Inger Mewburn
Born (1970-12-17) 17 December 1970 (age 53)
Hobart, Australia
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne (PhD)
RMIT University (Bachelor of Architecture (Hons.); Master of Architecture)
Known forResearch on doctoral education, research student experiences, post-PhD employment pathways, and digital scholarship.
Notable workThe Thesis Whisperer blog; How to be an academic; How to fix your academic writing trouble
Websitehttps://thesiswhisperer.com/

Inger Mewburn (born 17 December 1970) is the Director of Research Training at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.[1] Mewburn is the creator of "The Thesis Whisperer," an internationally recognised, "indispensable" blog[2] that focuses on the experiences of higher degree by research students; and has published a significant number of books, book chapters, and journal papers about academic identity, writing, and digital scholarship.[3] She has a notable public scholar profile as "The Thesis Whisperer" on social media,[4][5] and has been named as an "Australian social media influencer in higher education".[6]

Mewburn is internationally renowned for her research and expert commentary on research student experiences (particularly with thesis-writing), research student supervision, and post-doctoral employment pathways.

Education edit

Born in Hobart, Tasmania, and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, Mewburn completed her schooling at Croydon High School in 1988.

Mewburn's undergraduate degree was from RMIT University and she was awarded her doctorate from the University of Melbourne in 2009 for her thesis, "Constructing Bodies: gesture speech and representation at work in Architecture classrooms".[7] Her dissertation was awarded the John Grice Award for Best Thesis in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.[8]

Career edit

Mewburn was a Research Fellow at RMIT University from 2006-2012, and worked with research higher degree students and their supervisors as a research education and development scholar. Since 2013, Mewburn has been Director of Research Training at the Australian National University.

In 2010, Mewburn started The Thesis Whisperer blog. Her work on this blog, grounded in her academic research, has earned her global recognition as an expert on topics in doctoral education and academic cultures. She is frequently invited to work with cohorts of research students around the world. Mewburn regularly writes for and provides expert opinion on doctoral issues to peak publications and higher education forums such as Nature,[9][10][11] The Conversation[12], The Guardian,[13] Times Higher Education,[14] Campus Review,[15] and the London School of Economics Impact Blog.[16][17][18] She has mentored and supported the establishment of other scholarly development blogs, which are influenced by her successful model; these include the DoctoralWritingSIG[19] blog and The Research Whisperer.[20]

In 2020, Mewburn and her team launched the PostAc tool, a real-world instantiation of her research that aims to help research degree graduates find employment.[21]

Awards and recognition edit

  • 2020: Special commendation for leadership, Australian Council of Graduate Research.[22]
  • 2019: Admitted as Vitae Senior Research Developer Fellow.
  • 2017: Grant from the Discovery Translation Funds, Canberra Innovation Network, to develop the 'PostAc' application (AUD$150K).[23]
  • 2017: Vice Chancellor’s award for innovation and excellence in service, Australian National University.[24]
  • 2015: Grant from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation and Science for "Tracking Trends in Industry Demand for Australia's Advanced Research Workforce: Pilot Study" (AUD$90K; with Will J. Grant).[25]
  • 2014: Grant from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Skills and Employment for "INSIGNIA: An open badge system for research training and supervision at ANU" (AUD$40K).[26]
  • 2010: John Grice Award for Best Thesis in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne.

Selected publications edit

  • Mewburn, Inger. Becoming an Academic: How to Get through Grad School and Beyond. Baltimore, USA: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019. ISBN:978-1421428802.
  • Mewburn, Inger, Katherine Firth, and Shaun Lehmann. How to Fix Your Academic Writing Trouble: A Practical Guide. London, UK: London Open University Press, 2019. ISBN:978-0335243327.
  • Mewburn, Inger, and Pat Thomson. “Why Do Academics Blog? An Analysis of Audiences, Purposes and Challenges.” Studies in Higher Education 38, no. 8 (October 1, 2013): 1105–19. DOI:10.1080/03075079.2013.835624.
  • Barnacle, Robyn, and Inger Mewburn. “Learning Networks and the Journey of ‘Becoming Doctor.’” Studies in Higher Education 35, no. 4 (June 1, 2010): 433–44. DOI:10.1080/03075070903131214.

External links edit

  1. ^ Director (Research Services Division). "Associate Professor Inger Mewburn". researchers.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  2. ^ Onsman, Andrys. "Book review: "How to be an Academic: The Thesis Whisperer Reveals All" (AUR 60 01)". www.nteu.org.au. Retrieved 2020-06-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ "Inger Mewburn - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2020-06-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ "Thesis Whisperer Twitter account". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-06-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "The Thesis Whisperer". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  6. ^ Anyangwe, Eliza (2011-09-28). "10 Australian social media influencers in higher education". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  7. ^ Mewburn, Inger. (2009) "Constructing Bodies: Gesture, Speech and Representation at Work in Architectural Design Studios." University of Melbourne, Australia.
  8. ^ Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. (2010) "Dean’s Honours Awards 2009: Recognizing Student and Teaching Excellence and Innovation." Atrium 14: 22.
  9. ^ Gould, Julie (2019-12-05). "Working Scientist podcast: The PhD thesis and how to boost its impact". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03773-0.
  10. ^ Kwok, Roberta (2020-03-30). "You can get that paper, thesis or grant written — with a little help". Nature. 580: 151–153. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-00917-5.
  11. ^ Fleming, Nic (2019-10-08). "Don't miss your PhD deadline". Nature. 574: 283–285. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03020-6.
  12. ^ Mewburn, Inger. "What's up with universities – Whackademia or just grumpy old academics?". The Conversation. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  13. ^ Thomson, Pat; Mewburn, Inger (2013-12-02). "Why do academics blog? It's not for public outreach, research shows". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  14. ^ "Academia and the gig economy: how to survive in the post-golden age". Times Higher Education (THE). 2017-11-19. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  15. ^ Smith, Loren. "An ANU Associate Professor on the traps of success". Campus Review. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  16. ^ "Running a successful academic blog can make you feel like a rock star: authenticity and narrative are essential for forging your own digital identity". Impact of Social Sciences. 2011-08-15. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  17. ^ "The Elsevier petition is the academic equivalent of the Hollywood writers strike, and I applaud the senior members of our community who are providing leadership and showing the way". Impact of Social Sciences. 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  18. ^ "Academic blogging is part of a complex online academic attention economy, leading to unprecedented readership". Impact of Social Sciences. 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  19. ^ Guerin, Cally; Carter, Susan; Aitchison, Claire (2015-07-03). "Blogging as community of practice: lessons for academic development?". International Journal for Academic Development. 20 (3): 212–223. doi:10.1080/1360144X.2015.1042480. ISSN 1360-144X.
  20. ^ Khoo, Tseen (2014), Lemon, Narelle; Garvis, Susanne (eds.), "Right Back Where We Started From", Being “In and Out”: Providing Voice to Early Career Women in Academia, Rotterdam: SensePublishers, pp. 57–67, doi:10.1007/978-94-6209-830-5_6, ISBN 978-94-6209-830-5, retrieved 2020-06-12
  21. ^ Dean, CECS; dean@cecs.anu.edu.au (2020-01-17). "PostAc launch event: life after academia". ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  22. ^ "ACGR Awards for Excellence". ACGR. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  23. ^ "Awarded Projects DTF 2.0 | ANU Connect Ventures". Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  24. ^ "Vice-Chancellor's Award for Innovation & Excellence in Service 2017 recipients - Staff Services - ANU". services.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  25. ^ Director (Research Services Division). "Tracking Trends in Industry..." researchers.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  26. ^ Director (Research Services Division). "INSIGNIA: An open badge sys..." researchers.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2020-06-14.