
The Whisper Collective finds and showcases the best, independent academic advice from around the web. We are here to help PhD students, postdocs and academics in their work. We feature blog posts, videos, podcasts and reviews from creators in different parts of the world. This site will update as new content is created: book-mark and visit frequently to see what’s new or become a member for free and get a monthly newsletter. Click on any of the links on this page to visit active bloggers from around the world. Check out the menu for a range of other content, merch and events. Visit our About page to find out more about the Whisper Collective and our work.
Feature article
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Supporting the wellbeing of doctoral researchers who study at a distance
Some students may live and work far away from their campuses; others may be physically nearby but work remotely for a portion or all of their candidature, whether by preference, by force. This guest post by Dr Katrina McChesney (University of Waikato, New Zealand) and Dr Jamie Burford (University of Warwick, UK) offers timely advice and illuminates five principles for doctoral wellbeing....
Latest from our featured blogs
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The feedback loop of shit
I’ve often compared the last part of your PhD to putting your head in a bucket. In the Researcher developer trade we call this last bit of the PhD ‘The Write Up’. ‘Writing up’ involves hours and hours of detailed work; to end up with a manuscript ready for examiners....
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Building community for ECRs
This is one of those blogposts that started life as an email. I was asked for suggestions by a colleague who wanted to support their academic staff by creating friendly spaces in which they could share their concerns, build camaraderie, and not feel alone. This colleague could see that their...
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Supporting the wellbeing of doctoral researchers who study at a distance
Some students may live and work far away from their campuses; others may be physically nearby but work remotely for a portion or all of their candidature, whether by preference, by force. This guest post by Dr Katrina McChesney (University of Waikato, New Zealand) and Dr Jamie Burford (University of...
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anonymisation – what’s in a name?
Many researchers find themselves inventing names because it’s standard ethical procedure to anonymise the people we’ve talked with and the places we’ve been. And naming is of course a simple and straightforward process. Well, maybe. Well, not all the time. … Continue reading →...
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Rethinking Vulnerability and Sensitivity
Research ethics committees are very concerned with the potential vulnerability and sensitivity of research participants. So far, so laudable – but I don’t think they show their concern in particularly useful ways. Gaining formal approval from a research ethics committee … Continue reading →...
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The best snacks for writing
People like to have snacks while they write for so many different reasons. Once you have worked out why you snack, you can work out what specific things you would like to snack on....
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Leave, Adapt, Resist – Time to rethink Academic Twitter?
Mark Carrigan I have seen a great deal of anxiety in recent days about Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter. These concerns reveal pre-existing anxieties about the microblogging service, which over the last decade has grown from a marginal feature of academic life into something many universities tacitly expect of their...
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Call for contributions to the blog: developing organisational change for diversity, equity, and institutional democracy through the Hidden Curriculum
Our next collective initiative brings together stories of how doctoral researchers, supervisors, developers, and institutional leaders initiate and carry out organisational change in their universities, doctoral programmes, research teams, informal academic networks, and otherwise, through their learning from the Hidden Curriculum. The series of blog posts will bring together examples...
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Grief induced writer’s block – how to get through it
How do you cope with grief induced writer’s block? Academic and researcher Hilary Potter describes the processes she went through recently following a miscarriage. She hopes her experience will help others. Before Summer 2021 was a season of thwarting, of trauma and loss. It was late August. I was working...
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Long Term Prep
Viva preparation is a short term project. You don’t need to start getting ready before you submit. You don’t need to focus your final year on building up for the viva. If you have a long time to go before submission you need to focus on finishing your research and your...
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Going Rogue: Teachers designing their own conferences as a transgressive act (Philippa Nicoll Antipas)
In this post, Philippa Nicoll Antipas re-considers conferences as sites for teacher professional learning and development. She details her PhD research project Plan D, a game-like collective activity whereby teachers are supported to go rogue and design their own professional learning and development needs....
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How to take a professional headshot on your phone for $0 at home
Guest post by Victoria Tokarz Jens’ note: This blog post by University of Toronto PhD candidate Victoria Tokarz started as a LinkedIn post – written… The post How to take a professional headshot on your phone for $0 at home appeared first on From PhD to Life....
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Showing critical analysis, right from the full proposal
Susan Carter This post comes from talk at a digital writing retreat recently where I provided advice about things that …Continue reading →...