Hello. First time teaching (undergrads) this semester, and I am now, ahem, first time marker. My field is humanities, so essay-heavy although this assignment I am currently grading is 1000 words each so not too bad.

My problem is trying to speed up marking. I started marking today, and have so far made it through six essays… in about 5 hours. I think I am notionally paid for about 3 essays to be marked per hour, but I guess I was prepared for the first lot to take a tiny bit longer since I’m getting used to it.

What I wasn’t prepared for was just “how long” it’s taking. I have another 36 essays to do. I tried setting a clock for 20 mins each time like I am paid for, but I keep going way over. (I have ADHD so a fair bit of time blindness I guess.)

I am a final year PhD and I am desperate to get back to my own work as quickly as I can. How can I speed up marking as a first timer so I can get closer to the 20 mins mark – and hopefully from that, learn how to stick to time next time I mark?

Bonus points for hacking the ADHD time blindness situation.

ETA: There is a rubric I am using! Which is helpful.

As mentioned in previous posts, I am a TT professor, who feels under paid and extremely overworked. I have voiced my concerns and the department's solution is to "reassign" me to a different position with more work. I have put feelers out and think I have a really good shot at another position outside academia.

Pros: Pay is better Closer to my wife's family (we have an infant.) Cost of living is cheaper.

Cons: My PhD is wasted Swing shift We just bought a house last summer.

Am I a fool for considering giving up my TT position?

I defended my dissertation in early March, submitted all the revisions, and signed a contract to start my dream TT job at an R1 this Fall! Now that the dissertation and job market madness is finally over, I suddenly have so much time on my hands. I’ve already started working on turning my dissertation into publications, drafting a few papers—but I’m wondering what else I should be doing between now and the start of the semester. I’ll be prepping for my Fall courses, of course, but beyond that, I’m not sure how to best use this in-between time.

Any advice for a brand-new, incoming TT assistant professor in the social sciences? Should I focus on professional development? Try to get as many papers ready for submission as possible before the tenure clock starts? Work on personal growth or just take a breather?

Would love to hear how others approached this transitional period!

Hi all, I wanted to share my situation and get some honest perspectives. I’ve been struggling with this decision and could really use some outside insight.

Earlier this year, I received a postdoc offer from a very prominent lab. Extremely well-known in my field, and honestly, the kind of place people dream of joining. However, the PI recently shared that they’re facing potential funding instability due to NIH budget issues. They’ve encouraged me to apply for a foundation fellowship to support the position. I’m planning to apply, but as with most fellowships, it’s highly competitive and not guaranteed.

If it all works out, being in that lab could open a lot of doors, academically and professionally. The PI is a major name, and being part of their group carries a certain weight. That said, the environment is also known to be high-pressure, with a strong emphasis on publishing big and securing your own funding early.

Because of the uncertainty, I reconnected with another PI I’d spoken to earlier—someone at a good institution with more stable funding and a good reputation. It’s not as flashy, but they’re known for being supportive and collaborative, and I think I’d be set up to do good science with more work-life balance. Still, it doesn’t have the same name recognition or intensity of opportunity.

I know I’ll work hard wherever I go, but I’m scared I’ll choose the more stable path out of fear, and will regret later for not leaping something riskier but more high-profile.

Has anyone else faced a choice between a “dream lab” with uncertainty and a more stable, supportive environment? Any thoughts on how to make a grounded decision?

title; im currently deciding between phd programs and confused where to go. my undergrad advisor is trying to persuade me to stay and do my phd with them, but im confused bc don’t normally advisors encourage their students to go elsewhere and expand their horizons?? they claim it’s because they think i’m a shy person and wouldn’t thrive in a larger lab environment with less hands-on advising (which are places i got other offers at), and if i stay here i would get more support from them. idk if they are right or if they are just gaslighting me.

i feel like i have mixed feelings abt working w them for the past 3 years. there were times where i felt rly discouraged by them. for example, it was difficult for me to get credit for my work; they tried to give my current project to someone else; they ignored me at conference while introducing the other undergrad in my lab to profs (we were both applying for phds this year), so i ended up crying in the bathroom.

however, they are hands-on/supportive when it comes to research work itself and also wrote me rly good letters of rec that got me into top ranked schools which i’m rly thankful for. i can tell they care abt their other students, but when it comes to me im not sure. any advice would be appreciated.

Hey-o! New chemistry prof here. I’m prepping my syllabus for this fall, and it’s quite long due to all the required sections from my institution.

Instead of a traditional syllabus day presentation, I was planning on giving a brief lecture on how to succeed in the course and then finish that off with some frequently asked questions about the syllabus.

What are some frequently asked questions that you think students would most like to hear? I am guessing details about grading and late work are probably some of the most pressing matters, but are there other things I’m not thinking about?

Thanks in advance :-)

I recently came across the KES 2025 conference website: http://kes2025.kesinternational.org, and I’m honestly a bit skeptical about its legitimacy and quality.

Here are a few things that raised concerns for me:

• The submission deadline is just one week away, and they claim that notification of acceptance will be sent out in only a month. That’s a very short turnaround compared to other conferences of a similar ranking (Rank B), which usually take longer for peer review and decisions.
• The website design looks outdated and not very professional. It gave me the impression that it might be a reused template, which made me question the overall seriousness of the event.

can you tell me if it's a scam or legit, thanks for your help.

Hi all,

About a month ago, I applied for a position at a school. Around a week ago, I received a rejection email. To be honest, I appreciated since at least I heard back. Then, last Thursday, I got a phone call from the school asking if I was still interested. I said "of course," and they told me the dean would reach out to me on Friday. I was on the subway, so there might be a little chance that I heard it wrong. Anyway, I waited, but no email came.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the number and found a professor's name and email associated with it.

Now I'm wondering, would it be "awkward" to send a reminder to the professor to ask if the process is still moving forward? As far as I remember, campus visits were supposed to happen this week, so if I’m back in the process, I’ll need to rearrange my schedule a bit.

What would you do in this situation?

Thanks for your insights!

As someone new to experimental work, I’ve conducted a few experiments before but didn’t keep thorough records. Lately, I’ve come to realize the importance of proper documentation. However, I’m not quite sure how to begin. What key elements should be included in an experiment record, and how can I reflect more effectively and draw inspiration during the process?

A new local university (Europe) is offering an interdisciplinary PhD program in "Digital Transformation in Learning" which sounds promising but I'm wondering if it is actually going to be worth anything in a long run. I haven't found similar degree programs elsewhere so hard to compare. What do you think?

I am a PolSci BA and MA graduate from a predominantly positivist school in Europe. Our department tends to favour quantitative methods over qualitative or interpretivist ones. There were a few faculty members who were more into qualitative methods and ethnography, but they had no real power.

My own background is mostly in discourse and content analysis, mostly in social media. I am both sceptical of quantitative research and quite bad at maths/computation. Also, I got a good grade in the R course, but I cannot do anything in RStudio, so basically I have no solid knowledge.

Nevertheless, I tried to use mixed methods (OLS regression) in my master's thesis, now in my PhD thesis. It turned out quite badly, because I had actually emphasised the qualitative methods in a limited way without actually doing any quantitative research. Originally, I wanted to master both methodologies and have a solid, respectable quantitative background, but that was not so successful.

Now my PI is expecting me to learn R and SPSS myself to process the survey data they have collected. But I have no real motivation to learn it and have lost interest in the subject. Now I understand that I applied for the programme that I actually dislike as well as the topic - I find it interesting but not really that much to lose 3 years on it.

I am trying to discipline myself and start dabbling in R and SPSS with quant. methods, thinking about applying to some other PhD programmes, but still most of them require quant. methods as a main set of skills.

So could you please give me some advice, is it better to continue learning the quantitative methods because of the better prospects (both in academia and industry) or to abandon it and pursue my interests in qualitative research? Considering at the same time that I have actually lost my 'pure' qualitative research skills and now can only do qualitative content analysis.

Thank you very much!

TLDR: should I continue with quantitative or qualitative methods if I like qualitative research more but have lost my skills in it by trying unsuccessfully to force myself into quantitative?

Hi, This might seems a but off from regular academic questions, but I recently got approved as a poster presenter by ASM Microbe. But the travel cost is quite high even with university grants. I have applied for all possible grant in the university too but they only cover partially. I am also an international student so its even harder to apply for external grants. Which is why I came to go fund me. I have been sharing it around but I am afraid that I might not get enough for the conference. Do you guys have any advice on apply for travel grants for international student? Or anywhere that I can share my fundraising? Thank you for any advice!

Thinking of having a standardized gift to give my doctoral & maybe also thesis-based masters trainees when they graduate. Something small but meaningful; possibly something I make in my wood shop. I only have an average of 2 or 3 such students per year.

Do any of you do this? If so, what do you give your grads? If not, are there policy or ethics reasons you don’t?

I started a preliminary graduate school application timeline for myself and explored my research interests at the beginning of the year (which included niche humanities programs centering tech, human rights, and storytelling). However, with Trump's threats against higher education and specific attacks on the sciences, what can a humanities devotee like myself expect? Should I even apply anymore?

Side note: I'm really sorry to see so many great (current and potential) grad school students get the rug pulled from under them. It's so unfair.

My legal name is still my deadname and I'm worried that it might affect me in professional contexts. I would prefer not to use my deadname obviously but is there any precedent on this kind of thing?

Hi all, I am a masters student in Neuroscience program and the coming week I have to present my first literature review. I need a small suggestion from experienced people in the group. For the materials and method section, how should I present it? I was thinking of making small graphical flow drawings on bio render for each method/technique they used but not sure if it would be too much for literature review? Any other suggestion is more than welcome!

Thanks in advance :)

Hi! I cited a journal article (the article is a literature review, if I'm not mistaken) for out thesis and the paper itself has multiple authors but two of them only has the one name (I'm not sure if it's their given name or surname). May I ask for help on how to cite them in the references using APA 7?

Age 23. Currently about to finish Masters in General Economics from a Central University in India. I am interested in teaching (college level). I have cleared NET and have good scores in 10th, 12th, Undergrad and Postgrad. I have been hearing that vacancies for college professors are decreasing and PhD is also preferred more. I want to do PhD but I currently don’t have a concrete idea. Planning to take gap for a year or two before pursuing PhD.

I am confused about what to do during this time. Options that I have in my mind include guest lecturer, research assistant, academic associate, independent tutor, internship or fellowship. Which might be the best course of action here?

Also, would PhD in India be recommended because I am not keen on going abroad. If yes, which are the best places for the same?

My qualifications will soon be Masters. Qualified NET, MS Office Specialist and Python certificates, and one year experience as a private tutor.

Hello!

I'm a current high school student that is very passionate about linguistics. I recently joined the Linguistics Society of America, and have thus gained access to the ability to attend various different linguistics conferences across the country! I'd love to visit many of these conferences, if just to sit and absorb the talks and the environment. However, one aspect I was wondering about was how it may appear to any professors/graduates if I approached them to ask about their presentations or work.

I'm really not trying to come off as one of those arrogant Ivy League-wannabe kids who try to impose themselves on professors for "research opportunities" - I truly love linguistics and find it deeply interesting, and would simply be delighted to have the opportunity to talk to actual professionals.

Would it be considered inappropriate/crass, or might it be okay to approach these presenters about their work - if only to ask a few questions!

I apologize if this is the wrong subreddit for this; please let me know if it is.

Thank you so much!

Hello all, I can take this down if it isn't the right sub. Most of my college expiriance is in applied science, and right now I'm learning about ethics and Im really interested in pursuing medical ethics.

I dont really know where to start or what to look into, I've spoken to some professors who say vague things like "there are a lot of jobs in that area" and some folks in the nursing forums have suggested looking into getting a JD.

If anyone has any suggestions or can point me in a better direction, I'm open to hearing about it :)

Thank you!

Hi,

As a person with a family and (hopefully) a work life, I want to create a healthy balance between work and family life and try to be efficient as possible.

Within my daily work schedule, I try to carve out mornings for deep focus work (writing/analyzing etc), leaving the following hours to coursework, emailing etc. I aim to finish my day at 16.

My previous supervisor said I should be working 17 hours a day.... I cannot possibly do that, nor do I want to.

What do you all do to maximize work efficiency while maintaining a healthy life-work balance? Do you publish enough?

Any tips and insights welcome.

I’m a 2nd PhD student seeking advice on a situation that’s left me feeling disheartened and unsure how to move forward. I could use some advice on how to handle this professionally.

A part of my original research idea—which I had clearly outlined in my PhD proposal 2 years ago —was recently handed over to a collaborating group at another institution, due to logistic reasons, mainly some facilities we don't really have in my group. What we did, was ask for their help in validating some of my own findings. The decision was made by one of my supervisors, who felt it would be more logistically efficient to have that work done externally, to a university of a different country, for the sake of collaboration within the same funding project.

Now, the collaborating group is continuing with the idea and expanding it, but I have not been actively involved in the planning or execution of those experiments, even though they build directly on my proposal. I recently asked whether I’d be able to use some of their results in my own publication (since the initial direction and materials came directly from my work), but they responded vaguely and said they’d "think about it," implying it’s considered their research now, since they ''have spent a lot of time on it''

When I voiced my concerns to my supervisor about losing ownership and not knowing whether I can publish these results and citing the other group as co-authors, they dismissed it with “this is how collaborations work''. I’m worried that I’m being sidelined in what was originally my project direction, and that I’ll have nothing to show for it in my own publications unless I push hard for separate, more complex experiments now.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? How do you assert authorship or ownership over work that gets absorbed into a collaboration? Is it unreasonable to ask for at least one part of that research to remain under my direction, or to run a related version of it independently?

This whole situation has got me feeling very unmotivated lately and i don't know if i am over-reacting over this. Any advice would be appreciated.

I'm a college student,most of the time I need extra money to meet my expenses. I've tried being on upwork and fiverr but that didn't work for me. I would be really grateful if anyone suggest me good freelancing apps and websites ( like for AI development, language translator,research assistant or creative writer)

(Thank you to the mods for allowing us to post here!)

Hi r/AskAcademia,

We’re a team of reporters at ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization that aims to hold power to account, and we’re trying to learn more about the real-life scope and impact of the Trump administration terminating NIH grants.

We understand that for many of you, it might be an unpredictable time. Back in January, our reporter Anna Maria Barry-Jester wrote about how the Trump White House signaled that it wanted to shift research away from infectious diseases and vaccines. And last month, our reporter Annie Waldman wrote about how the NIH has ended future funding on the health effects of climate change.

We know this doesn’t cover all of the important research that is being cut. To that end, we’ve created a short form for academics affected by NIH grant terminations, and we would appreciate you sharing your experience. Please feel free to share it with others who have been impacted. You can find the form here: https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/national-institutes-health-nih-canceled-grants-research

We take your privacy seriously — only ProPublica will read your responses. We are gathering this information for the purposes of our reporting, and we will contact you if we wish to publish any part of your story.

While the form is the easiest, most efficient way to share information with us, you can also send us your responses via encrypted Signal message at 917-512-0201, or call us at 301-388-5405 if you prefer.

If you have any questions for us, please feel free to reply below or message us. Thanks so much.

As a recent PhD graduate and looking for a job, I've become really demoralized lately as I've been applying for jobs with minimal success and at the same time watching this political crisis unfold. I've had positions slip away due to funding uncertainty. I've been seeing countless budget cuts, layoffs, hiring freezes, and students getting deported.

On r/PhD and r/postdoc we've been sharing our struggles a lot. But I want to ask the professors, How are you holding up? Really?