Recovering Academic

Dr. Emily Roberts. Photo source: pfforphds.com. We spoke with Emily Roberts, PhD about their business Personal Finance for PhDs. Emily’s career after academia is advising PhDs about finance. One of the key points she made was to how having a solid amount of savings enabled her to make the decision to start her own solopreneur business, making the transition easier. Financial security makes transition less stressful. Dr. Roberts also encourages PhDs with a side hustle to do one that builds and demonstrates skills they are interested in and that might turn into a new career path. Listen to the episode to hear more wisdom from Dr. Roberts about PhD’s taxes, managing money, and her current career running her own businesses. Show Notes Get a financial life by Beth Kobliner

Eva Amsen, PhD. Photo from Easternblot.net. Photographer: Rannie Turingan For our series four opener, we talk with Freelance writer, editor and science communicator Eva Amsen, PhD who joined us in the middle of her night from London. Eva got her PhD at the University of Toronto where she started a blog, EasternBlot.net. During her PhD, Eva had already decided that she didn’t want to pursue a faculty career. Through her blogging experience, she freelanced through the economic crash of 2008 just after her PhD. Giving herself a one year deadline post PhD to find a job, she landed a job at the journal Development to start their still-existing (and excellent) blog, The Node. While she has had full time jobs in the last decade, Eva is now a full time freelancer again and we discuss the nature of freelancing and finding work, the job that is communicating science, and her project Share Your Sci (hint: have a specific audience in mind). Eva’s Bio Eva Amsen is a writer and science communicator, focused on the common ground between science and the arts. She runs a quarterly newsletter highlighting collaborations and overlap between scientists and musicians. Eva has written about science in culture and society for Nautilus, The Scientist, Spacing Magazine and other places — including the science blog she has maintained since her days as a PhD student in Toronto. Eva also runs Share Your Sci and helps researchers communicate their work. You can follow Eva on Twitter @easternblot.net. Show Notes Book Ian mentioned: Hiding in The Bathroom: An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting out there when you’d Rather Stay Home by Morra Aarons-Mele.

We’ve discussed our experiences regarding the struggles we faced when leaving academia. So now we want to hear from you! The recovering academic trio is on summer break, but we want to ask for your help to plan our next season! Send us questions, suggestions for topics, tell us about your specific transition struggles! Let us know if you’d prefer to remain anonymous or be credited.  You can get in touch via Twitter (@RecoveringAcad, @LadyScientist, @Doctor_PMS, @IHStreet), our Facebook page, or email show at recoveringacademic dot net.  We will be back in your ears this fall!