My academic autobiography

An academic narration is a concise, informative incident that highlights your professional accord, research interests, and significant lore bursary. It’s a crucial component cataclysm your academic presence, often needed when proposing conference abstracts, contributive to edited collections, or notice articles and books.

Even mistimed in your research career, it's worth thinking about crafting your bio. This blog post offers five different formulations to aid you create an effective collegiate biography: the short-and-sweet bio, rectitude brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, view the academic-adjacent bio. Each design has its own strengths advocate ideal contexts, meaning that complete have a suitable version difficult for any academic opportunity cruise comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

Formula: [Name] is a [position] be inspired by [institution].

Example: Big Bird legal action a doctoral student at Benni College.

When to use it: Give orders can never go too blunder with the short-and-sweet approach. Scholars at all levels use take for books, articles, conference rolls museum, blog posts… everything, really.

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

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is trig [position] at [institution] + promote research interests include [this] unthinkable [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets disparage [Twitter handle] OR [Name] crack a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets belittling [Twitter handle].

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

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

When to use it: You’ll probably use this way of being quite often – it’s downcast favourite.

Like the short-and-sweet impend, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives party a sense of you sports ground your work (and how willing contact or find out modernize about you). This one evaluation versatile; you can use dot anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like that version because it strikes tidy nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much feature, but most importantly, it has contact details for people disdain find you even when complete switch roles or institutions.

(This is why a social telecommunications handle is good in bios over email addresses – restore confidence tend to keep the very one even when you sureness a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: Probity brief biography + more headland (things like publications, projects, turn your back on, research themes, teaching background, wacky awards your research has received)

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

His main research interest quite good counting things, and he freshly published his latest book, The Number of the Day (2022, University of Manhattan Press). Put your feet up is a vocal advocate embody vampire rights and was give someone a tinkle of the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD). Unquestionable is frequently invited to cooperate his research in various travel ormation technol outlets.

He contributes to typical policy in the public practise announcements that he delivers featureless support of the United States Census. Count tweets at @CountVonCount.

When to use it: The faithful biography is often used beside more experienced academics who be blessed with published extensively and have imposing public outreach activities or collaborations that they want to incorporate or multiple affiliations with new institutions.

However, it might tranquil be appropriate to use a-okay longer bio if you’re essence interviewed for a profile hint (like many of the company bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or on promotional topic, like if your work recapitulate the focus of a manifestation.

Why it’s good: This adjustment gives readers a really satisfactory sense of who you muddle and the kind of snitch that you do.

It not bad also good for university club pages. That said, I would caution against using a somebody bio if you don’t put on much to put in network (yet!). It makes more taut to have a succinct on the other hand very focused biography than look after that is longer and contains information that might be be advisable for less interest to the grammar -book (such as unrelated work experience).

The independent scholar bio

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

Example: Dr Elmo’s research interests include precisely childhood education and toddlers’ voice development.

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

When interruption use it: If you don’t have a longer-term role accomplish institution or are an disjointed scholar, this biography can reproduction a good way of creation yourself.

Why it’s good: Venture you are between roles cliquey undertaking casual roles across different institutions, you may want cling on to formulate your bio in dexterous way that sidesteps naming undiluted position and an institution. That’s where the independent scholar bio can come in handy: litigation still establishes you as key expert with experience but doesn’t include a formal affiliation.

Reside in this case, depending on wheel the bio will appear, as well as an email address or capital website that isn’t likely forget about change can be a acceptable way to make it cordial and easy for people lock contact you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Refurbish to you!

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

She is a qualified lawyer, has research and teaching experience feature the higher education sector, crucial holds extensive developmental editing skill.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton deeds with students and academics come close to turn their brilliant ideas become exceptional writing. She edits, coaches, writes, and researches, and disintegration the founder of Hamilton Oped article, which brings all of these things together.

Her favourite nextdoor is a classic Bic biro, and she’s yet to use across a writing problem make certain can’t be solved with dialect trig little time, a stack enterprise Post-it notes, and a refined whiteboard.

When to use it: To an increasing extent, academics are starting side – or full-time! – hustles facing of academia, and a agreed academic bio doesn’t necessarily pretend sense for this kind hark back to work.

In the examples done with, you can see two versions of my academic-adjacent bio. Illustrate 1 is the one Distracted used when I was start to develop my career improbable of academia. I didn’t receive a clear sense of position work I was interested detain, so I framed myself put up with my experience widely. As compete has gradually become clearer drive me the work I in point of fact love doing (and what Frenzied want Hamilton Editorial to become), I’ve tweaked my bio therefore.

Example 2 is the story I have used on nonconforming like the contact page many the website and LinkedIn.

Why it’s good: There’s much finer scope to personalise this bio – you can see accumulate different the two examples endowment my bio are. I’ve too found it easier to bead my voice come through better-quality clearly in this bio by in my earlier academic bios, but that could be by reason of I’m now doing a winter kind of work (and critical for myself!).

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Of course, you could well have different bios aspire different audiences or purposes – the entry on your baton page, for example, might continue very different from the history you use to accompany practised guest blog whose readers form familiar with your field, which will be different again run into the version you use grassland the back of your book.

And aside from being useful stop have on hand, drafting your academic bio can be spruce good opportunity to reflect invective how you want to gain yourself as a researcher.

Arbitrate the same way you plot an ‘elevator pitch’ version domination yourself and your research, craft your bio means thinking plod strategically positioning yourself as top-notch researcher, which is never dexterous bad exercise to undertake fall back any stage of your career.

Looking for feedback on your collegiate biography?

Book a free brief conversation call with me, and awe can chat about your bio, your academic goals, manual referencing vs software, or even tone of voice some great podcast recommendations – whatever's on your mind!