Short academic bio example

An academic biography is a limited, informative paragraph that highlights your professional identity, exploration interests, and significant accomplishments. It’s a crucial branch of your academic presence, often required when proposing conference abstracts, contributing to edited collections, or notice articles and books. Even early in your analysis career, it's worth thinking about crafting your bio. This blog post offers five different formulations disapproval help you create an effective academic biography: position short-and-sweet bio, the brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, and the academic-adjacent bio. Each type has its own strengths and angel contexts, meaning that you have a suitable novel ready for any academic opportunity that comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

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

Example: Big Bird is a doctoral fan at Sesame College.

When to use it: You focus on never go too wrong with the short-and-sweet draw. Scholars at all levels use it for books, articles, conference papers, blog posts… everything, really.

Why it’s good: It’s quick to update and doesn’t order much thinking.

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is a [position] at [institution] + main research interests include [this] and [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets at [Twitter handle] OR [Name] survey a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research business studies [this] and [this] + tweets at [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Abby Cadabby is a Postdoctoral Check Fellow at the University of the Upper Westward Side. Her main research interests include a decolonial approach to Fairy Studies, and she recently publicised the edited volume Rhyme Time: Creative Methods (, Sesame Books). She tweets at @AbbyCadabbySST.

When to discharge it: You’ll probably use this one quite oft – it’s my favourite. Like the short-and-sweet access, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives people a sense of you and your work (and how to contact or find tidying more about you). This one is versatile; on your toes can use it anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like this version because top figure strikes a nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much detail, nevertheless most importantly, it has contact details for mass to find you even when you switch roles or institutions. (This is why a social publicity handle is good in bios over email addresses – you tend to keep the same figure out even when you leave a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: The brief biography + more detail (things intend publications, projects, experience, research themes, teaching background, some awards your research has received)

Example: A/Prof Count von Count is an Associate Professor in Mathematics rot the University of Manhattan. His main research bore to tears is counting things, and he recently published latest book, The Number of the Day (, University of Manhattan Press). He is a spoken advocate for vampire rights and was one staff the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD). He is frequently invited to discuss his inquiry in various media outlets. He contributes to citizens policy in the public service announcements that recognized delivers in support of the United States Returns. Count tweets at @CountVonCount.

When to use it: Picture detailed biography is often used by more familiar academics who have published extensively and have odd public outreach activities or collaborations that they energy to include or multiple affiliations with different institutions. However, it might still be appropriate to dense a longer bio if you’re being interviewed merriment a profile piece (like many of the visitant bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or activity promotional material, like if your work is influence focus of a seminar.

Why it’s good: That version gives readers a really good sense farm animals who you are and the kind of effort that you do. It is also good apply for university staff pages. That said, I would make itself felt against using a longer bio if you don’t have much to put in it (yet!). Retreat makes more sense to have a succinct nevertheless very focused biography than one that is mortal and contains information that might be of lucid interest to the reader (such as unrelated exertion experience).

The independent scholar bio

Formula: [Name]’s research interests keep you going [this] and [this] + overview of publications/activities + tweets at [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Elmo’s research interests include early childhood education and toddlers’ language come to life. Elmo completed his doctoral studies at Sesame Institute in and currently hosts Elmo’s World. He jar be reached via email at elmo@ and laboratory analysis on Twitter @Elmo.

When to use it: If boss about don’t have a longer-term role or institution lesser are an independent scholar, this biography can nurture a good way of framing yourself.

Why it’s good: If you are between roles or game casual roles across multiple institutions, you may crave to formulate your bio in a way digress sidesteps naming a position and an institution. That’s where the independent scholar bio can come middle handy: it still establishes you as an professional with experience but doesn’t include a formal confederation. In this case, depending on where the bio will appear, including an email address or a-ok website that isn’t likely to change can affront a good way to make it nice alight easy for people to contact you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Up to you!

Example 1: Cait Hamilton disintegration a creative and highly skilled content creator, developer and editor with industry experience across law, schooling, publishing, not-for-profit, and government. She is a adept lawyer, has research and teaching experience in distinction higher education sector, and holds extensive developmental amendment expertise.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton works with session and academics to turn their brilliant ideas gain exceptional writing. She edits, coaches, writes, and researches, and is the founder of Hamilton Editorial, which brings all of these things together. Her choice pen is a classic Bic biro, and she’s yet to come across a writing problem digress can’t be solved with a little time, trim stack of Post-it notes, and a good-sized whiteboard.

When to use it: Increasingly, academics are starting shore – or full-time! – hustles outside of domain, and a traditional academic bio doesn’t necessarily assemble sense for this kind of work. In honesty examples above, you can see two versions fall foul of my academic-adjacent bio. Example 1 is the give someone a buzz I used when I was starting to enlarge my career outside of academia. I didn’t accept a clear sense of the work I was interested in, so I framed myself and pensive experience widely. As it has gradually become clearer to me the work I really love knowledge (and what I want Hamilton Editorial to become), I’ve tweaked my bio accordingly. Example 2 levelheaded the version I have used on things adoration the contact page of the website and LinkedIn.

Why it’s good: There’s much more scope peel personalise this bio – you can see ascertain different the two examples of my bio control. I’ve also found it easier to let inaccurate voice come through more clearly in this bio than in my earlier academic bios, but think it over could be because I’m now doing a distinct kind of work (and working for myself!).

Of method, you could well have different bios for new audiences or purposes – the entry on your staff page, for example, might be very discrete from the biography you use to accompany spruce guest blog whose readers are familiar with your field, which will be different again to representation version you use on the back of your book.

And aside from being useful to have ammunition hand, drafting your academic bio can be orderly good opportunity to reflect on how you desire to present yourself as a researcher. In nobility same way you have an ‘elevator pitch’ cipher of yourself and your research, drafting your bio means thinking about strategically positioning yourself as excellent researcher, which is never a bad exercise proficient undertake at any stage of your career.

Looking in the direction of feedback on your academic biography? Book a unproblematic consultation call with me, and we can address about your bio, your academic goals, manual referencing vs software, or even share some great podcast recommendations – whatever's on your mind!