This photo is from a recent conference I organised. I’m standing with three early-career researchers — and I don’t know how to explain it properly, but being around them felt like looking into a mirror that time had quietly been keeping for me.
Dipsikha Guha Majumdar has just finished her PhD and landed her first job.
Tabitha Sindani, PhD is a few years in, already building her feet into the ground.
Dr. Vimal Kumar is post-PhD, and is searching for an academic home.
All three are excellent — thoughtful researchers, motivated, strong writers, natural storytellers. And yet, beneath the competence, I could feel something familiar: that quiet uncertainty of early academia… the “am I doing this right?” feeling… the search for meaning in a world that isn’t always friendly to people who care deeply.
I finished my PhD in 2005 — twenty years ago. I was “lucky” in one way: I published two ABS 3* papers before I graduated, became REF-returnable, and landed a job before my viva dust even settled.
But what I didn’t have, what I wish I had, was mentorship.
Not cheerleading. Not vague encouragement.
Real steering.
I had no plan for the next 1–2–5–10 years.
No sense of what my research identity was becoming.
No idea what a pipeline should look like, or how to prepare for promotion without burning myself out.
It felt like walking inside a black box — full of energy, full of ideas… but no light. No map. No one saying, gently: “Here’s how this world works. Here’s how you can keep your soul and still move forward.”
Now that I’m a full professor, I think about that younger version of me more often than I admit. And I keep asking myself: am I offering others what I was missing?
I try, in small ways.
But I want to do it more consciously — more intentionally.
So here it is, simply:
I’m opening space to mentor two early-career academics (post-PhD and already in jobs).
If you’d like to be considered, please message me with:
a short note on what you’re looking for (be specific), and
a note showing you’ve looked at my work and feel our values/research spaces genuinely align.
When choosing, I’ll prioritise people who are already strong writers (or hungry to become one), who are drawn to community-based research, and who have storytelling instincts — curiosity, sharp intuition, and the courage to keep asking better questions.
Because those skills can set you apart — and they’re built through practice.
Some people arrive with them. Others grow them slowly. I’m one of the slow ones. I learned by reading obsessively, watching how great work is made, and writing… and rewriting… until my voice finally started to sound like mine.
Maybe that’s what this photo really captures for me: A quiet reminder that we don’t just need talent in academia ... We need guidance ... We need generosity ... and We need each other.
And if I can be one small light for someone walking in that black box, then I want to try.
Dipsikha Guha Majumdar has just finished her PhD and landed her first job.
Tabitha Sindani, PhD is a few years in, already building her feet into the ground.
Dr. Vimal Kumar is post-PhD, and is searching for an academic home.
All three are excellent — thoughtful researchers, motivated, strong writers, natural storytellers. And yet, beneath the competence, I could feel something familiar: that quiet uncertainty of early academia… the “am I doing this right?” feeling… the search for meaning in a world that isn’t always friendly to people who care deeply.
I finished my PhD in 2005 — twenty years ago. I was “lucky” in one way: I published two ABS 3* papers before I graduated, became REF-returnable, and landed a job before my viva dust even settled.
But what I didn’t have, what I wish I had, was mentorship.
Not cheerleading. Not vague encouragement.
Real steering.
I had no plan for the next 1–2–5–10 years.
No sense of what my research identity was becoming.
No idea what a pipeline should look like, or how to prepare for promotion without burning myself out.
It felt like walking inside a black box — full of energy, full of ideas… but no light. No map. No one saying, gently: “Here’s how this world works. Here’s how you can keep your soul and still move forward.”
Now that I’m a full professor, I think about that younger version of me more often than I admit. And I keep asking myself: am I offering others what I was missing?
I try, in small ways.
But I want to do it more consciously — more intentionally.
So here it is, simply:
I’m opening space to mentor two early-career academics (post-PhD and already in jobs).
If you’d like to be considered, please message me with:
a short note on what you’re looking for (be specific), and
a note showing you’ve looked at my work and feel our values/research spaces genuinely align.
When choosing, I’ll prioritise people who are already strong writers (or hungry to become one), who are drawn to community-based research, and who have storytelling instincts — curiosity, sharp intuition, and the courage to keep asking better questions.
Because those skills can set you apart — and they’re built through practice.
Some people arrive with them. Others grow them slowly. I’m one of the slow ones. I learned by reading obsessively, watching how great work is made, and writing… and rewriting… until my voice finally started to sound like mine.
Maybe that’s what this photo really captures for me: A quiet reminder that we don’t just need talent in academia ... We need guidance ... We need generosity ... and We need each other.
And if I can be one small light for someone walking in that black box, then I want to try.
