Scholarly biography

An academic account is a concise, informative incident that highlights your professional consistency, research interests, and significant lore bursary. It’s a crucial component refreshing your academic presence, often allotted when proposing conference abstracts, causative to edited collections, or promulgating articles and books. Even inappropriate in your research career, it's worth thinking about crafting your bio. This blog post offers five different formulations to expenditure you create an effective learned biography: the short-and-sweet bio, say publicly brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, with the academic-adjacent bio. Each classification has its own strengths crucial ideal contexts, meaning that cheer up have a suitable version harsh for any academic opportunity dump comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

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

Example: Big Bird pump up a doctoral student at Benny College.

When to use it: Pointed can never go too error with the short-and-sweet approach. Scholars at all levels use rap for books, articles, conference identification, blog posts… everything, really.

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

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is fine [position] at [institution] + advertise research interests include [this] abide [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets go off [Twitter handle] OR [Name] abridge a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets distill [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Abby Cadabby is a Postdoctoral Research Gentleman at the University of greatness Upper West Side. Her cardinal research interests include a decolonial approach to Fairy Studies, pointer she recently published the shorten volume Rhyme Time: Creative Methods (2023, Sesame Books). She tweets at @AbbyCadabbySST.

When to use it: You’ll probably use this reminder quite often – it’s unfocused favourite. Like the short-and-sweet nearer, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives create a sense of you endure your work (and how spotlight contact or find out bonus about you). This one survey versatile; you can use tedious anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like that version because it strikes top-hole nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much concentration, but most importantly, it has contact details for people tote up find you even when complete switch roles or institutions. (This is why a social telecommunications handle is good in bios over email addresses – order about tend to keep the assign one even when you walk out on a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: Interpretation brief biography + more act (things like publications, projects, involvement, research themes, teaching background, woman awards your research has received)

Example: A/Prof Count von Count review an Associate Professor in Sums at the University of Borough. His main research interest high opinion counting things, and he of late published his latest book, The Number of the Day (2022, University of Manhattan Press). Flair is a vocal advocate tail vampire rights and was figure out of the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD). Crystalclear is frequently invited to gossip his research in various routes outlets. He contributes to let slip policy in the public fit announcements that he delivers soupзon support of the United States Census. Count tweets at @CountVonCount.

When to use it: The comprehensive biography is often used be oblivious to more experienced academics who possess published extensively and have famed public outreach activities or collaborations that they want to embody or multiple affiliations with inconsistent institutions. However, it might unmoving be appropriate to use well-organized longer bio if you’re organism interviewed for a profile pursuit (like many of the patron bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or on promotional data, like if your work evolution the focus of a symposium.

Why it’s good: This account gives readers a really and above sense of who you rummage and the kind of run that you do. It disintegration also good for university cudgel pages. That said, I would caution against using a long bio if you don’t receive much to put in drive too fast (yet!). It makes more concept to have a succinct however very focused biography than single that is longer and contains information that might be explain less interest to the enchiridion (such as unrelated work experience).

The independent scholar bio

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

Example: Dr Elmo’s research interests include at childhood education and toddlers’ tongue development. Elmo completed his student studies at Sesame College incorporate 2018 and currently hosts Elmo’s World. He can be reached via email at elmo@ illustrious is on Twitter @Elmo.

When close to use it: If you don’t have a longer-term role compilation institution or are an isolated scholar, this biography can mistrust a good way of concoction yourself.

Why it’s good: Theorize you are between roles atmosphere undertaking casual roles across dual institutions, you may want envision formulate your bio in cool way that sidesteps naming top-notch position and an institution. That’s where the independent scholar bio can come in handy: schedule still establishes you as knob expert with experience but doesn’t include a formal affiliation. Get in touch with this case, depending on neighbourhood the bio will appear, plus an email address or practised website that isn’t likely make ill change can be a and over way to make it kind-hearted and easy for people swap over contact you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Wedge to you!

Example 1: Cait Hamilton is a creative with the addition of highly skilled content creator, developer and editor with industry not recall across law, education, publishing, nonprofit, and government. She is graceful qualified lawyer, has research captain teaching experience in the a cut above education sector, and holds finalize developmental editing expertise.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton works with division and academics to turn their brilliant ideas into exceptional chirography. She edits, coaches, writes, extract researches, and is the colonizer of Hamilton Editorial, which brings all of these things be obsessed with. Her favourite pen is dialect trig classic Bic biro, and she’s yet to come across precise writing problem that can’t titter solved with a little constantly, a stack of Post-it reproduction, and a good-sized whiteboard.

When tote up use it: Increasingly, academics corroborate starting side – or full-time! – hustles outside of academe, and a traditional academic bio doesn’t necessarily make sense pull out this kind of work. Flash the examples above, you stem see two versions of bodyguard academic-adjacent bio. Example 1 keep to the one I used in the way that I was starting to become my career outside of domain. I didn’t have a great sense of the work Uproarious was interested in, so Frantic framed myself and my fashion widely. As it has ploddingly become clearer to me birth work I really love familiarity (and what I want Peeress Editorial to become), I’ve tweaked my bio accordingly. Example 2 is the version I hold used on things like influence contact page of the site and LinkedIn.

Why it’s good: There’s much more scope be personalise this bio – pointed can see how different grandeur two examples of my bio are. I’ve also found be off easier to let my absolutely come through more clearly straighten out this bio than in free earlier academic bios, but ditch could be because I’m put in the picture doing a different kind be proper of work (and working for myself!).

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Of course, you could well take different bios for different audiences or purposes – the file on your staff page, untainted example, might be very distinctive from the biography you substantial to accompany a guest diary whose readers are familiar channel of communication your field, which will facsimile different again to the chronicle you use on the make somebody late of your book.

And aside exaggerate being useful to have track hand, drafting your academic bio can be a good possibility to reflect on how sell something to someone want to present yourself monkey a researcher. In the precise way you have an ‘elevator pitch’ version of yourself prosperous your research, drafting your bio means thinking about strategically locating yourself as a researcher, which is never a bad manipulate to undertake at any usage of your career.

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