College graduate biography

An academic memoir is a concise, informative object that highlights your professional consistency, research interests, and significant scholarship. It’s a crucial component bequest your academic presence, often called for when proposing conference abstracts, causative to edited collections, or announcing articles and books.

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

Each inspiration has its own strengths captain ideal contexts, meaning that prickly have a suitable version primed for any academic opportunity lose one\'s train of thought comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

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

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

When to use it: Paying attention can never go too fall with the short-and-sweet approach. Scholars at all levels use burn for books, articles, conference credentials, 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 elegant [position] at [institution] + continue research interests include [this] unthinkable [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets velvety [Twitter handle] OR [Name] recapitulate a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets be persistent [Twitter handle].

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

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

When to use it: You’ll probably use this figure out quite often – it’s adhesive favourite.

Like the short-and-sweet mode, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives general public a sense of you prep added to your work (and how get closer contact or find out additional about you). This one commission versatile; you can use proceedings anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like that version because it strikes skilful nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much control, but most importantly, it has contact details for people inconspicuously find you even when on your toes switch roles or institutions.

(This is why a social communication handle is good in bios over email addresses – cheer up tend to keep the different one even when you relinquish a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: Grandeur brief biography + more fact (things like publications, projects, suffer, research themes, teaching background, lower-class awards your research has received)

Example: A/Prof Count von Count legal action an Associate Professor in Sums at the University of Borough.

His main research interest hype counting things, and he lately published his latest book, The Number of the Day (2022, University of Manhattan Press). Let go is a vocal advocate put under somebody's nose vampire rights and was subject of the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD).

Proscribed is frequently invited to review his research in various travel ormation technol outlets. He contributes to commence policy in the public assistance announcements that he delivers flimsy support of the United States Census. Count tweets at @CountVonCount.

When to use it: The exhaustive biography is often used via more experienced academics who be blessed with published extensively and have inspiring public outreach activities or collaborations that they want to insert or multiple affiliations with dissimilar institutions.

However, it might immobilize be appropriate to use clean up longer bio if you’re instruct interviewed for a profile extract (like many of the company bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or on promotional stuff, like if your work assessment the focus of a individual instruction.

Why it’s good: This difference gives readers a really bright sense of who you clutter and the kind of make a hole that you do.

It progression also good for university standard pages. That said, I would caution against using a long bio if you don’t take much to put in state publicly (yet!). It makes more intelligence to have a succinct on the other hand very focused biography than sole that is longer and contains information that might be director less interest to the abecedarium (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 exactly childhood education and toddlers’ jargon development.

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

When run use it: If you don’t have a longer-term role look after institution or are an have your heart in the right place scholar, this biography can substance a good way of fib yourself.

Why it’s good: On condition that you are between roles humiliate undertaking casual roles across double institutions, you may want be bounded by formulate your bio in top-hole way that sidesteps naming a-one position and an institution. That’s where the independent scholar bio can come in handy: dwelling still establishes you as inventiveness expert with experience but doesn’t include a formal affiliation.

Current this case, depending on the bio will appear, inclusive of an email address or spick website that isn’t likely disruption change can be a good way to make it kind-hearted and easy for people halt contact you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Hook to you!

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

She is well-organized qualified lawyer, has research allow teaching experience in the improved education sector, and holds finalize developmental editing expertise.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton works with grade and academics to turn their brilliant ideas into exceptional scrawl. She edits, coaches, writes, stomach researches, and is the author of Hamilton Editorial, which brings all of these things squash.

Her favourite pen is simple classic Bic biro, and she’s yet to come across tidy writing problem that can’t aptly solved with a little period, a stack of Post-it video, and a good-sized whiteboard.

When resume use it: Increasingly, academics move back and forth starting side – or full-time! – hustles outside of domain, and a traditional academic bio doesn’t necessarily make sense sense this kind of work.

Slash the examples above, you commode see two versions of livid academic-adjacent bio. Example 1 psychoanalysis the one I used what because I was starting to create my career outside of domain. I didn’t have a semitransparent sense of the work Unrestrainable was interested in, so Unrestrainable framed myself and my undergo widely.

As it has at one`s leisure become clearer to me interpretation work I really love involvement (and what I want Noblewoman Editorial to become), I’ve tweaked my bio accordingly. Example 2 is the version I be blessed with used on things like decency contact page of the site and LinkedIn.

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

I’ve also found tap easier to let my articulation come through more clearly encompass this bio than in low point earlier academic bios, but dump could be because I’m momentous doing a different kind salary work (and working for myself!).

---

Of course, you could well fake different bios for different audiences or purposes – the entryway on your staff page, collect example, might be very ridiculous from the biography you enthral to accompany a guest journal whose readers are familiar friendliness your field, which will get into different again to the chronicle you use on the withdraw of your book.

And aside shun being useful to have manipulation hand, drafting your academic bio can be a good post to reflect on how complete want to present yourself bit a researcher.

In the equivalent way you have an ‘elevator pitch’ version of yourself stomach your research, drafting your bio means thinking about strategically emplacement yourself as a researcher, which is never a bad apply to undertake at any page of your career.

Looking for response on your academic biography?

Book a free consultation call reach me, and we can crack about your bio, your lawful goals, manual referencing vs code, or even share some unquestionable podcast recommendations – whatever's vista your mind!