What Is Literature?

This is the introductory lecture for my Literary & Cultural Theory module. It introduces students to some of the questions theory can raise in relation to literature and its purpose as well as introducing some basic aspects of liberal humanism, and the module structure.

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PhD Picnics: Food for Thought

PhD Picnics is an initiative which encourages exchange between postgraduate students and research staff to provide a supportive, stimulating postgraduate culture and adequate academic skills training and development.

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Academic Job Interviews

Academic job interviews can take a variety of forms, and I’ve experienced a few different kinds of job interview – both from the perspective of a candidate, as well as from the perspective of a member of the interview panel. As with any public speaking engagement, preparation is essential and managing your nerves on the […]

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Beginning University Teaching

Like conference papers, teaching is something that you may well be expected to begin early on in your career as a researcher, most likely from the second year of your Ph.D. onwards, though rarely earlier than this. It is needless to say that there are numerous teaching strategies out there, and that their suitability depends […]

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Academic Job Applications

It is notoriously difficult to advise people on how to get shortlisted for an academic job. In the end, someone can satisfy all of the relevant criteria but not get shortlisted simply because someone else satisfies them to a greater degree. The reality is that not all ‘minimally qualified’ candidates can be interviewed; this is […]

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