Home2024-08-19T14:09:37+00:00

If you’re writing a PhD you have come to the right place!

I’m Amber Davis and I can help you finish your PhD in a couple of focused hours a day. I believe productivity and self-care go hand in hand, especially so in the academic world. I teach an online programme and provide coaching to get you out of any PhD slumps you may be in.

Maybe you are feeling overwhelmed and behind, and are spending long days staring at your screen without making much progress. Perhaps you are unsure whether your work is ‘good enough’, and ‘far enough ahead’ (whatever that means). Maybe you are stuck with a particular chapter or article. There are always difficult stretches along the way. It is part of the process.

The Stress-Free PhD 6-Week Programme to the rescue! It will help you get back on track and write your PhD (almost) effortlessly. Join me for 6 weeks of focus, productivity and self-care.

While you are here you can also read the blog, download the ZenAcademic Worksheet, and check out the other free resources.

If you are wondering why I do what I do: check out my story. Please do get in touch if I might be able to be of help. (In het Nederlands kan ook: ik ben Nederlands/ Engels.) I would be delighted to hear from you.

Hello, I’m Amber Davis. Let me help you write a more inspired, productive and happier PhD. Get started right now! Get access to my free resources including the ZenAcademic mini course by leaving your email below.

    COURSES & E-BOOKS

    6-WEEK PROGRAMME

    The Stress-Free PhD

    Does your PhD need a boost? What if focus became a habit, and you could leave worry and PhD guilt behind? In this six-week course we will be developing essential productivity and self-care habits for a stress-free PhD.

    Read more

    COACHING

    Coaching Sessions

    Feeling stressed, demotivated, or overwhelmed? Maybe your progress has come to a halt. Difficult stretches happen to everyone on the PhD path. I offer coaching sessions via Zoom or in-person in Amsterdam to get you back on track.

    Read more

    FREE E-BOOK

    Finding Your
    Academic Voice

    My e-book Finding Your Academic Voice covers all the familiar topics: developing your core argument, research design, using the literature, finding your place in the field, the writing process. It just does it differently.

    Get your copy

    ENCOURAGING EMAILS

    The Nudge

    Does your academic workday seem to be never-ending? It doesn’t have to be this way. You can work shorter hours, get more done and feel better too. Sign up to receive a week of free daily email guidance to shorten your workday.

    Get started!

    BLOG

    The Stress-Free PhD Programme Giveaway!

    It’s time for a giveaway! To celebrate the launch of the Stress-Free PhD Programme, I have two free spots up for grabs for the first round of the programme which starts June 11th. I am so excited this moment has finally come, I’ve been working on this for about a year, behind the scenes. Almost as slow as academic work!! But today’s the day, and the programme is finished and ready to go. I’m hoping to see fewer burnouts and PhD slumps, and more PhDs finished well within the time-frame (OK, Just In Time will also do!), and with more [...]

    May 22nd, 2018|
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    Six shifts to finish your PhD in a couple of hours a day

    I am so excited my new website is finally ready! You won’t believe the work that went into creating it (There is an entirely new 6-week online programme I am very proud of. Check it out here…) One page that didn’t need much tweaking was the ‘My Story’ page, where I tell you all about how this blog, the online course and the coaching biz came into being. My personal tale is so interwoven with what I do now. The PhD is now so far away, yet so present day to day! I was taken aback when I re-read my [...]

    May 14th, 2018|
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    Five Tools for a Stress-Free PhD

    Do you feel stressed and overwhelmed? You are not alone! Recent studies in Leiden, Amsterdam, as well as in Flanders and the US show that about half (!!) of PhD students experience psychological distress. Troubling figures. I was invited to give a talk at Prout’s PhD mental health symposium in Utrecht on how to cope with the high-stress environment academia has become, and how to write a stress-free PhD. In this talk I cover: - The studies showing alarming PhD mental health figures - Why this is a collective problem and has little to do with your capability/ suitability for [...]

    February 2nd, 2018|
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    ‘How to write a PhD’ with Roanne van Voorst

    Today I talk to Roanne van Voorst about how to build an academic career on your own terms. Roanne is an anthropologist specialized in humanitarian aid, and postdoctoral researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. I met Roanne a few years ago, when she took my HappyPhD course with coaching (I am currently in the midst of editing and re-designing the course, it will re-launch in the new year!). One of the topics that came up when we talked was how to use the freedom we have in our academic lives instead of conforming to [...]

    December 6th, 2017|
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    LIBRARY

    Free Resources Library

    I have compiled some free resources for you to download. An e-book, a short course with encouraging emails to nudge your writing productivity alive, and a worksheet with a mini-course to create an effective and very zen work routine.

    Leave your email to get access.

      How to Plan Your Work

      How do you plan your work? I’m always intrigued by people who schedule every project, cutting their projects into bite-size chunks, then organising them into their week. I’ve never been able to do that, and sometimes I wonder whether anybody can really tame academic work into cooperating like that?? With academic work everything always seems to take endlessly longer than you think it would. It seems frustrating to always come up short. What’s the alternative? In my experience simplifying and prioritising are what is called for, followed by implementation. It means you come up with a clear idea of what [...]

      November 10th, 2016|
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      The Power of the Mind

      How do we prevent our inner critic from taking over? How do we become more resilient in the face of criticism? How do we not succumb to feeling stuck when the pressure rises? How do we make it though a rough patch? How do we allow more joy and curiosity in? In the academic world the mind skills we develop and refine are our intellectual muscles, our critical capacity. The part that isn’t paid as much, or any attention to, is how to harness the power of the mind more broadly, on how work with our thoughts, and the feelings [...]

      October 25th, 2016|
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      Building Your Academic Network

      Disclaimer: This isn’t a post which will give you ‘Ten tips to network at academic conferences’. I don’t think it quite works like that. Building a ‘network’ isn’t the academic equivalent of cold calling. It is about building relationships with your academic peers and mentors… Imagine your academic field as a giant global network of scholars, some of whom work together (and some of whom will absolutely not!), and all of whom together shape the current academic debate on your topic. This will include the top scholars, as well as academics in your department (your supervisors perhaps), other departments nationally [...]

      October 11th, 2016|
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      The Nudge: Coming to You Next Week

      In academia workdays never seem to end. Firstly because there's a culture of long hours (which isn't necessarily the best way to go about it), and secondly because it just never ends...even when you're not working, the project is still on your mind. The two combined can make for exhaustion and discouragement. I thought it would be a good idea to spend some time reflecting on how that happens, and what we might do instead. How we might create a schedule that isn't quite as 24/7. How to work less, but get more done, and feel better too. If this [...]

      September 16th, 2016|
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      ‘Not everyone should get a PhD’ and other academic productivity fallacies

      A few weeks ago I taught a workshop on academic productivity, and how self-care and perhaps counter-intuitive strategies such as shortening your workday may help. The audience were economists: PhD students, as well as a few faculty. Let’s just say it was an interesting experience! The dynamics were completely different compared to the other workshops I have taught, where the atmosphere tends to be relatively open, laid-back and sort of intimate. This time, however, that didn’t happen. Instead, there was a more challenging atmosphere, with more critical questions asked. By the supervisors, not the PhDs, I must add. The resistance [...]

      July 18th, 2016|
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      Staring at the Ocean – When Work Is Overwhelming

      One of the difficulties of PhD research is the magnitude and scope of it. The end product, the thesis, reflects your work of four years (or a bit more if you’re unlucky): how on earth to design and define such a project? What to include, what to exclude? So much material that may be relevant. Which angle to take? Where to start? How to reconcile all the findings? How in-depth to discuss different strands of the literature? If you're in the middle of it it can be difficult to see the wood for the trees. You may end up in [...]

      May 12th, 2016|
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      LIBRARY

      Free Resources Library

      I have compiled some free resources for you to download. An e-book, a short course with encouraging emails to nudge your writing productivity alive, and a worksheet with a mini-course to create an effective and very zen work routine.
      Leave your email to get access.

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