for an academic journal, and so we thought it would be worth having a discussion about how that process works, from deciding which journal to publish with, understanding the effect that the host journal may have on the...

In this episode, Charlie is joined by special guest and academic history coach Nicholas Morton. Nic lends his insight into the process of dealing with criticism in academia. We discuss: 1) the places in which we often encounter criticism (including peer review of our publications, book reviews, and Q+A at conferences), 2) our strategies for how to cope with this criticism (including how to judge whether criticisms are valid or not and then how to draw up action plans), and 3) how to actually give criticism to others. You can find more about Nic in the following places: Nic's book, the Mongol...

In this episode, Charlie is joined by our long-time friend of the show Laura, plus two new guests, Isla and Josh, as we talk about what it is like to attend your first large conference. Laura and Charlie have attended lots of large conferences together, but Josh and Isla were attending their first ever events as PhD researchers. We talked about 1) why you might want to attend large conferences; 2) how you can get involved in presenting and funding a large-conference trip; 3) things that can make us nervous about large conferences and 4) what our top pieces of advice would be to...

Following on from last time, when we discussed teaching in schools as a post-academic career option, this week, Charlie and Stephanie meet to discuss teaching opportunities for early career researchers in universities (spoiler alert: Rachael never made it!) Stephanie (recently appointed as a BBC New Generation Thinker: hooray!) is studying to be elected as a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (links below) and so we thought it was a good time to talk about: - What teaching opportunities exist for ECRs in Humanities. - Some advice on what to agree to, and what you might want to avoid. ...

In this episode, Charlie and Rosie are joined by a very special guest, Catherine, as we talk about career paths in school teaching. This is a career path that for some, leads on quite naturally from academia, and which allows some academics to fulfil some of their biggest career ambitions. But what does school teaching actually entail, what is it like, and what are the good (and bad) reasons for choosing to pursue this career option? After (and indeed during) her career as a Classics researcher, our guest, Catherine, gained a variety of roles teaching in state-funded high schools and...

In this episode, Charlie and Rosie are joined by our long-time friend of the show Ana, as we discuss one of the most nerve-wracking challenges in academia: how to do your best in academic job interviews. We discuss the likely format of interviews (online, in person, presentation elements, panel Q+A etc.), talk about some of the likely questions that are often asked of the candidates, and we recount our experiences of how you can best negotiate the nerves, try to stay calm, and show your interviewers all of your best qualities! If you enjoy the episode, please give us...

In this episode, Charlie and Rosie are joined by our friend and very special guest, Eleanor Barraclough, as we explore the roles that media work can play in academic and academic-adjacent career paths. Eleanor shares and reflects on her (extensive) experiences in working with radio, TV, and print media, and we explore topics such as: the challenges of getting into media work; the benefits and sometimes also the drawbacks of working with media outlets while also following an academic career; and we ask what role media work has in an academic career in general. Eleanor (https://eleanorbarraclough.com) began her...

In this episode, Charlie and Rosie (she's been promoted to an official co-host!) talk with Chris: a US-based academic who returned to University life after a successful career and with busy demands of family life. After an introduction from Chris about her journey and what she is up to now (working as an academic teacher and administrator in the US), Charlie and Rosie ask some key questions including: why Chris decided that it was time to return to academia; how this transition felt, how Chris surmounted the obstacles to progression (answer: get some good mentor figures!) and finally what advice...

In this episode, Charlie and Rosie are joined by Elizabeth Boyle, author of the book, 'Fierce Appetites: Lessons from my Year of Untamed Thinking', which was published in 2022 and was nominated for multiple literary awards including the Irish Book Awards non-fiction book of the year in that year. Lizzie talks to us about the ways in which writing for non-academics has influenced her career (as an academic but also as an all-round writer), we discuss the various ways in which Early Career Academics can get experience of writing for non-academic audiences, and we weigh up the place of non-academic writing...

In this episode, Charlie and Rosie are joined by special guest Ben Jones, Lecturer at the University of East Anglia and long-term representative of the University and Colleges Union (UCU). We embark on a detailed discussion of the financial crisis that has been affecting academia in the UK over the past few years (and which has hit the humanities hard). We discuss: the causes of the crisis, current responses by Universities and UK Government, and possible long-term solutions, and then, what Early Career Researchers can be doing to help navigate our own position in the midst of this mess! Please...

In this episode, Charlie is joined by our regular contributor Rosie (Brepols publishers), and our special guest Caroline Palmer (Boydell & Brewer publishers). We discuss challenges and changes seen in academic Humanities publishing over the past 10 years, and give advice on what this means for ECRs, as you seek to disseminate your work among intended readers by liaising with publishers (and hopefully getting book deals!) You can find more information about Rosie and Caroline's employers by finding them online at: https://www.brepols.net and https://boydellandbrewer.com

For our twentieth episode, Charlie and Rachael spend some time reflecting on a year of working on the ECR Podcast. We discuss our aims when we started, whether we think we've achieved them, what we've enjoyed most about podcasting on this topic, what we've found most difficult, and we talk about plans for what we would like to do next in our future episodes. We hope that this episode offers a fun tour of what we've already done and a teaser of what we're going to do next, and we also hope that it can provide some inspiration for anyone...

In our latest episode, Charlie and Rachael are joined by Lucy, our resident expert in Public Engagement for the Humanities! We begin by talking about what PE actually is, what PE initiatives can look like and what sort of activities count as public engagement. We give some tips on how to get involved in Public Engagement, what kinds of activities make for successful and not so successful activities, and we reflect on how our experiences of PE have influenced our academic careers.

In this episode, Charlie, Rachael and Steph convene to talk about writing academic book reviews. Whether you ave no idea what an academic book review is, or if you've thought about writing one but never had the chance, or if you've written several but without really being happy with the results, we have something for you! Join us as we discuss: 1) what academic book reviews are and why they exist, 2) how to get involved in writing them, 3) what makes a good or a bad book review, 4) our tips on writing helpful reviews, and 5) some guidance on how to make the...

In this episode, Charlie is joined by Rosie and a new guest, Stephanie Brown, as we discuss the topic of Edited Volumes. After we start by outlining our varying levels of experience with the genre, we then spend time thinking about: 1) what these edited collections are for and why they exist; 2) how you might go about writing an individual chapter for an edited collection, and 3) how (and how not) to go about being the editor of a collection of essays: from original conception, through to chapter selection, liaison with publishers, dealing with authors, and how to finish the project on...

In this episode, Charlie, Rachael, and Rosie (now official Friend Of The Show) discuss the process of anonymous peer review. We talk about 1) what anonymous peer review is for and how the process works (for monographs as well as journal articles and book-chapters), 2) how it can feel to receive peer review and what some of the challenges are for us as authors; and 3) how to GIVE peer review, for the maximum benefit of the original authors. We bring various perspectives, including Rachael as an ECR who has only a little experience of the process, to Charlie who has given and...

In this episode, Charlie and Rachael are joined by Dr Laura Varnham of Oxford University, as we talk about Imposter Syndrome. We walk through what Imposter Syndrome is, how to spot it, and how we can develop short and long-term strategies for beating it back into the abyss that is belongs in! We recognise that all of us are affected in different ways and that there are no catch-all solutions for boosting academic self-confidence, but we try to work through some ways that have helped us in the past, and may be of use to other ERCs. The episode fits...

In this special 'live' recording, Charlie, Rachael and Olivia were joined by our friends Laura and Rosie, as we engaged in a discussion on publishing academic work in the humanities. The episode was recorded 'live' at the Leeds International Medieval Congress in July (apologies for any issues with the recording quality!) The panel discuss issues such as how to publish your monograph, how to negotiate peer review, and how to liaise with publishers, before then opening up to our conference audience for a Q+A session. As noted by Olivia, the session was sponsored by the Institute of English studies...

In the first of a series of episodes on academic publishing, Charlie is joined by Rosie Bonté (@Rosie Bonte on X/Twitter) from academic publishers Brepols (www.brepols.net). Rosie talks us through her journey from PhD research on Viking Scandinavia through to her appointment as Publishing Manager at Brepols, with advice on how to get into the publishing business. We also discuss some tips in academic publishing, and some advice on publishing procedures and customs. Rosie discusses the Norwegian publishing rankings, which you can find here: https://halmstad-university-library.helpscoutdocs.com/article/28-norwegian-list Please leave us your feedback and follow u...

Following on from our previous episode on Writing Conference Papers, Charlie and Olivia were joined by a new guest (Charlotte) to share our thoughts on attending academic conferences. We discussed: 1) what we like about conferences and what we get from attending them; 2) how to prepare before attending; 3) how to get the most out of the actual sessions; 4) the dreaded 'Networking', and 5) how to find downtime at conferences. Please leave us your feedback on our show via Twitter/X @ecrpodcasters, BlueSky @ecrpodcasters, or by emailing ecrpodcasters@gmail.com

In this episode, Rachael and Charlie discuss their experiences of conference papers. With summer conference season coming up, we're busy writing our papers and thinking about how to get the best out of our experiences. Our discussion touches on topics including: what makes a good (or bad) conference paper, how to actually write a good paper (and how long it takes), and we also reflect on what are the best things about giving conference papers. Please feel free to give us feedback on Spotify, by following us on Twitter/X @ecrpodcasters and Bluesky (ecrpodcasters) or by emailing ecrpodcasters@gmail.com

In this episode, Charlie, Olivia and Rachael take time to discuss teaching jobs in academia: we covered 1) the types of teaching-focused job opportunities that exist, 2) the skills and experiences you might need to apply for these jobs, and 3) what makes good and not so good applications (Charlie in particular, recommended Karen Kelsky's The Professor is In', which you can find with a quick online search. Please do give us feedback on our episodes, leave us reviews, and follow us on Twitter/X @ecrpodcasters, and on BlueSky 'ECRPodcasters', or email us with your feedback/questions: ecrpodcasters@gmail.com

Charlie and Rachael are joined by our guest contributor, Laura, as we discuss the topic of writing monographs. Discussion points include: 1) WHY we might want to write a humanities monograph; 2) how the publication process works; 3) how you can decide whether you have a good topic for a book, and 4) how to actually get your writing done. If you like the episode, you can follow the show on Spotify, follow us on Twitter/X and on BlueSky where we are listed as @ecrpodcasters, or email us at ecrpodcasters@gmail.com

In Episode 8, we discussed careers options outside of academia. With Rich, who works as a university careers advisor after finishing his PhD in 2020, we discussed: 1) some statistics on the numbers of PhDs who continue into academia; 2) reasons why ECRs might want to leave academia; and 3) some advice on how to decide what other careers might appeal. Links mentioned in the show: https://t.co/Au6T8QB7LD (Early Career Researcher website) https://www.linkedin.com (LinkedIn) https://www.prospects.ac.uk/ (Prospects carers for graduates) https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2020/02/17/the-employment-of-phd-graduates-in-the-uk-what-do-we-know/ (UK HEPI study) Follow us on Twitter/X...

When is the best time for academics to have children? What challenges does having children pose for the life of an Early Career Researcher? What information do ECRs need to help them make decisions about their future family plans? Whether you are certain that you don’t want children, or whether you don't know exactly when and how to make it happen around your career, or whether you have children and you’re working it all out as you go along, the issues that we face as academics and parents can have a huge impact on our job satisfaction, and our...

In this sixth episode, Charlie, Rachael and Olivia discuss how to apply for postdoctoral research positions in the UK and beyond. We discuss open-call funding schemes, as well as specific PDRA (post-doctoral research associate) job schemes, and we give our tips on how the system works, and how you can make the most of your applications. If you liked this episode, please give us feedback via Twitter/X https://twitter.com/ecrpodcasters (@ecrpodcasters), follow us on BlueSky (@ecrpodcasters.bsky.social) or email us: ecrpodcasters@gmail.com You can also follow along with our podcast blog, on our website, the Early...

In this episode, Charlie, Olivia and Rachael discussed the issues that we face as ERCs when we want to take holidays from our work. We felt like ECRs are under such huge pressure to produce work and keep up with the pace of the academic world, sometimes we can struggle to feel like we deserve a holiday, or sometimes we feel like we can't fully switch off when are are on one. So our podcast aims to provide a helpful guide to 'why holidays are important, and how to enjoy them'. We talked about 1) Why we take holidays; 2) How to...

In this episode, Charlie and Olivia are joined by a new contributor, Ana, as we discuss something that nearly all ECRs worry about: how to improve your academic writing! Almost every humanities researcher is responsible for disseminating their research by writing about it. Whether you are trying to write your PhD thesis, writing a conference paper, writing a journal article, or hoping to one day write a book, developing good writing habits can have a huge impact on the success of your project. We discuss our experiences and share our tips on 'writing rituals', including: Environments: where and when do...

In this episode, Charlie, Rachael and Olivia discuss a the tricky topic of ‘How to Start a New Research Project’. Whether you are starting out on researching for a new PhD, whether you’ve finished that and you’re now starting a new research job, or even if you are an experienced researcher trying to begin work on your fifth book, beginning the first phases of a project can be a daunting, and at times stressful, experience. In today’s podcast, we’re going to be sharing our experiences of this process. Our discussions include: How to identify your training needs for th...

Last time, we talked about the decision-making process: reasons for wanting to do a PhD, and offering up our experiences on what we felt it can been like to do a PhD (If you haven’t heard it, go back and listen to our different perspectives in Episode 1). In this episode, we discussed how to apply for a PhD, with questions like: - How does the actual process work, and what do I need to get started? - How do you choose the right host institution or PhD supervisor? - What are the funding options? We hope that you find ou...

In our very first episode of the new pod, we explored one of the most important questions an early career research can ask, because it effectively starts your career: this question is: ‘Should I apply to do a PhD?’ Not everybody knows how the process works, so we discussed some basic questions relating to reasons for wanting to do and what it is actually like to do a PhD. If you enjoyed the podcast, please give us a review, and follow us on Twitter/X @ecrpodcasters You can also get in touch by email: ecrpodcasters@gmail.com For more help and...