Author Archives: Nicola Abram

About Nicola Abram

I'm researching black British women's theatre, based at the University of Reading. I'm looking forward to swapping my mortarboard for one of those floppy velvet hats!

The Value of PhD Assessments #2

Sorry I’ve been away for so long! Moving house has been keeping me busy (perhaps a blog post on juggling the PhD and the rest of your life to follow!). It seems ’tis the season…not just for mince pies and … Read More »

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Thinking Ahead: Transferable Skills

On Heather Doran’s previous post, Tom Williamson (Doctor in Systems Biology), commented thus: “I’ve found out the hard way that a PhD does not make you more employable outside of academia, unless the job in question is explicitly related to … Read More »

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Time Management I: The Pomodoro Technique

An apple a day keeps the doctor away…but are there any benefits to a daily handful of tomatoes? Most PhD students will quickly discover new depths of the human tendency towards procrastination. We develop an irrational compulsion to immediately complete … Read More »

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And they’re off! Planning Your Career

Just a quick one today, blog fans! I’ve noticed there are lots of great opportunities to receive training and advice for the Big Wide World (the one where you have A Job) available at the moment. Last week I was … Read More »

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Going Up! The Elevator Pitch

No doubt those of us who watched the final of The Apprentice did so with a sort of morbid curiosity, squirming yet captivated as the final four underwent the gruelling series of interviews. Seeing other people put on the spot … Read More »

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The Overactive Imagination of a Doctoral Researcher

If Google gobbles up your search terms and spits you out at a site called ‘Real Life PhD Student’, chances are you’re a) considering a PhD and want to know what it’s really like, or b) already doing a PhD, … Read More »

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Integrating Research and Teaching

I have a confession: as an undergraduate, I assumed that lecturers spent their entire lives poised at their desks, module descriptions in hand, waiting for us students to traipse into their book-lined offices so they could whir into action. I … Read More »

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