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 Paradox of Climbing the PhD Hill: Lowering Your Expectations

    There is always a fear when doing academic work that you are not up to the job. That your work isn’t ‘good enough’, that you’re not clever enough, perhaps, to deliver what it takes. But what if you don’t need to be ‘brilliant’? What if it is more about stamina, persevering, sitting with the difficult questions, and keeping at it, pushing your work forward, keeping going one step at a time? What if it is more akin to climbing a hill (let’s not call it a mountain, it’s only a hill and it is absolutely doable, though sometimes it may [...]

    November 6th, 2017|
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    HappyPhD Course: Changes Ahead (and 50% off)

    I got a message from someone on LinkedIn congratulating me on my 5 year work anniversary: it is apparently five years since I sat down and typed those first words that would develop into the HappyPhD course! Now, five years on, it is time for an update: I will soon be taking the course offline to make space for a new version. When I wrote the course I did it straight from the heart: I had only recently finished my own PhD and all my experiences were fresh. I put every story that might be of help into the course. [...]

    October 9th, 2017|
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    Less is More: Why Working Shorter Hours Is a Better Idea

    I have just finished 'The Slow Professor' by Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeber. It reflects on time pressure and stress in academia, and on how academic life has sped up to such a degree that quality of research, teaching and life suffers. (It was a present from prof. Hein de Haas - do check out our ‘How to Write a PhD’ interview with his tips on productivity and self-care). At one point in the book my jaw dropped: it is the chapter on time management, where a number of books and approaches to the academic schedule are discussed. This part [...]

    August 29th, 2017|
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    Your Thesis Defence: Prepare to Defend!

    I like the expression ‘thesis defence’ as it captures exactly what a PhD viva is about: you are defending your work. You are not just presenting, you are defending. Like a sword fight. (A friendly one, mostly.) I attended a thesis defence last week, and it reminded me of the first thesis defence I ever went to. My supervisor had advised me to go; my colleague’s work had been very well received, and he considered her thesis a must-read. Much to his chagrin, the defence didn’t go so well. Not because she didn’t know what she was talking about, quite [...]

    June 16th, 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.

      Getting Unstuck, Without the Struggle

      I was invited to dinner with an old professor last week. When I introduced myself and said I worked with PhD students he said: ‘Ah, how useful! Every PhD student gets stuck, that’s what I have always told my students. It’s normal. A PhD is an endeavor where you will get stuck, and there is no one who will be able to solve your problem. You know more about your subject matter than anyone else. You have to do it yourself, it is a test of character. Dead ends, and walking into walls are part of the process.’ He’s right: [...]

      April 29th, 2016|
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      Choosing the Right Supervisor

      One factor I underestimated when I started my PhD was supervision. I was thrilled about getting into a PhD programme, in Florence no less, and supervision seemed a matter of secondary importance. Oh, how wrong I was. The way I look at it now is that supervision is the single most important thing to get ‘right’ to have a positive PhD experience, and to set you up for further success down the line. A supervisor is a pivotal player, far more than a mentor or supervisor will have been during your earlier studies. It may be difficult to predict how [...]

      March 30th, 2016|
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      Back to Basics: Relax to Achieve

      Relaxation may be the missing link when it comes to your academic performance. I’m interested in this phenomenon: how we sometimes work against ourselves by trying too hard, pushing too much. By internalising a work culture that says working endless hours is the key to success. When everyone is working all the time, or at the very least seems to be working all the time, how to not worry you aren’t keeping up? We lean towards overwork to compensate and somehow make things better. But does it work? (Answer: no) Then how to undo this? What's the alternative? Sometimes the [...]

      March 16th, 2016|
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      Your Best Shot at Staying in Academia: Tips from an Economist

      I spent a good week in San Francisco earlier this year, travelling with my boyfriend who, with two colleagues, was to recruit some potential assistant professors for his department. My boyfriend is an economist. If you are not familiar with the academic job market in the economics field picture this: the job market is an actual physical market where demand and supply meet. In this case the venue was a suite in a swank hotel in the financial heart of San Francisco (picked by yours truly) where three young(ish) professors spent three long days interviewing job candidates. As was happening [...]

      March 1st, 2016|
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      Going Offline: The Plan

      Imagine yourself working without interruptions, without distraction, without being sucked into mind-numbing information overload. Imagine focus. Imagine creative thought and analysis happening. Now imagine such sustained focus happening for a couple of hours a day, at least five days a week. Imagine what that might mean in terms of output. Think chapters, articles, publications. Imagine what it (both the doing and the results) might mean in terms of satisfaction. Ah satisfaction! Interesting concept. The paradox of satisfaction: we have to give up more superficial satisfaction-seeking behaviour in order to be able to do or achieve those things that indeed satisfy. [...]

      February 22nd, 2016|
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      Freedom from the Internet

      When I was writing my PhD the internet was my nemesis. It was the beginning of the blogging era then, and I spent so many hours reading posts and commenting and being distracted in general. Now, I’d say the worst offender is my phone! I’m not even sure what I’m doing on there. So. Freedom to the rescue. This is the app I used to go offline with when I was finishing my PhD. At one point I realised I wanted to get work done, and the surfing and daydreaming was making me a bit sick of myself. Nothing as [...]

      February 9th, 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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