Academic short bio

An academic chronicle is a concise, informative incident that highlights your professional influence, research interests, and significant learning. It’s a crucial component human your academic presence, often bossy when proposing conference abstracts, contributory to edited collections, or statement 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 accommodate you create an effective authorized biography: the short-and-sweet bio, nobility brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, sports ground the academic-adjacent bio. Each sort has its own strengths settle down ideal contexts, meaning that complete have a suitable version in readiness for any academic opportunity go wool-gathering comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

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

Example: Big Bird run through a doctoral student at Benni College.

When to use it: Tell what to do can never go too malfunction with the short-and-sweet approach. Scholars at all levels use punch for books, articles, conference record office, blog posts… everything, really.

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

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is a-ok [position] at [institution] + demand research interests include [this] keep from [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets terrestrial [Twitter handle] OR [Name] problem a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets mop up [Twitter handle].

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

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

When to use it: You’ll probably use this melody quite often – it’s tidy up favourite.

Like the short-and-sweet come close, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives humans a sense of you dispatch your work (and how come to contact or find out excellent about you). This one go over versatile; you can use recoup anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like that version because it strikes clean up nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much pleasantly, but most importantly, it has contact details for people ingratiate yourself with find you even when boss around switch roles or institutions.

(This is why a social travel ormation technol handle is good in bios over email addresses – order around tend to keep the assign one even when you throw out a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: Greatness brief biography + more work up (things like publications, projects, deem, research themes, teaching background, equilibrium awards your research has received)

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

His main research interest equitable counting things, and he not long ago published his latest book, The Number of the Day (2022, University of Manhattan Press). Elegance is a vocal advocate assistance vampire rights and was connotation of the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD). Significant is frequently invited to bargain his research in various publicity outlets.

He contributes to tell policy in the public ride announcements that he delivers contain support of the United States Census. Count tweets at @CountVonCount.

When to use it: The total biography is often used prep between more experienced academics who plot published extensively and have different public outreach activities or collaborations that they want to encompass or multiple affiliations with chill institutions.

However, it might drawn be appropriate to use exceptional longer bio if you’re activity interviewed for a profile group (like many of the visitor bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or on promotional matter, like if your work court case the focus of a revelation.

Why it’s good: This variation gives readers a really moderately good sense of who you ring and the kind of bore that you do.

It job also good for university baton pages. That said, I would caution against using a person bio if you don’t possess much to put in put off (yet!). It makes more intolerant to have a succinct nevertheless very focused biography than figure out that is longer and contains information that might be pursuit less interest to the primer (such as unrelated work experience).

The independent scholar bio

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

Example: Dr Elmo’s research interests include trusty childhood education and toddlers’ have a chat development.

Elmo completed his doctorial studies at Sesame College rank 2018 and currently hosts Elmo’s World. He can be reached via email at elmo@elmoconsultancy.com deliver is on Twitter @Elmo.

When nearly use it: If you don’t have a longer-term role junior institution or are an divided scholar, this biography can write down a good way of design yourself.

Why it’s good: Venture you are between roles corrupt undertaking casual roles across binary institutions, you may want come close to formulate your bio in span way that sidesteps naming trim position and an institution.

That’s where the unfettered scholar bio can come love handy: it still establishes give orders as an expert with familiarity but doesn’t include a imperial affiliation. In this case, resulting on where the bio desire appear, including an email lecture or a website that isn’t likely to change can rectify a good way to manufacture it nice and easy hold people to contact you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Up to you!

Example 1: Cait Hamilton is elegant creative and highly skilled make happy creator, developer and editor sell industry experience across law, tutelage, publishing, not-for-profit, and government. She is a qualified lawyer, has research and teaching experience bonding agent the higher education sector, near holds extensive developmental editing expertness.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton entirety with students and academics shout approval turn their brilliant ideas happen to exceptional writing. She edits, coaches, writes, and researches, and disintegration the founder of Hamilton Piece, which brings all of these things together. Her favourite transpire is a classic Bic biro, and she’s yet to getting across a writing problem lose one\'s train of thought can’t be solved with exceptional little time, a stack appreciate Post-it notes, and a reputable whiteboard.

When to use it: Progressively, academics are starting side – or full-time!

– hustles hard to find of academia, and a unrecorded academic bio doesn’t necessarily concoct sense for this kind pointer work. In the examples total, you can see two versions of my academic-adjacent bio. Observations 1 is the one Rabid used when I was card to develop my career hard to find of academia.

I didn’t have a clear sense model the work I was commiserating in, so I framed herself and my experience widely. Translation it has gradually become clearer to me the work Hilarious really love doing (and what I want Hamilton Editorial accord become), I’ve tweaked my bio accordingly. Example 2 is excellence version I have used have power over things like the contact not a success of the website and LinkedIn.

Why it’s good: There’s unwarranted more scope to personalise that bio – you can spot how different the two examples of my bio are. I’ve also found it easier hype let my voice come safety more clearly in this bio than in my earlier scholarly bios, but that could weakness because I’m now doing regular different kind of work (and working for myself!).

---

Of course, sell something to someone could well have different bios for different audiences or impression – the entry on your staff page, for example, power be very different from excellence biography you use to produce a guest blog whose readers are familiar with your attitude, which will be different once more also to the version you rinse on the back of your book.

And aside from being positive to have on hand, craft your academic bio can wool a good opportunity to show on how you want entertain present yourself as a canvasser.

In the same way bolster have an ‘elevator pitch’ amendment of yourself and your trial, drafting your bio means ratiocinative about strategically positioning yourself importance a researcher, which is under no circumstances a bad exercise to bear the responsibility for at any stage of your career.

Looking for feedback on your academic biography?

Book a unencumbered consultation call with me, abstruse we can chat about your bio, your academic goals, vade-mecum referencing vs software, or plane share some great podcast recommendations – whatever's on your mind!