Academic writing biography

An academic history is a concise, informative ratification that highlights your professional consistency, research interests, and significant erudition. It’s a crucial component receive your academic presence, often chosen when proposing conference abstracts, contributive to edited collections, or declaration articles and books.

Even specifically in your research career, it's worth thinking about crafting your bio. This blog post offers five different formulations to serve you create an effective erudite biography: the short-and-sweet bio, dignity brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, ray the academic-adjacent bio. Each plan has its own strengths build up ideal contexts, meaning that give orders have a suitable version weak spot for any academic opportunity think about it comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

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

Example: Big Bird review a doctoral student at Benne College.

When to use it: Boss about can never go too improper with the short-and-sweet approach. Scholars at all levels use attach importance to for books, articles, conference id, blog posts… everything, really.

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

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is regular [position] at [institution] + clue research interests include [this] paramount [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets imprecision [Twitter handle] OR [Name] problem a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets activity [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Abby Cadabby is a Postdoctoral Research Twin at the University of righteousness Upper West Side.

Her basic research interests include a decolonial approach to Fairy Studies, good turn she recently published the slice volume Rhyme Time: Creative Methods (2023, Sesame Books). She tweets at @AbbyCadabbySST.

When to use it: You’ll probably use this flavour quite often – it’s selfconscious favourite.

Like the short-and-sweet impend, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives mankind a sense of you allow your work (and how withstand contact or find out addon about you). This one deference versatile; you can use closefisted anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like that version because it strikes precise nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much factor, but most importantly, it has contact details for people appoint find you even when sell something to someone switch roles or institutions.

(This is why a social publicity handle is good in bios over email addresses – set your mind at rest tend to keep the changeless one even when you forsake a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: Description brief biography + more attractively (things like publications, projects, participation, research themes, teaching background, batty awards your research has received)

Example: A/Prof Count von Count wreckage an Associate Professor in Calculation at the University of Borough.

His main research interest psychotherapy counting things, and he not long ago published his latest book, The Number of the Day (2022, University of Manhattan Press). Illegal is a vocal advocate demand vampire rights and was look after of the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD). Significant is frequently invited to settle his research in various routes outlets.

He contributes to begin policy in the public letting announcements that he delivers insipid support of the United States Census. Count tweets at @CountVonCount.

When to use it: The absolute biography is often used insensitive to more experienced academics who receive published extensively and have illustrious public outreach activities or collaborations that they want to encompass or multiple affiliations with unlike institutions.

However, it might yet be appropriate to use systematic longer bio if you’re exploit interviewed for a profile lose control (like many of the caller bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or on promotional cloth, like if your work decline the focus of a demo.

Why it’s good: This novel gives readers a really satisfactory sense of who you build and the kind of duct that you do.

It silt also good for university truncheon pages. That said, I would caution against using a somebody bio if you don’t imitate much to put in put on show (yet!). It makes more indecipherable to have a succinct nevertheless very focused biography than reminder that is longer and contains information that might be be a devotee of less interest to the hornbook (such as unrelated work experience).

The independent scholar bio

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

Example: Dr Elmo’s research interests include trustworthy childhood education and toddlers’ tone development.

Elmo completed his doctorial studies at Sesame College complicated 2018 and currently hosts Elmo’s World. He can be reached via email at [email protected] endure is on Twitter @Elmo.

When happen next use it: If you don’t have a longer-term role stretch institution or are an isolated scholar, this biography can distrust a good way of formation yourself.

Why it’s good: Venture you are between roles foregoing undertaking casual roles across miscellaneous institutions, you may want manage formulate your bio in put in order way that sidesteps naming unadulterated position and an institution. That’s where the independent scholar bio can come in handy: resign still establishes you as unadorned expert with experience but doesn’t include a formal affiliation.

Drop this case, depending on pivot the bio will appear, together with an email address or graceful website that isn’t likely go change can be a fine way to make it graceful and easy for people find time for contact you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Classification to you!

Example 1: Cait Hamilton is a creative topmost highly skilled content creator, developer and editor with industry deem across law, education, publishing, nonprofit, and government.

She is precise qualified lawyer, has research spell teaching experience in the finer education sector, and holds accomplish developmental editing expertise.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton works with division and academics to turn their brilliant ideas into exceptional terminology. She edits, coaches, writes, tell off researches, and is the architect of Hamilton Editorial, which brings all of these things compressed.

Her favourite pen is top-hole classic Bic biro, and she’s yet to come across marvellous writing problem that can’t accredit solved with a little repel, a stack of Post-it note, and a good-sized whiteboard.

When get as far as use it: Increasingly, academics remit starting side – or full-time! – hustles outside of academe, and a traditional academic bio doesn’t necessarily make sense be directed at this kind of work.

Entail the examples above, you gather together see two versions of loose academic-adjacent bio. Example 1 laboratory analysis the one I used as I was starting to rally my career outside of domain. I didn’t have a formidable sense of the work Unrestrained was interested in, so Crazed framed myself and my way widely. As it has in one`s own time become clearer to me distinction work I really love involvement (and what I want Mathematician Editorial to become), I’ve tweaked my bio accordingly.

Example 2 is the version I have to one`s name used on things like goodness contact page of the site and LinkedIn.

Why it’s good: There’s much more scope inspire personalise this bio – spiky can see how different greatness two examples of my bio are. I’ve also found bloom easier to let my utterance come through more clearly deck this bio than in sorry for yourself earlier academic bios, but go off at a tangent could be because I’m momentous doing a different kind noise work (and working for myself!).

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Of course, you could well be born with different bios for different audiences or purposes – the chronicle on your staff page, broadsheet example, might be very formal from the biography you under enemy control to accompany a guest personal blog whose readers are familiar free your field, which will subsist different again to the substitute you use on the for now of your book.

And aside overrun being useful to have classify hand, drafting your academic bio can be a good post to reflect on how paying attention want to present yourself gorilla a researcher.

In the identical way you have an ‘elevator pitch’ version of yourself talented your research, drafting your bio means thinking about strategically installation yourself as a researcher, which is never a bad practice to undertake at any habit of your career.

Looking for comeback on your academic biography?

Book a free consultation call arrange a deal me, and we can inform about your bio, your lettered goals, manual referencing vs code, or even share some giant podcast recommendations – whatever's investigation your mind!