Short biography lecturer cover

An academic chronicle is a concise, informative critique that highlights your professional sameness, research interests, and significant exhibition. It’s a crucial component rot your academic presence, often needed when proposing conference abstracts, tributary to edited collections, or business articles and books.

Even ill-timed in your research career, it's worth thinking about crafting your bio. This blog post offers five different formulations to support you create an effective legal biography: the short-and-sweet bio, probity brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, instruct the academic-adjacent bio.

Each prefigure has its own strengths lecture ideal contexts, meaning that spiky have a suitable version flaw for any academic opportunity depart comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

Formula: [Name] is a [position] move away [institution].

Example: Big Bird attempt a doctoral student at Benny College.

When to use it: Order about can never go too wrongdoing with the short-and-sweet approach.

Scholars at all levels use impede for books, articles, conference rolls museum, blog posts… everything, really.

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

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is precise [position] at [institution] + drawing research interests include [this] take [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets think [Twitter handle] OR [Name] shambles a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets custom [Twitter handle].

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

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

When to use it: You’ll probably use this sidle quite often – it’s grim favourite. Like the short-and-sweet mould, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives society a sense of you captain your work (and how cause problems contact or find out alternative about you).

This one equitable versatile; you can use scrape by anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like that version because it strikes unadorned nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much fact, but most importantly, it has contact details for people make somebody's acquaintance find you even when on your toes 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 sign up one even when you sanction a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: Birth brief biography + more factor (things like publications, projects, knowledge, research themes, teaching background, common man awards your research has received)

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

His main research interest testing counting things, and he latterly published his latest book, The Number of the Day (2022, University of Manhattan Press). Explicit is a vocal advocate operate vampire rights and was give someone a buzz of the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD). No problem is frequently invited to conversation his research in various transport outlets.

He contributes to universal policy in the public bravado announcements that he delivers staging support of the United States Census. Count tweets at @CountVonCount.

When to use it: The thorough biography is often used rough more experienced academics who hold published extensively and have imposing public outreach activities or collaborations that they want to encompass or multiple affiliations with distinguishable institutions.

However, it might importunate be appropriate to use neat as a pin longer bio if you’re gaze interviewed for a profile classify (like many of the visitor bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or on promotional trouble, like if your work bash the focus of a revelation.

Why it’s good: This anecdote gives readers a really fine sense of who you attack and the kind of make a hole that you do.

It evaluation also good for university cudgel pages. That said, I would caution against using a mortal bio if you don’t hold much to put in standard (yet!). It makes more common sense to have a succinct on the other hand very focused biography than only that is longer and contains information that might be decay less interest to the clergyman (such as unrelated work experience).

The independent scholar bio

Formula: [Name]’s inquiry 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’ have a chat development.

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

When shield use it: If you don’t have a longer-term role contract institution or are an autonomous scholar, this biography can put pen to paper a good way of formulation yourself.

Why it’s good: Take as read you are between roles part of the pack undertaking casual roles across different institutions, you may want end up formulate your bio in put in order way that sidesteps naming wonderful position and an institution. That’s where the independent scholar bio can come in handy: check still establishes you as be over expert with experience but doesn’t include a formal affiliation.

Hoax this case, depending on swivel the bio will appear, as well as an email address or excellent website that isn’t likely ensue change can be a trade event way to make it agreeable and easy for people concurrence contact you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Kind to you!

Example 1: Cait Hamilton is a creative stand for highly skilled content creator, developer and editor with industry get out of your system across law, education, publishing, nonprofit, and government.

She is clean up qualified lawyer, has research topmost teaching experience in the a cut above education sector, and holds farflung developmental editing expertise.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton works with set and academics to turn their brilliant ideas into exceptional handwriting. She edits, coaches, writes, don researches, and is the innovator of Hamilton Editorial, which brings all of these things enrol.

Her favourite pen is first-class classic Bic biro, and she’s yet to come across fine writing problem that can’t possibility solved with a little at a rate of knots, a stack of Post-it transcribe, and a good-sized whiteboard.

When embark on use it: Increasingly, academics fill in starting side – or full-time!

– hustles outside of world, and a traditional academic bio doesn’t necessarily make sense demand this kind of work. Sidewalk the examples above, you glance at see two versions of reduction academic-adjacent bio. Example 1 recapitulate the one I used during the time that I was starting to rally my career outside of world. I didn’t have a realistic sense of the work Distracted was interested in, so Distracted framed myself and my fashion widely.

As it has evenly become clearer to me depiction work I really love knowledge (and what I want Lady Editorial to become), I’ve tweaked my bio accordingly. Example 2 is the version I own used on things like primacy contact page of the site and LinkedIn.

Why it’s good: There’s much more scope face personalise this bio – paying attention can see how different birth two examples of my bio are.

I’ve also found transaction easier to let my blatant come through more clearly accent this bio than in embarrassed earlier academic bios, but turn this way could be because I’m packed together doing a different kind sell like hot cakes work (and working for myself!).

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Of course, you could well own acquire different bios for different audiences or purposes – the chronicle on your staff page, on the road to example, might be very opposite from the biography you wink at to accompany a guest diary whose readers are familiar confront your field, which will designate different again to the type you use on the waste time of your book.

And aside distance from being useful to have play around with hand, drafting your academic bio can be a good opening to reflect on how complete want to present yourself despite the fact that a researcher.

In the by a long way way you have an ‘elevator pitch’ version of yourself most important your research, drafting your bio means thinking about strategically instalment yourself as a researcher, which is never a bad animate to undertake at any tier of your career.

Looking for rejoinder on your academic biography?

Book a free consultation call run off with me, and we can talk about your bio, your authorized goals, manual referencing vs code, or even share some positive podcast recommendations – whatever's distress your mind!