If you are anything like me, you have a deep passion for problem-solving, creating and building, teaching, or simply tinkering and asking how does this work? You think “Science is so much fun!” and before you know it, you find yourself in an academic research career. Congratulations!

Over the long run, there will be challenges, though. I personally found two main fun-killing issues. The first one is universal: having more things to do than there is time to do them. The second one is more specific to academia: scientists have the luxury of charting their own course, career-wise, but alas, no map to follow. It’s easy to get lost in time and space this way, and over my decades-long research career in Medical Physics, I did my fair share of rambling around. I found my footing and my course, and I’d like to share what I learned along the way and hopefully make the process easier for you.

At Research et Cetera, once a month or so, we will explore solutions for the fun-killers above. Sometimes, it will be a specific strategy for time blocking, task prioritization, or project management. Other times, it will be a well-designed system for staking out a research area and building a robust, well-funded research program within it. Or, it may be a matter of changing your mindset to overcome internal obstacles to effective networking or promoting your work. All these career essentials beyond the research itself – that’s the ‘et cetera’ we’ll focus on here.

What is the ultimate goal? For me, and I imagine for you too, it is a thriving academic research career that allows space for work-life balance, does not interfere with physical and mental health, and retains the feelings of joy and curiosity that brought us into science to begin with. If you are a recent, or maybe not-so-recent PhD, who needs to create structure for their calendar, career path, and/or funding search, I would be honored to guide you on your journey. I now enjoy my work as research faculty (non-tenure track), which has the best work/life/fun balance – for me – but your path may be different. We all have to write our own manual for academia, and I would love to help you write yours.

Let me know: what is one big challenge you’re facing right now in your academic career? Share it in the comments, and let’s start the conversation.