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Relocating to a new city for postdoc when you have a partner
I recently applied and interviewed for a post doc position in a leading scientific institution in Australia.
I never thought I'd get the position, and the reason why I interviewed was to get more experience in speaking up. However, I got the position, and now I'm really conflicted as if I should take it.
If I accept, I'd work on an amazing project, I actually really like the project and it has everything to do with me. But I'd have to relocate. The position is for three years.
I live a very balanced life with my partner (we live together), in the town where all his family and friends live in a different Australian state. I'm not from Australia.
I've been thinking about this and if we move he'll suffer the most and I'm pretty sure it would degrade the relationship. He'll hate me for making him move, and will probably resent me. We spoke about this and he's really reluctant of going, in general he's very resistant to change, while I'm the opposite...
But then I say to myself - no, I will not accept the position because it's the best for the relationship, then I start getting upset with everything because I sort of want that particular postdoc, and I'm scared I will be the one who becomes resentful. I know that If I was alone I'd go tomorrow.
I know that academia is full of relocation problems, I'd love to hear any similar stories and what happened. Anyone out there that has gone through something similar? I'd love to hear your stories and what happened.

If you cannot relocate, then you are almost certain to have to leave academia.  (Then again, in most fields, you are still pretty likely to have to leave academia in any case.)  Australians have it tougher because in many cases they have to be willing to relocate more than 24 hours of flying away.

@AzorAhai it sounds like OP lives in one of the six Australian states, and the postdoc is in another.

@Azor Ahai yes, we live in an Australian state, but we'd have to relocate to another state for this position.

I ask because as Alexander points out - you could be bringing up moving to the States. Since you already live in Australia you're not moving that far - Sydney to Perth is only a five hour flight (ofc there could be time getting to/from towns). I want to echo einpokulum's comments about women turning down two-body problems more than men. I hope you can work it out, but if he's not willing to move within the same country for you ...

You may want to rephrase your last paragraph. We are a Q&A site; posts asking for "stories" will be closed (how would we vote for the "best" story)? But if you want to know "what factors to consider" or something "answerable" like that, we may be able to help.

Thanks to everyone who spent time answering or commenting this thread! @cag51 you can feel free to close this

This private part of the story can be a big problem for us willing to stay in academia. You cannot get an answer here. I myself, I have suffered a lot from similar situations, even with different partners. It is hard not being settled until a certain age.

Since you've asked for stories about this problem from others, I'm going to give a second answer here telling you about my own circumstances and career.  I had my first two daughters when I was very young, and I was raising them while I was a university student.  By the time I graduated and was looking for academic positions, I was pretty-well locked into a single city where my children were settled in at school and everyone else in my life is present.  So mine was more of a "four-body problem" (or maybe even more) than a two-body problem.
I made the decision that I would stay in my own city and restrict my academic career options to my local universities.  (Fortunately for me, there are two good research universities with campuses in my city.)  I have been reasonably successful in this, and I have managed to have quite a good academic career so far, but I have also taken positions outside of academia when there were no appropriate positions available in my own city.  Consequently, I have become an academic and consultant, with the latter taking over in some periods of my career.
I am mid-career now, and I'm happy with my decision to stay in one place, but there is no doubt that it hampered my ability to advance within academia.  My first two daughters are now all grown up, and I'm really glad I gave priority to my family over my career.  They got to grow-up with their entire extended family in the same city, and they got the benefits of being settled in one place.  For me it has all worked out well.

"but I have also had positions outside of academia when there were no appropriate positions available in my own city." What?

Thanks for the comprehensive answer, Ben. I've in the past prioritized my career which I don't regret for a second, and has brought me many benefits. But at this stage, I think I want to prioritize other aspects of life like having a family. And personally, staying in academia it's not the most important. I wanted to know that someone out there made a similar decision and does not regret it, thanks for that :) I'm firmly happy on my relationship, and other circumstances led me to apply for the position. And although a really nice project, I'm not ready to sacrifice the steady life we have now.

@AzorAhai: Not really sure what part of that is unclear.  If you'd like specifics, I took a year out of academia (between two different academic jobs) to work as a data scientist.

I thought the first "positions" might have meant to be "time periods" or something. Probably it's just a difference in our dialects. I would have found it clearer if it read "I have also taken positions outside of academia when there were no ..."

@AzorAhai: Okay, I have edited "had" to "taken" to give that formulation.

I've been thinking about this and if we move he'll suffer the most

This sounds like you haven't talked to him about it.

and I'm pretty sure it would degrade the relationship.

Why are you so sure?

It's only for a limited period of time. Assuming your relationship is stable, it's not like he would be forsaking his hometown and family for good.
Again, you haven't talked to him about how he feels, and what possible ideas he might have for possibly moving for a period of time. You might be surprised.
If it's a matter of "who needs to adapt more", then perhaps you can strike a different point of balance, involving other aspects of your life together than just the place you live.
You might be able to arrange, say spending summers back in his hometown (or some other season where you would use up your annual vacation + perhaps take a leave of absence).

I don't have such a story personally, but from my organizational experience, female researchers often give up good post-doc positions to accommodate their male life partners, while vice-versa it's much less common. That's part of the cause for the male-female imbalance of faculty composition at my alma mater and probably many other institutions.

This question is actually much less about academia, and much more about love and relationships.  So while I don't think any of us here have any special expertise in the matter, we might be able to offer the perspective of (mostly older) people who have worked in academia.
In my opinion, this decision is going to be an important turning-point in your life, so you will need to think hard about it.  It is essentially the point at which you decide whether you want to prioritise your career, or prioritise your present relationship at the expense of your career.  There is no doubt that if you are unwilling to move cities, this will restrict your options for an academic career.  In Australia, many early-career academic positions are contract positions, so it can be difficult to get academic jobs that allow you to stay permanently in one place.  This does not mean that it is impossible to stay in your present location (so long as it has a university) but it shrinks your options.  On the other hand, your partner's life and options are important too, so he may have reasons that staying in your present city is better for him.
The reason I say that this will be a turning-point is that your life circumstances and relocations options are likely to get more restricted as you get older.  Since you are early-career (and I am assuming child-free) your options are much broader at the moment.  Indeed, if you have children then you might later find yourself dealing with a "three-body problem" or "four-body problem", etc., instead of a two-body problem.  So you will need to confront this situation now, and think about how you are going to deal with this issue in general.
At the moment you seem to be having only an internal discussion about this, where you speculate on reactions and objections from your partner.  Ultimately, I think you will need to talk to your partner and have a wide-ranging discussion on your future.  In particular, it would be useful to think beyond this present job offer and have a broader discussion about your future plans, where you each want to live, how often you are each willing to move (and where), whose career requirements are going to get priority, etc.  This might also be tangled up with other relationship issues --- e.g., are you planning to marry, have children, etc.  It is usually much better to try plan your future to some degree, rather than just stumbling into it via a series of short-term crises and reactive decisions.  (A psychologist might speculate that your story about why you applied for the position is a furphy; that subconsciously you applied because you wanted to get the job and leave, but the story serves as cover to not admit this to yourself.)


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How to cite my advisor on my own thesis?
There is one section inside a chapter of my thesis that ended up written by my advisor.
As it stands right now, I think it should have quotation marks, and then to add the reference from where it's from.  But  it's from my advisor, not a paper, book, etc. How can I cite my advisor properly?
Could be something like: advisor's name, university, department, year? or how?
Or to add a footnote, explaining that?
Thanks in advance for your help.

The direction of the verbs is confusing. How did it end up in your advisors work, but you are asking how to cite it in your work. What does it mean to be "from" your advisor?

@AzorAhai-him- got it, I edited it

So your advisor wrote some words, and then you just inserted it wholesale into your thesis? Words can't just "end up" in a thesis haha

@AzorAhai-him- That's correct. I actually wrote the section, but then my advisor said, in short, "remove all that, I'll help you there" The thing is that, all that I wrote went away :/ and what my advisor wrote, took its place.

That is... unusual. Have you asked your advisor how you are supposed to treat the text?

If you mean that your advisor wrote a part of your thesis you don't have to take any formal action as far the thesis itself is concerned. Whatever one can think of it, this is kind of supervisor discussing with you etc. Nobody else knows. Of course the advisor would be a acknowledged the proper way independent of this. That is your thesis, the advisor just helped you for whatever reasons (perhaps s/he think having wrote a perfect paragraph / section.

The important thing when the work of another is included isn't the actual literal quote marks, but the extent of what is included. This can be done a number of ways and, of course, requires that copyrights are honored.
But, in a work of mathematics, one can state a theorem and then say the following proof is by A. Mathematician (i.e. the name). The delimiters of the quote aren't quote marks but Proof:...QED.
You can also give a reason why the other person's work is included rather than your own. In one case there were two proofs available, one by the author and the other by the advisor. But the advisor's proof offered some additional insight so was preferred for publication. In this case, the proof hadn't previously appeared (nor the theorem itself).
Make the extent clear to avoid plagiarism and make sure that copyright is observed as necessary.

I think that at some point in the thesis you acknowledge your advisor's direct contribution with words like

The ideas in Section/Chapter whatever are due to [your advisor's
name].

or

The proof of Theorem whatever is due to [your advisor's name].

Discuss with your advisor just where and how you say that.
Of course  you acknowledge their generous help in general as well.

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How can I communicate with my advisor over repeated revision of my undergraduate thesis?
I am an undergraduate student writing a thesis. I am stuck in a cycle of revisions and would like to be able to complete my thesis and move on to other things.
I have both an advisor and co-advisor. They have different ideas about the structure and content of the thesis, and my advisor will ask that I re-revise after getting comments from the co-advisor, even if this goes against their initial instructions. I don't communicate directly with the co-advisor (we communicate through my advisor) due to previous disagreements.
How can I let my advisor know that needing to make multiple conflicting changes is frustrating me, and that I need to finish this thesis?

The best word for this situation is "sufficient." I would write and say the following:

You appreciate all the help thus far
You are concerned about other projects coming up
You (and, if they agree) and your advisor feel that they current paper is sufficient. Do you agree that it is sufficient?

something like the following - edit to make more or less forceful/deferential, as needed
"Dear Co-Advisor,
Thank you for your recent comments on this chapter and for all of your help thus far. At this point, Advisor and I feel that the chapter is sufficient, and I would like to make time for other projects/additional chapters. Do you agree that the chapter is sufficient in its current state? If not, please highlight the one or two issues I could address, at which point I will need to start focusing on other projects; given time constraints, I won't be able to do another round of review on this chapter.
All the best,
Hmm Idk"

This seems wrong - backwards. The question was about communication with the advisor, not the co-advisor. I something needs to be said to the co-advisor it is the place of the advisor to do so, since the OP doesn't normally communicate directly with the co-advisor. I smell trouble if you do this. Beware.

"The main problem that I find here, is that, it's seems that there's not a defined end." - this is the case with research overall. Fortunately, a thesis (especially undergrad one) is more of a technical kind of work. Unfortunately, it seems your advisor is not a very experienced one.
So, start with the thesis structure. Start fleshing it out, maybe put some lorem ipsum in parts you haven't done yet: it is important to get a vision of the "final product" for people who never know where to draw the line.
Focusing on the research itself is good for ideas but can be terrible for planning and interpersonal communication (in the sense you do need to agree on some set of mutual obligations without goal posting).

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How do I email other students in my online classes, to make friends, without appearing creepy?
I have been studying remotely at my university since September 2021. Each of my weekly classes on Zoom has around ten people. I always turn on my camera.  But I still do not know any my classmates. Some turn on their camera, some do not. I have corresponded with nobody outside classes.
I want to get  to know some of them...to see how they find our course...to study together. I am keen to audio or video chat on Zoom. Doubtless I am not going to mass email every one on the same email. But will it be kooky or stalkerish, even if I email each member of my classes SEPARATELY?  Will my email appear out of the blue? And if the classmates gossip, they will know I emailed each of them SEPARATELY with the same email. This can appear as spam!
Any advice please? I plan to start emailing classmates who turn on their cameras. Turning on camera manifests extroversion and neighborliness?

If there's no channel for them to discuss out of class yet they can't gossip about you!

Some food for thought: Onlien teaching has been going on for a while. Faculty and the older students will most likely have established communication channels by now. I now that at my university, there is a wealth of online tools availble to stay in touch, and many are frequently used by students. I don't know how your university is structured, and if there is a student organisation, but if there is, try to reach out to them and ask. In germany, that would be the "Fachschaft", thy are students and now their way around.

I think your main error is trying to use Zoom to socialize with your classmates. Zoom is the tool used by the teacher to teach the class. I strongly suggest using another tool to socialize. Create a Discord server for your class, then mass email your fellow students so that they join the server (only for the students - don't invite the teachers). A tool like Discord is particularly good because you can structure it with several rooms and sub-rooms, both vocal and written, so that you can both talk about class, and talk about non-class-related stuff.

It is honestly really depressing and sad that so many people, including the OP and several anwers' authors themselves, are so eager to label awkward usage of Internet communication as "creepy". It could get unusual, or as I said, awkward. It definitely could give the impression of the communication's initiator being a bit socially uncallibrated. But creepy? Are you serious? A person approaching you at 2 AM, in a dark deserted alley, laughing maniacally and trying to strike up a "casual" conversation about life after death, and then asking you whether do you think that death by bleeding is painless or not: yes, that surely would be creepy. Hearing a baby's laugh at 2 AM in your home while you are living there alone would creep me out to the point of making me insane. But some friendly and polite, even if random and clunky attempt of reaching out to fellow students? Maybe cringy at most. Come on.
We are all in a strange, unprecedented situation and there hasn't really been anything on which we could base the correct etiquette of reaching out to classmates from online course. No matter how you do it, it is inevitably going to appear more or less unusual. However, that is because the situation itself is unusual. I would expect your classmates to be able to have compassion, easily empathize with you and not deem you creepy, because they are all aware of how difficult it is to socialize in current times.
Not all people will be willing to socialize, though. But that would be independent of communication attempts: even in face-to-face settings not all people are willing to socialize, and that has nothing to do with you being "creepy". It just happens.
About potential gossip: even though it can be undesirable, it is a human thing to gossip. There are not too many interesting things happening while you are sitting home on remote learning, so anything out of ordinary is a fair game to gossip about. And people who would gossip about you, your e-mails, etc. could as well end up being great friends of yours once you get to know each other a little bit better. A few times I surely have had, post factum, some of my friends from university courses admit that they had been in fact gossiping about me before we got to know each other. Their admission was a convenient ice-breaker that allowed us to be more quick in advancing from just acquintances to actual friends who routinely tease each other in a friendly and honest banter.
I would advise using e-mail instead of Zoom. E-mail is asynchronous and wouldn't apply unnecessary pressure for people to respond at instant. In my experience, lecturers frequently and habitually send the exact same e-mails to the whole aggregated groups of students (for example, students who belong to the same group). And yes, such is modus operandi of spammers. However, real, actual spammers are people/bots who abuse the e-mail system to send messages that are completely unsolicited, contain commercial advertising, non-commercial proselytizing, phishing, attempting to scam the recipient, etc. And I am 100% sure that your e-mails to your fellow students will not contain any of those.

Why not email all of them together in one email? Considering that they are taking the same (remote) course as you, they might be sitting in the same boat (not having any contact with the other students). Something along the lines of

Hey classmates, since this is a remote course, I have not had the opportunity to get to know you in person. Would any of you be up for a (digital) meeting to discuss the course, organize study groups or similar activities?

is completely appropriate and not "spammy" at all. I would imagine that others of the group might appreciate a meet-up like this as well, but maybe they have the same reservations of just emailing everyone. Someone has to take this step, and it just as well might be you.

I would actually find it less creepy if it were a mass mail and more creepy if they seemed to have singled me out for some reason.

Some people may be interested in hanging out who wouldnt be interested in talking about course material or studying. Perhaps address it directly if that's what you are actually after

@GoodOl'SaintNick I agree; perhaps tacking another sentence on the end to still lead with the common ground of the course before suggesting the purely social

I've done this when I was still in school, during pre-covid, but anyway. Still have contact with some of the people who replied to  the email and even go on vacations together

Also: propose a method of non-email conversation for the course. I have a discord server and/or telegram group for pretty much any of my classes

Your classmates who don't turn on their cameras may still be interested in making friends and discussing the course material. But perhaps they would be more comfortable doing this in a way which doesn't involve video or voice chats, so consider text-based communication options. Text-based communication also doesn't have to occur in real-time, which may make it more convenient than video calls.
I suggest you create an online group space for this (e.g. a Discord server, a Facebook group, etc.), and send one email to invite all of your classmates to join it, with some explanation of what you think it could be used for.

I concur about Discord and the like, I currently use it for this purpose and it works well.

During the end of my undergrad, we had a discord server with "study hall" voice chats where people would just silently hang out and work "together" and occasionally make a few jokes. It sounds lame but actually helped greatly with morale and bonding. It wasn't much but reminded you that you weren't in it alone.

See what uni resources you have available.  I've been using MS Teams for several semesters, and a lot of my classmates are more comfortable because it seems "official" and uses our Uni accounts, rather than going to a private/personal service like FB or discord.  We've setup study groups, group projects, chat/hangout spaces, etc with Teams.

I would suggest to create 2 such groups: one for jokes nd memes, second for discussions about course topics.

For three semesters, we had a Discord server going with separate channels for every class. Recent graduates joined, and we had around ~40 active members by the time we graduated. Not only did this allow us to collaborate, but we could PM each other easily. Even if the Pandemic hadn't happened, I think a class-wide Discord was an amazing idea that helped everyone immensely.

Other answers have suggested a mass email. One answer suggests setting up a specific online space for this. I have seen students request GroupMe and Discord groups to communicate outside of class.
I would like to address how to communicate your new group and invite people to it. Instead of emailing everyone, here are some other ways to invite people:

Drop a link in the chat area of your weekly Zoom
If your class uses Canvas or Blackboard and has a discussion area, drop a link in a General discussion post
Email your professor and/or teaching assistant to ask whether they could communicate the group to make it semi-official

I like the last bullet especially.

In my experience the main social use of our official forum by our students is to share the links to join their unofficial WhatsApp group.

I would suggest a combination of the answers already given. Send a mass email as per @Sursula's suggestion, but include a link to a group that you've set up as @kaya3 and @shoover suggested. This is pro-active and it's easier for your classmates to just click a link than have to email back and forth to set something up. I also recommend cc-ing your prof/TA as they're usually very keen on this sort of thing and may even be able to promote it in your next session.
Personally, I don't agree with what you've said about turning cameras on. I'm very happy to make friends within my course, but I leave my camera off because it doesn't add anything to the lecture. So please don't take it to heart if others have their cameras off - it's generally a personal preference, and not an indication that they don't want to make friends!
Seeing as your course is so small I'm sure the others will feel the same way. It's really nice to be able to message each other about the course outside of lecture hours, and organising study sessions (even if on Zoom) is a great way to learn together. You will probably find a lot in common. If your main goal is to make friends, I would also suggest looking into the societies that your university has to offer.
PS. It's highly unlikely that they'll all get together to gossip about you - and if they do you're far better off getting on without them!

Checking for other groups is a great idea. Your student union might have a list of school sponsored clubs and the like that are still meeting remotely, and "join a club" is a time honored way of making some friends at school.

It can be a bit daunting to get to know classmates in an online program. Chances are there are other students in your class that also do not know how to approach meeting students online.
My experience as an online instructor has taught me that many students are incredibly ambivalent regarding reaching out to classmates and getting to know them.
It is really not all that different from meeting classmates in a face to face classroom. Ask them how they are feeling about the course or mention a recent assignment and you will be connecting in no time. All of the friends that I made in my graduate ( on ground) and post graduate ( online) studies began with talking about the course work. It is a good place to start.


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Satirical journals for the arts and humanities
It was very easy to find scientific journals that allow satirical articles to be published. The top Google result for "satirical journals" was Wikipedia's list of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody_science

Parody science
Parody science, sometimes called spoof science, is the act of mocking science in a satirical way.
...
Proceedings of the Natural Institute of Science - Online-only journal that publishes both satirical and real articles in a scientific journal format.

But I have had no luck finding satirical journals or journals that will publish satire for the humanities.
How can I find popular journals (or functionally equivalent) that exist in the humanities, literatures, languages, cultures, arts, etc., that will similarly publish satirical articles?

The old (?) Journal of Irreproducible Results had a range of articles on different areas, some in the humanities. But it has been 40+ years since I read it. Seems to still exist but I have no info on the current types of articles.

You asked this question before: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/177936/64.  It was closed as a shopping question.

@JoelReyesNoche it is not a shopping question

But it is. Have you checked the definition of a shopping question? https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3657/why-was-my-question-put-on-hold-for-shopping

@Jeroen yes and it doesn't describe this question. In fact it even explicitly states my question to not be one: "Note that questions about how to make such a choice in general – that do not involve naming any of the above – are not considered shopping questions"


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Must a university refund you for tutorials that were cancelled because the tutor was on strike?
On 1 to 3 December 2021, the University and College Union (UCU) initiated industrial action. This affected my daughter because her tutorial instructors went on strike. Her Department confirmed the 3 tutorials she missed will not be made up or restituted.
My daughter pays the pricier Overseas fee around  £30,000.  Is she entitled to a pro rata refund of her International fee? E.g. the cost of these three tutorials?

UK Universities are regulated by the Office for Students (Ofs). The OfS  have released a statement (briefing note) regarding the industrial action and what Universities must do to minimise any negative impact on students. Quoting from this document:

We expect providers to take all reasonable steps to avoid or limit disruption to students. We also expect providers to make up for any teaching time or learning that students lose. For example, providers might make up for lost teaching time later in the academic year or offer full or partial fee refunds. Any changes made to examinations or other assessments should not disadvantage students, while also maintaining standards. Providers should communicate regularly and clearly with students to ensure they understand the impact that disruption will have on their studies and the steps being taken to mitigate the impact of any disruption.

So fee refunds are an option for universities, but probably very unlikely since the strike is 3 days and relatively little teaching has been lost which can be made up for in other ways. There have been regular strikes like this over the last 5 years or so and I don't recall any tuition refunds being made in the past.
If the University's response is not acceptable to a student they must first raise this with the appropriate body at the University. If a satisfactory response is not received the student may make a complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for HE.
Realistically it is better to work with the Student Union at the university in question who exist to represent students both at the University and national level. Interestingly, according to the National Union of Students, students are generally supportive of the UCU strike. At present there doesn't appear to be any action planned by student unions in response to the strike.
Note: the topic of fee refunds has also come up with regards to Covid interruption and as far as I'm aware no refunds have been made.

I disagree that the students union being supportive if the strikes means they won't be interested in pursuing compensation for students. On the contrary, pursuing compensation increases the effectiveness of the strikes because it increases the financial consequences for the university, and increasing the costs increases the motivation to avoid future strikes.

@IanSudbery "it increases the financial consequences for the university" aren't people on strike considered as non-paid leave, i.e. the days on strike are not paid out?

@tensors_are_4_engineers Paying wages doesn't cost businesses money. Paying wages makes money for businesses, because the wages are always less than the revenue the employee produces in the same time. They don't "save" the cost of the wages, they lose the opportunity for profit from products not sold to customers (except, in this case, they seem to be getting away with just giving the customer less for the same price).

I'm a now former member of UCU, and we were pretty split on the last strike on the idea of suggesting that students attempt this. On one hand, a lot of the strike action revolves around the commodification of education, but on the other, even requests for refunds add up pressure on the university, and expose them to increased liability for us striking (i.e, a lot of requests for refunds might lead to a class action suit from the students)

@IanSudbery, agreed - I actually didn't intend to imply this, only to point out that students have been supportive of the lecturers striking.  I have revised the way I phrased this part.

In addition, at least for the last strikes, "work to rule" was an official policy for UCU for several months afterwards, as a way of hopefully stopping staff from having to make up lost tutorial time (though, most end up doing so, because they're really dedicated to their students, and feel pretty terrible harming their education for a dispute between them and the university)

I seriously doubt that any refunds will be given and also doubt whether they are warranted. You attend university for an education and learning isn't measured in "seat time".
It would be proper for the instructors to compensate somehow so that learning isn't impaired, but that doesn't necessarily mean holding lecture/tutorial sessions. There are a lot of ways to assure that students learn when there is some disruption. I suspect that the overall effect or intent isn't to just chop off the learning after a certain point.
It would be too easy to argue the above in any legal proceeding and, I think most people could be convinced, even if they haven't thought of it before.
And three days is a very short period of time in any case. I suspect that the three missed tutorials weren't all in the same class/subject.
It also seems to be the case that some of the things that the strike was seeking would actually benefit students; workload, for example.

Note also that higher education is heavily subsidized by government (tax funds) in most places, so what you might be "due" in any case is likely a lot less than you'd think. It isn't like buying Cadbury Chocolate.

It costs us about £18k per student per year to deliver our degree programme in my department. Tuition from home students is £9250. We get nothing from the government. The shortfall is made up from two places - the fact humanities students pay the same, but cost about £5k to teach, and from overseas fees. We charge overseas students £25k a year.


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Meaning of "cosupervisor"
I graduated under the supervision of two professors, one of whom acted as main supervisor. To indicate this, I wrote the following sentence:
"I graduated under the supervision of Prof. A and the cosupervision of Prof. B."
Does the sentence correctly indicate that Prof. B was not the main supervisor? Or else "cosupervisor" simply means "to supervise jointly", so without any reference to the degree of supervision offered? After all, if I say that I coauthored a paper with somebody else, I am not giving any information as to whether or not I was the first author, right?

I’d say “cosupervision of Prof A and Prof B” if there was little difference between the two. To me, the way you said it does indicate that Prof A is the main supervisor.

Your focus is to leverage the reputation of the co-supervisor, if he/she has any.

It's true that "cosupervisors" could mean the two supervisors have an equal role. But if you explicitly call one a "supervisor" and the other a "cosupervisor", it does sound like they have unequal roles. Think about a pilot and a copilot in a plane.

I think this is clear in context. If you just said "I was cosupervised by Professor B", all that would necessarily imply is that Professor B was not the only supervisor.
However, since you mention "supervision of Professor A" as well as "cosupervision of Professor B", that makes it clear that they have different status (and Professor A was the main supervisor).

There are two different aspects to your questions:

You probably have one (or multiple) "formal" supervisor(s) from the perspective of your University (on paper),
One (or multiple) person is mentoring you (in practice).

In my case, one of my advisor did not have their "habilitation" (which is required to mentor PhD student in France, it's the equivalent of being a graduate member in the US), so I was on paper mentored by a different advisor that played a more modest role in my training.
But, even if one advisor in practice mentored me more than the other, the manuscript indicated their roles on paper.
So, I believe:

In every official document, use the "on paper" description (if they have equal roles, don't distinguish between them, if they have different roles, report them as indicated, even if this is not the reflect of the situation in practice).
In informal communication, your sentence is just fine.

"In every official document, use the "on paper" description (if they have equal roles, don't distinguish between them)," The opposite is also possible: that on paper, they have unequal roles, with one supervisor being the main supervisor (perhaps because they have an HDR and the cosupervisor doesn't have an HDR) but in practice, they have equal roles, or even reversed roles (with the cosupervisor being more closely involved than the supervisor).

I think the distinction is clear for most of the world. There are people who will read your sentence as:

"one main and one co-supervisor, a smaller one" (the majority I guess)
"two supervisors at the same level" when "co-supervising" has a special meaning. This is the case for instance in France where "cotutelle" (co-supervision) has a legal meaning (link in French)


text:
Can I get accepted to an university after cancellation of application
I have been accepted to an US university as an
International student under some condition like submission of English proficiency test. Now, at the beginning of semester I did not have the English score and I withdrew my application. Now, I have the score. Can I apply to the program against my application as I have withdrawn?

You can ask ask, but any decision is up to them and only them. The problem is that the slot you were given may have been filled in the interim and there may be no room. If funding was involved it would be more serious as the funding limits are probably firmer than the number of slots available.
It might be especially difficult for doctoral admissions, but not necessarily impossible.
But ask and you will know. Do it fast.

Sounds more like they wish to resurrect their application, now that they have the test score. However, it is unclear. But your answer is correct - they should ask and see what happens. Given Covid, the 'requirement' may well have been waived anyway...


text:
Is Newton Fellowship in UK for early career researchers?
I am a PhD student (Astronomy) who is going to submit thesis in the next month. I am actively searching for Postdoc opportunities in the UK. I came across Newton Fellowship and I would like to know my chances of getting the fellowship. Is it very competitive? Is their fellowship enough to survive in the UK?

Do you mean the Newton International Fellowship jointly run by the Royal Society and British Academy ? The linked webpage says it's closing for good and there will be no more fellowships from the fund unfortunately.


text:
What does "covering your variables" mean as a thesis defense question?
I'm looking into lists of questions that I might encounter in my MSc thesis defense. One such list is Tamer Suggested: Top 60 Questions Frequently Asked During Thesis Defence. Some of the questions in this list are clearly irrelevant to my project (e.g. "Why did you use thematic analysis/qualitative content analysis"), however others I find are difficult to interpret in the first place.
The question I am asking about here is number 59 from the link:

How is your study covering your variables?

The question seems to assume that there is a collection of variables that are relevant to the study, which is true of any empirical research project (as I understand the term "variable") and therefore should apply to my research project.
Is this question asking what methods I used to measure the relevant variables? Is it asking about how I modeled the relationships between variables? Or both? Or something else?

I think this kind of list is useful only to the extent that it gets you thinking about what might be asked. I suggest skipping things that make no sense to  you. They may be domain specific and have nothing to do with what you have studied.

I'm confused why you believe this list would be useful to you. Have an informal discussion with your advisor regarding what you should expect during your defense. Then make sure that you still remember the important points from your literature search and all details of your thesis. That would prepare you much better than reading this list.

The best preparation you can do for a defence is to have a mock one, preferably with someone other than your supervisor. If you have some time (1+ week) before the real thing, it's worth arranging one.

We don't know, it can mean a lot of things.
Keep in mind that this is a generalized list with 60 questions. No thesis defense will cover 60 questions, so not all questions are appropriate for your case. Think about the questions, see if it is applicable, and go on with the next question if you can't figure out the use of a question. You've spent quite some time on it, if a question doesn't make sense to you, it is likely not relevant.


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How to fix mistake in entering supervisor and student author order at "pending decision" stage?
My supervisor submitted a paper and it is on pending decision after review. I am the first author in the pdf format of the paper. However, when she submitted I understood that it is written:

Submitting Author supervisor
Corresponding Author supervisor
Author #1 supervisor
Author #2 me

So, what should I do? it is unintentionally but which one they will consider? In pdf obviously I am the first author but above it is not like that? MDPI Journal i refer

What does your supervisor say about the order? Do they agree you should be #1? I would worry much less about corresponding author.

Yes sure it is obvious in pdf. I dont know the rules in mdpi maybe it is ordered itself when someone submitted paper but they consider pdf correct one. I still do not want to tell to my supervisor but if problem I should tell!

Perhaps author # in the form doesn't not have relation with the author order as it appears. It would be curious if the journal open an editor to change that

@ Alchimista. Yep I also guess that. Lets see thanks

Talk it over with your supervisor. Once you agree on the order it can probably be fixed as required. You want the paper and the indexing at MDPI to be consistent.
Most publishers can make changes up until things become finalized.

Thank you. Yep I want to do it before finalized. The issue is now after revised it is pending editor decision I hope there is no problem even if they consider it they can change. Anybody specifically knows about mdpi materials journal?


text:
Is doing a postdoc with someone you already worked with during your PhD a bad move?
I am currently looking for a postdoctoral position.
The PhD I did was quite multidisciplinary, and among the fields within there is a field "A" that I would like to investigate further during my postdoc in order to get specialized into it.
However, while I found postdoc opportunities in other fields, it is relatively hard for me to find positions in this field (I think one of the reasons is that my main papers related to this topic are not yet published). A good news is that I have an opportunity in doing a postdoc in this field with someone I collaborated a lot during my PhD and with whom I enjoyed working (it is of course not my advisor, but some permanent researcher from a laboratory of another country).
My issue is that I have heard that it is not good to do a postdoc with someone you already worked with during your PhD. For an academic carreer, people want you to show "independency", and it is from what I understood translated in "you need to work with people you did not work with during your PhD". I wanted to know if it is true (to be honest you could lack total independency working with a completely new person this is why I don't understand this claim). During my PhD I worked on four papers and my two main ones are done in collaboration with this person. Also, what I would do in this postdoc couldn't be considered as being the same job as what I did during my PhD: it could really be seen as a strong specialization in a subfield.
My question:
Is it really a bad idea to do a postdoc with someone you already collaborated during your PhD? In the worst case, what if I do a first postdoc with this person and another one with another person? How will this be viewed for my future academic career? The work done in this postdoc will allow me to be specialized in a subfield that was among the fields I work on during my multidisciplinary PhD. In case it wasnt clear: my goal is to find a permanent academic position later on (ideally in France or in neighboring countries).
Additional info: What I know for sure is that doing a postdoc in the same group you did your PhD can be seen as a red flag by recruiters. I know this from various permanent researchers. The context of my question is to ask if it is the same for a collaborator you worked with. Or if it wouldnt be seen as "too close" (and hence, fine).

Other things being equal it is hard to see how this can hurt you. Don't believe in all academic urban legends and myths.

@Buffy thanks for the comment. So you dont see it is an issue at all if I understood you correctly. The thing is that academia is so competitive that the selection can be done on details. It is hard to separate rumors from unofficials details.

The "other things being equal" is important in a competitive environment. At that level a coin flip is all it requires. Better to have an opportunity to do good work, I think.

@Buffy i am not sure to have understood your last comment. Do you mean that it might be good to work with someone completely new in case my profile is not as good as another one, it could give a bit of boost to my curriculum?

I'm a big believer in building a wide circle of people that you can collaborate with. A postdoc at a new place can do that, but it isn't the only avenue.
As you describe the opportunity it sounds to me to be entirely positive. You are balancing the opportunity to do something interesting against a "feeling" that other people "might" think it is better to do otherwise.
But a postdoc in a new place is a bit of a crap shoot also. You don't really know enough about how the collaboration will go when you start or whether you will be taken away from core interests.
If you have a drive to succeed then you can make it work. Don't choose a direction based on fear.

Thanks for the answer. About your first paragraph, actually the only person I would already know would be the advisor. I would have opportunities to meet all the students (and other permanent researchers) there so in terms of network it might not be too different than working with someone "completely new"

Look to the outside, no matter where you are. Thee are people everywhere. Conferences are good places to establish contact. Follow up with people who write to you about your work. Explore the collaborative circles of your advisor and others to see if you fit. Make it a long term goal.

Thanks. One last question. Just to be sure: you wouldnt think the same if it was a postdoc in the same group of the phd advisor (in case common interests would be there). Said differently the closeness of the relationship with a collaborator is not too strong (compared to a PhD advisor for which it is much more clear that doing a long post doc with can be seen as a red flag by future recruiters)

Is it really a bad idea to do a postdoc with someone you already collaborated during your PhD? In the worst case, what if I do a first postdoc with this person and another one with another person? How will this be viewed for my future academic career?

Not at all in my experience. Why would it be?

You still are broadening the academic environment in which you worked by going to his/her new institute.

It is natural to work with someone who you have strong common interests.

You gain something, by being secure in your postdoc choice. While loose a bit indeed, by having one less potential reference for your job application. But this is a small loss if at all.

Thank you for your answer. Just to be sure: you wouldnt think the same if it was a postdoc in the same group of the phd advisor (in case common interests would be there). Said differently the closeness of the relationship with a collaborator is not too strong (compared to a PhD advisor for which it is much more clear that doing a long post doc with can be seen as a red flag by future recruiters)

@StarBucK, yes, doing postdoc with the phd supervisor is less optimal. But also not that bad.

Usually a Post-doc position is limited in time. You can use your first offer to get all your papers and results published and talk about them on conferences. After two years you might find a position in your actual field.
If you are in good terms with your boss that offered you a position, you might get the chance to leave the position early, once you find a better suiting position. Not sure whether this is a good move with regard to a next deployment, but it might help you with your fear of missing out some other opportunity.

I would encourage a postdoc with this previous collaborator. This person was not your previous supervisor. You know you work well with them -- this is academic gold. You'll likely have the opportunity to catch-up on publishing your PhD papers too. Perhaps branch out further for your next postdoc, but don't sweat what is a short-term post anyways.

Is it a bad move? Not necessarily, and the other answers make some solid points why.
Is it the optimal move? Not necessarily. In the end, the goal of a post-doc is to build a track record in which you are a serious competitor in a tough job market, where the level of toughness, depending on the field, varies between "tough" and "insanely tough".
By extending their group of close collaborators, your peers who start with a fresh advisor might gain a competitive advantage that you won't have to the same extent.

Thank you for your answer. My concern was more about a red flag recruiters could see that you do a post doc in a group of someone you collaborated a lot during your Phd. For instance doing a postdoc with your phd advisor is a red flag. I was wondering if it would be the same with someone you already collaborated a lot. Or if it is not seen under the same eye.

@StarBucK My concern is that just focusing on the avoiding of red flags might not be enough to reach your goals.

Of course but I just wanted to know if you would see it as a red flag. Because maybe there is actually no issue with respect of having a red flag (ie no recruiter will see it as problematic). The only "issue" would be related to the networking (which I would see as being minor in this case)

@StarBucK If you're hoping to enter some industry position, as hinted by your mention of recruiters, you might ask if any postdoc is the right thing for you.

@ScottSeidman I meant academic recruiters. I am not targetting industry

Doing a postdoc with your phd supervisor is not a red-flag. It's only a red-flag if that is your only postdoc experience.

There are some practical considerations for doing or not doing a postdoc with a person that you have worked with:
Why move on

To find a job in future you will need recommendation letters - at least three of them, from the people that you have closely worked with (a letter from a department director or a professor that gave you a course suffice only for recent PhD graduates). Doing a postdoc in a different groupusually adds at least one name to your list of references.
If your field is so narrow that you cannot even find a postdoc position in it, then finding the next postdoc position or a professor position might be pretty challenging as well. Doing a postdoc in a somewhat different field is a good way to increase your versatility. I know it seems hard when you are deeply in love with yoru current subject, but it is because you have never worked on anything else - there is plenty of interesting stuff out there!
Doing a postdoc in a new place may be a good opportunity to travel, meet new people, learn a foreign language, and perhaps even decide to make a career in a different country (where the academic system may be very different from what you are used to).

Why stay

Sometimes being a big expert in a specific field may make yoru carrier. In some areas it takes more than 3-4 years of PhD to produce something valuable or learn a high-notch approach to solving problems (depending on your field).
If the people you work with have enough clout to assure your professional advancement, this might be a good reason as well.
Finally, there are also personal reasons that may motivate one to stay or not go too far - sometimes one have to balance career and personal life.


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Resign from Ph.D. project in a schengen country and go to better schengen country after finding a position
I am not satisfied with the situation I have in the country that I live and conduct phd project. It passed around a year and now I want to apply for another position and go from this country. Does anybody have any experience if in the interview of another position ask about why do you leave what can I say? Also, am I right to do that? I know they cant capture me but what should I do legally and morally. I want to resign if I find a position.

If they ask you why you want to leave, then just say the truth. If they find it a convincing argument, then the new position is likely a better match than your current one. If they don't find it convincing, then the new position is in all likelihood just as bad or worse than your current one, so you wouldn't want to move there anyhow.
It is morally OK to leave a PhD position, just as it is morally OK to quit any other job. The legal part, depends on the national laws. For instance, you may need to give x days/weeks/months notification before you can leave. We don't know what country you are in, so there is little we can tell you there. If if we could, you probably don't want to take legal advise from random persons on the internet...
More importantly, the way you phrase your question you seem to come from outside the Schengen area, so you should consider what this means for your visa. The only advise we can give you here is to get professional legal advise. The internet is great, but for really important stuff, like not getting deported, you really really really do not want to rely on it.

Thank you sir. for visa no issues the countries that I applied told me that if you legally live in this schengen country (where I am in) then after approval of the position they just assign you rp and then I can easily go there (anyway if anyone has also experience I would appreciate to share). One of the issues is resident permit issue in this country that I want to live. My visa was expired already and they do not issue my rp card in any way so this also increases my problem.

Regarding the contract I read it there is not specific things written there. Just it is written if you are unsuccessful or resign the contract will be terminated and so on.  Some people told me you should pay back some but I think it is not correct. Any how I could for example not do my responsibilities and they should then quit me such that I should not pay back in that case.

Yes internet might not be good but if anybody has experience that would be really good to share


text:
What exactly to deduce from this e-mail of a potential supervisor?
I wrote to a professor whose area of specialization aligns with mine in pure math  and I wanted to discuss the possibility of a PhD.
I got the following reply:

Dear X
thanks for your message and interest. We can in principle discuss the
possibility of a PhD with me, but I should warn you that it's unlikely
to work out in the end - first of all, most likely I won't accept any
new PhD students for the next year.
If you nevertheless want me to consider accepting you, please send me
your Master's thesis and ask at least one of your recommenders to
directly email their recommendation letter to me.
Best,
XX

Should I discuss the possibility further? On the one hand, the professor says that it is unlikely to work out in the end and on the other he says that if I still want him to consider accepting me, I should send my masters thesis and recommendation letter. I am confused and I would like to know what exactly I should do.

I'm not sure if you are asking for an interpretation or for opinions on what action to take.  I do not have opinions, but I suggest that interpretations might include:  1.  The professor lacks funds for a PhD student.  2.  The professor is too busy to take a new PhD student.  3.  The professor is considering quitting their job.

@AnonymousPhysicist I am asking for both.

Well, opinion-based questions are generally not permitted here.

It actually means if you can bring your own money, she/he may accept you.

My reading is "I wasn't planning to take any students next year, but if you can convince me that you're a truly exceptional student (i.e. that I would be remiss to reject you), then I would of course consider it."

If I'd written this I can tell you what I was thinking.

I want to warn you that there is little chance of working for me, but at the same time I don't want to send you a short form rejection for several reasons:

maybe you can benefit from some mentoring; if I find your background and qualities promising, maybe I can encourage you or give advice.
maybe I have other colleagues here or elsewhere to whom I can pass along your information.
maybe I can help in some other as-yet unknown way.
maybe I have a policy of always rejecting everyone and waiting to see which people have that extra "push" or won't take no for an answer, or who can't be easily discouraged. See this answer to My advisor wants me to quit the program. What should I do?.

But I would not want to offer such things with any indication that this could lead to a job with me.
There is a very small possibility that something might work out with me, perhaps I can apply for extra money, perhaps you are so exceptional that I can figure out a way to fit you in. But right now I don't want to give you any indication of those remote possibilities.

I'm purely speculating, but if you think a discussion or at least some further interaction has the potential of being beneficial and it doesn't require an unacceptable investment of time or travel and you can take a second "no" after the first one, then this might be worth pursuing.
In principle it's almost always of some benefit to talk to anyone who's willing to talk, as long as you are prepared and careful and as long as there aren't any known downsides to it.
Academic careers take totally unpredictable turns often based on who you meet and with whom things might "click" either immediately, or years later.

I think it is pretty clear, actually. If there is some special reason that you want to work with this particular person, then do as they ask. But don't put much hope into a successful outcome.
If your letter writer has some standing in that research community and can boost you enough then it might work out.
Beware that they might be so busy that even if you do get in the door there might be little help with your research if they  are very busy. OTOH, note that they seem willing to give your thesis a look (or have someone close to them to do so), so they offer to put some effort into evaluating your potential.
Don't give up other opportunities as this one is a long shot.


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How many days I should wait before writing a reminder E-mail to Potential Phd Supervisor
I wrote to 6 professors whose research aligns with my interests (all in Europe) on December 21 for disussing PhD opportunities and attached my CV along with the mail. One of the professors replied after 3 hours that he doesn't have an opening. The rest have yet to reply. I came to know that it is also holiday season in Europe. I am from Asia.
How long should I wait before sending a reminder E-mail given that it is  holidays there?
In general, how much time it takes a professor to reply to an e-mail of a potential PhD candidate?

In some parts of Germany, January, 6th is a holiday, too. There's a chance they won't be back in office before Monday, 10th.

@BernhardDöbler So, do professors don't reply when they are not in office ? Do they never check mail in 15 -20 days of holidays ?

Avenger, they'll check their email. But there's absolutely no reason they'd deem your email urgent enough to reply to before returning to the office.

This close to the holidays, your email may get overlooked. Definitely follow up in the new year, as I suspect many will not respond before then. Outside of holidays, professors are generally very busy and need/welcome email reminders. If you really want to work with them, follow up a few times. However, six professors is a lot, so make sure your messages are tailored to them and their interests and not boiler plate -- otherwise they will be much less likely to respond.

You can go search for their university calendar to get a better idea when it's a good time to prompt.  The universities I have ever been a student / worked for all put their calendars online.
If the calendar cannot be found, maybe prompt them on the 10th?  Meanwhile you can spend your time bugging those folks in countries that don't do Christmas, but still make sure you avoid Christmas Day and New Year Eve / New Year.

are there any countries in Europe that don't celebrate Christmas? I emailed to prof's in France, Denmark, Switzerland.

At the holiday season, wait many days. Send a follow up after the first of the year, perhaps. A mail sent at the start of the holiday season might actually get "lost" if they get a lot of mail.
Note that a very short reply ("Nope, sorry") is likely to come quickly, but one requiring thought will take longer, especially with end of term running in to holidays. In lab situations, a professor might even need to consult with some folks about current needs and openings. That takes time.
Unless there is a serious deadline, give it some time and pursue those options where you have some information.

I wrote to a potential supervisor on 9 Jan, Should I rewrite to him today? or wait for how many days?


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Letter to editor type article
Some journals have letter to editor type article. I checked a few papers the day between submission and acceptance is just 2 - 3 days. Does this mean it is easier to publish this type of paper? Also, does this mean the quality of paper is lower than other types?
Does anybody have experience about this type of paper?
This question is not at all related to How do I identify predatory and low quality journals? With Beall's List gone, how can I tell if a journal is spam?

Does this answer your question? How do I identify predatory and low quality journals? With Beall's List gone, how can I tell if a journal is spam?

I've never heard of a quality journal publishing a letter in less than a week.

In Physics, letters take longer to publish and are more likely to be rejected.

@AnonymousPhysicist The OP is talking about a letter to the editor not a "letter". These letters are generally responses to another article, opinions, or current events. As such, they may only be reviewed by the editor (instead of full peer-review) and may not count as "citable items," e.g. for analytics.

@user71659 That's not how it works in my discipline.  It's up to the asker to clarify.

@AnonymousPhysicist It certainly does exist in Physics: How to talk to a non-specialist, Nature Physics, Comment on the paper by..., Physica A

@ user71659 Exactly except, citing. It is cited in my field.

@user71659 That is not a "letter." It is an "editorial."

Does anybody know how can I find a cover letter template specifically for "letter to editor" type journal?

Each publication type has specific scope and requirements. You wouldn't be able to publish a Regular Paper as a Letter to the Editor just to shorten the publication time. And, no, it's not easier to publish a Letter to the Editor: it's likely the other way round.
Publishers have guidelines that report the requirements for each publication type. Check those for the journals you're interested in. For instance, here is what Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General (a journal I've picked up at random) requires (I highlighted in bold some important points):

This section of the journal publishes high quality short reports of important new results. Letters are both timely and important enough to merit rapid publication; they should not be more than 3500 words (6 journal pages) in length. The publication process of Letters is accelerated by using streamlined refereeing and production procedures. Accepted Letters benefit from higher visibility through being available free of charge on the journal web page to non-subscribers.
Letters will normally be assessed by one senior referee, usually a
board member, using the following criteria. To be accepted for
publication, a Letter to the Editor should:
(i) present important new results (ii) be likely to stimulate further research (iii) be of interest to the wider mathematical or statistical physics community (iv) be sufficiently significant to justify accelerated publication.
Serial publication of letters - where research is published as a series of letters rather than as full research papers - is not acceptable in the journal.

You can expect similar requirements for other journals as well.

Thank you so much really. in composite structures nothing is written about Letter to editor requirements

So, how about the quality? we cant say that it has lower or higher quality than normal article right?

@AhmadTurani No, one can't say anything about the quality: you will find articles of variable quality in each category.

"streamlined proceedures" does not mean actual time to publication is faster - for APS it's slower.

OP is talking about actual ''letters'', a letter in the English language at least is a short journal article and not literally a letter.

@Tom There's two things called letters and everybody is getting confused, including this answer. A "letter" can be a short research paper that is otherwise complete. An "editorial letter" or "letter to the editor" is be a non-peer reviewed (or lightly reviewed) response to another paper, something that expresses an opinion, a report of news, etc., that is deemed to be relevant to readers.

@user71659 no one is getting confused: as I wrote, each journal has its guidelines for what is considered a letter. If you have a different take, please write an answer but don't answer in comments.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263822320325800#b0110   Look above the title! this paper published in 2 days. Actually, it is not bad paper!


text:
Can I Teach for Free on Youtube?
I wonder if it is legal/acceptable to teach standard scientific material for free on youtube.  The concern is about copyright issues. I assume that it is okay to upload youtube videos explaining standard results in math, physics, or computer science, given that it is standard and already available on Wikipedia, for example.
One thing I also find strange is copyrighted videos for universities teaching, for example, Newton's laws in physics. Newton's laws are due to Newton, so what rights does the universities have? Is it about the syllabus, the way of teaching, or  something else?

It would be nice if the down-voter can write a comment of why the question does not show any research effort, or how it is unclear or not useful.

I guess you ask only about copyright, and not about plagiarism.

Thanks. I see now. Although I got good answers, I'm still not sure why the question is considered outside an academic setting. The question is so general so that: it is not about a specific content, and it does not refer only to non-high education.

Yes, you can do this, but you can't used copyrighted materials of others without permission (or in certain limited but permitted ways). The copyrights you see are because copyright is about specific expression of ideas, not about ideas. So, yes, you can teach anything that is common knowledge and anything that you develop yourself, and you can even copyright it.
Lots of books express the same "ideas" and can be copyrighted since it is the expression that is covered. Ideas aren't property. But the expression can be protected by various IP laws for some (hopefully) finite period of time.

The copyright holder of standard results in math, physics, etc is not the author of the paper. Newton did not hold the copyright to Newton's Laws. The author holds the copyright to how they chose to present the work. The copyright holder of a lecture is the person who gave the lecture, so you cannot just record someone else's lecture and upload it without their consent. However, if you are making your own videos, then you hold the copyright, and it's legal.

The way this is expressed by authors (at least five different ones in my personal direct experience, plus lots of them in writing) is this. The copyright is for the arrangement of words. Or the image in the case of graphics or art and such. The copyright is NOT for the ideas. Once the idea is out you can use it. You must not copy the words. (Or the pictures etc.)
You MUST put it in your own words. And make your own pictures. And, as much as possible, you should cite the source of the ideas. At least as far as where you got the ideas. If you can then cite the person who originated the idea. Some cites of people who worked with the idea would also be nice for your learning audience.
There are already several YouTube channels that do some of this. Some of them are useful and interesting. My suggestion would be to try to avoid duplicating the ones already there. Find a niche that is not already filled that you can fill. Then do a good job at explaining topics not already explained. That will get you an audience.


text:
Research Experience in PhD Proposal
I am applying to a (UK) PhD programme in theoretical computer science/maths and I am currently writing a rather technical research proposal.
I have experience working on (very) closely related projects. However, I am not sure whether to mention it in my research proposal to emphasise I have the relevant experience or mention it in my SOP since they are related to the technical points that are only mentioned in the proposal.
What should I do in this situation? Thanks in advance.

Any research experience is helpful when applying to a graduate program.  Generally I would definitely mention this experience in my SOP, as it is useful for showing that you have research experience (even better if it is related in some way).
A research proposal is for the research that you intend to conduct once you have begun your graduate studies.  Mentioning your prior experience here would therefore be more dependent on how closely related your prior research is to your future research and how it could support such work going forward.


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When will our published paper appear in Google Scholar?
Our paper was published on 28 December 2021 in MDPI. It was written that after 24 hours metrics are available. Still it is not appeared in Google Scholar? Can I add it manually? What is the difference between automatic and manual addition?

My latest publication showed up in my Google Scholar 4 days after what IEEE gives as the publication date. I'm not sure if it's faster or slower for MDPI but I suggest waiting a couple more days if possible.

Thanks. It will be automatically update right?

Yes, it will be added automatically to Google Scholar.

Whether your paper will be linked to your account automatically (if you have one) depends on your settings.


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What is "star rating" of a publication?
As a part of a (UK) lecturer position, one reads as follows.

Innovation and impact:
Examples of Innovation and Impact would be: Contribution to knowledge

Publication (please state star rating), presentation and performance or exhibitions.

I googled the term "star rating" but I didn't get what it really is. Any clues about it?

I suspect, but am not sure, that this is a reference to the ratings given to research publications during the REF evaluations. Where did you see this description? Is it at your place of work, or part of something that was sent to you?

@YemonChoi: "Where did you see this description?": As the question states, in one of the application forms of the job I am applying for. "Is it at your place of work": No, I don't work there.

Thank you for the clarification. Your question did not mention job applications; I thought that perhaps you were reading the internal specification for e.g. promotion criteria

Unless there is some parallel system specific to the field (they do exist i believe), this is almost certainly a reference to the Research Excellence Framework (REF). https://www.ref.ac.uk/
In brief, every 5 years every department in the UK must submit (2.5 times number of staff) outputs (papers/books etc) for assessment. Every staff member must be an author on at least 1 and no more than 4 outputs. The papers are then graded 1*, 2*, 3* or 4* by a panel of experts in the relevant field. Departments then receive some amount of government funding based on the results (this accounts for 10%-20% of income at my institution).
I have to say, i have no idea how you are supposed to know the rating of your papers, particularly if you are just applying for your first lectureship. Some universities run mock REFs to see how they are doing, and judge which papers to submit. But you wouldn't be involved with that unless you were already a faculty member. They must be asking you to estimate. Your best bet is probably to ask a colleague in your discipline who is familiar with ref.
As a rough guide, 4* is "world leading", and generally refers to papers in generalist journals (Nature/Science/NEMJ et al), papers in the sub journals from the same publishers (e.g. Nature Genetics etc) or the very top disciplinary journals (in my field, genomics, something in "Genome Research" would probably be judged low 4 or high 3).
3* is "internationally excellent", and is generally given for work which is important to the field, but maybe not so recognised outside the field. Think second tear generalist journals (PNAS, BMJ, JAMA etc), or good displinary journals.
2* is "internationally recognised"
1* is "nationally recognised".
Its the number of 3 or 4* papers that decides funding, so in general, universities only care about papers they think will be judged 3* or above.

'i have no idea how you are supposed to know the rating of your papers'  An identical requirement appears in this job advertisement, which provides a sample answer that may give some clues.  (Although the sample answer has one glaring problem - it claims a review paper has potential to be REF 3* or 4*, whereas IIRC, review papers are not eligible for REF.)

I contacted the reference of the position, and he stated: "The star rating refers to the U.K. REF - research excellence framework star rating. In a simpler sense, papers that are published in top journals (e.g. 1st quartile according to the Web of Science, Scimago ranking) and which have high citation impact and some deep insight are 4 star papers, other papers in top journals and conferences and also good papers from 2nd quartile journals are typically considered 3 star papers, other papers in 2nd and 3rd quartile journals and not so top and not so selective conferences are ... (to be cont.)"

"... considered 2star papers, and other published papers that are not in selective journals or conferences are considered 1 star papers or 0star papers."

I think the definition of rating will be field dependent. For example, going by "1st quartile according to Scimago" every paper i've ever published would be 4*m but thats definitely not who our internal REF mock ranked my papers.

To complete the information, the statement of the reference above attributes to an engineering position.


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Are international applicants in UK at disadvantage when applying for PhD in Pure Mathematics?
I am a student from Asia and I am applying for PhD in UK universities in pure mathematics for the upcoming season.
I want to know if universities in UK give priority to UK citizens in PhD applications? How disadvantaged are international applicants who are not self funded or funded by their home country?

The admission decision and the funding decision are generally separate in the UK. For admission, there are some sources for mild disadvantages for international applicants (eg admission tutors being less able to judge the quality of an undergraduate degree, letter writers being unfamiliar with their task in a UK context, stuff like that). But these shouldn't be taken as too offputting.
Funding, however, is another story. A primary source of PhD funding in Mathematics in the UK is EPSRC, and they have tight constraints of how much of their PhD funding can be spend on non-residents. Other funding sources such as the Leverhulme Trust may not directly object to funding international PhD students, but instead object to paying the much higher fees most universities charge to foreigners. As such, the competition for the few unrestricted PhD scholarships will be much higher than the one for the "domestic" ones.
There are some scholarship schemes targeted directly at international applicants, such as the Commonwealth scholarships. If you want a chance at funding, you'll need to research these and identify whose criteria you meet. "Blindly" applying to universities directly is unlikely to get you any funding.

This. Basically only a fraction of funded PhD positions will cover the international tuition fees and are therefore "open to anyone". Consequently, they are much more competitive Sadly.


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Is "bench researcher" a formal / professional term?
I am applying to a computational biology job. I want to make it clear that I am extremely interested in the practical aspects of my work, wet-biology generally, and collaborating with / supporting bench researchers.
My concern is that "bench researcher" is a colloquial / derogatory / unprofessional term. Should I use it in formal writing or something else?
Additionally, I am not certain if this is the correct term to use in any case. I noticed that there is "clinical research" distinguished from "bench research". I can move this into a separate question if it doesn't resolve naturally from this one.
Update: I am not especially familiar with lab work (my background is computational from outside biology) so I am not precisely sure what kind of roles I am trying to describe. Ultimately, any 'real scientist' who my work could help. I may work on a range of projects including predicting various things about amino acid sequences, for example binding energies of the protein. Really I am looking for a word for "biologist who doesn't just sit at a computer all day".
In case you are worried, the job explicitly does not require biological experience.

Could you perhaps be more clear about what you would describe as 'bench researcher' activities? Is this microscopy work, or similar?

You're extremely interested in practical aspects of your work, but not especially familiar with it? That's fine, I'm just clarifying.

I don't find it derogatory per se, but also don't think it's necessary to discuss "bench researchers". If anything, I think most people tend to have a bit of in-group bias, such that only a computational person would think "bench researcher" is derogatory, and only a bench person would think "computational researcher" is derogatory. The most plausible way you would offend would be if someone got the impression that you had a negative or patronizing view of bench science or bench scientists (see for example https://xkcd.com/793/ for an example of how this attitude can be expressed).
However, there isn't any neat division between roles in a biological laboratory; saying you want to work with "bench researchers" could imply that you don't realize that people who do wet biology may also have computational skills, and that those skills may be comparable to yours (or, likely, far superior if you haven't had computational experience in their specific domain).
I think it would be sufficient to make clear that you are interested in working alongside bench research (rather than researchers). However, if you are writing a cover letter for a job application, I think you can be a lot more specific to the role you're applying for and express specific interest in the technologies used in that lab; you can read papers published by the members of the lab to get an idea of what they do. That may be more difficult if you haven't had any exposure to research methods in biology, but you're going to be a better candidate if you can learn what you can ahead of time. Otherwise, your application may seem out of place.
The categorization of research depends a lot on your perspective. "Clinical" research, though refers to work done in human subjects for medical purposes, such as trials of drugs or devices; for a clinician/physician, the antonym would be usually be "basic research" referring to studying of the underlying processes or mechanisms; basic research can include both theoretical/computational approaches and wet biology/bench science. Clinical research can also involve primarily computational/statistical approaches, though, especially in fields such as epidemiology and public health.
Because these lines are not drawn neatly, I'd advise against using the terms without feeling comfortable with them. Instead, say what you really mean, plainly and specifically.

In my experience, the phrase that is used is "bench scientist."  It means someone who does experiments themselves.  The experiments may or may not be done at a "lab bench" which looks like a counter.
I would not expect the phrase "bench scientist" to be derogatory.  The real pitfall would be that implying someone is no longer a bench scientist might be derogatory.  Many former bench scientists in academia have managerial roles. They are deans, or they write grants, or they supervise the bench scientists.  The traditional belief in academia is that bench scientists are better, or have better jobs, than their supervisors.  In reality, both are necessary.
This might be a chemistry-specific tradition.  Chemists are much less prone to field work than biologists.


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PhD in mathematics after master's in theoretical physics?
So, my background is that I have a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, but I am doing my master's in engineering physics, theoretical track. (Both will be part of my "Civilingenjörsexamen", as it is called in Swedish, which I believe is usually translated as Master of Science in Engineering.)
When making my choice for master's track, the clear front-runners were applied mathematics and theoretical physics. I ended up choosing physics mostly because I was curious about relativity theory and quantum field theory, even though I am certainly stronger in mathematics than in physics. I also had some vague idea that I could transition into more general applied mathematics later on if I wanted to, while it might be more difficult to go the other way.
Now, a year and a half into my master's studies, I feel that, while there are many areas of physics that fascinate me, life as a physics researcher would likely be frustrating and unsatisfying for me. I am frequently annoyed with how loose and hand-wavy physical arguments can be, and I find some physical theories (say, the standard model) to be a bit too messy to be enjoyable. But more importantly I realize that, while I appreciate the applications, it is really the mathematics that I enjoy the most. I really empathized with Steven Strogatz in a recent interview when he said something to the effect that he found physics a wonderful source of problems, but that he could not care less about specific results.
So this leads me to the obvious question: is it feasible that I could get into pure or applied mathematics PhD programs with my background? I guess I could just apply and find out, but that takes significant work, so I would prefer to know if I am wasting my efforts. I am interested in both Swedish and international PhD programs.
I should probably mention that I have taken a few extra mathematics courses, specifically real analysis, abstract algebra (groups and rings), and discrete mathematics, in addition to the standard courses in calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, statistics, numerical methods etc. Also a couple of "mathematical methods for physics" courses, with a mix of topics like partial differential equations, tensor calculus, variational calculus, analytical mechanics, representation theory, differential geometry etc., though not to the depth of a dedicated mathematics course. Moreover, I have a little bit of research experience, with two summer research internships under my belt; though these were both related to my bachelor's subject of electrical engineering rather than math/physics. I am also under the impression that my institution, KTH, is pretty well regarded in Sweden. At least the physics program.

We get a lot of questions along the lines of this one: I've done my bachelors/MS in X, can I do my PhD in Y. Math seems like a particularly common destination for these questions, and "mathy-field but less pure" is often the source field. Have you searched the site for other Q&A about this? What have you learned from those and what specifically seems unanswered with respect to your particular circumstances?

@BryanKrause I mostly found questions about going the other way, i.e. physics after mathematics. Those that I did find about going from physics to mathematics were about master's programs rather than PhD programs, or things like taking an additional master's. I don't think they addressed going directly from a master's in theoretical physics to a PhD program in pure or applied mathematics. I might be using the wrong key words in my searches though.

I'd guess you'd be welcome in many doctoral programs in math in the US. You'd have to take a few advanced courses, perhaps, in order to pass qualifying exams.


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Should I follow up with this professor?
I emailed a Prof. in Germany my CV and my research interests and that I want to discuss PhD research opportunities with him.
His reply was the following:

Thank you very much for your message and your interest. I do not know
yet whether or nor I will have the capacity to take on new students in
the fall, but you are welcome to apply at our graduate school:
.

Should I follow up with him? I saw the website and the admissions are centralized with deadline in April.
He is the only Prof. in the institute whose interests align with me.

@everybody: Please do not post answers in the comments.

You should follow up with the institute, not the professor, assuming that there are reasonable costs of doing so. This will buy you time and the opportunity after you apply for a further conversation when they may know more. You don't need to make a commitment to attend if they are unwilling to take you on, but not applying closes the opportunity.
But it would probably be fruitless to follow up with the professor at the moment. They haven't said NO, but have made it clear that, at this time, they can't say YES.
A short note of thanks would be appropriate, saying that you will follow their advice.

In Germany, getting funding for PhD studies is the difficult part. Once funding is secured, being admitted as a PhD student is normally the easy part.
When the professor wrote "capacity to take on new students", she/he most likely meant financial capacity. So she/he doesn't currently have own funding sitting around that could be used to pay you when you start in the fall. And while that is the case, it makes little sense to have a closer look if you are a suitable PhD candidate until some grant proposal got accepted or so.
Apart from funding via a professor (grant funding or institute-based funds they have control over), there are however sometimes also coordinated programs as it seems to be the case. In these, your application will need to compete against other applications (of potential PhD students who would be working with other professors).
Because the answer was so short, it looks like the professor did not have a detailed look at whether you would be suitable PhD candidate in his/her eyes. This step would probably come later if you decide to submit your application.

The grad school the professor mentioned is one of the possible ways to get funding. Also, there are quite a number of Stiftungen (e.g., the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) - if the OP sees a reasonable (!) chance of being able to secure funding from such or other sources, it may be worthwhile to follow up with the prof himself and point this out.

@StephanKolassa Can you please elaborate about  the system of"Stiftungen " ? It will be really helpful as I am not a native of germany.

This website (in German) explains the various Begabtenförderungswerke in Germany. They fund both the Studium up to the bachelor's or master's degrees, and the Ph.D. All of them expect above-average achievements, and most (essentially, all except for the Studienstiftung) also expect some ideological commitment, being either close to the major parties or the major churches in Germany. I don't know whether they also require German citizenship.


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Indicating an en dash in arXiv submission's metadata
As indicated here, arXiv metadata fields (e.g., title or abstract) only accept ASCII input, certain TEX accent commands and "some mathjax", but there are ways of making other symbols appear.
My question is, what is the "best" or "standard" way to indicate an en dash?
From a very quick search, most authors seem to use a hyphen -; others use a double hyphen --. But these are not the proper ways of showing an en dash.

If you can only use ASCII, what other options are there?

I’m voting to close this question because it contains the answer.

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2116/when-should-i-use-an-em-dash-an-en-dash-and-a-hyphen

I would say that it doesn't matter much, and that the answer is probably opinion-based (and, as @AnonymousPhysicist says, the best answer available is in your question already ...)

You could always use "–" - technically, those are all ASCII characters :-)

Please don't close this question - it doesn't contain the answer, I don't think it is opinion-based, there are other possibilities apart from ASCII, and you might as well do the symbol properly instead of using hyphens

Prediction: If you submit a paper to the American Mathematical Monthly that refers to the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem (with a hyphen), they will leave you're hyphen intact if they publish it, but if it's the Pacific Journal of Mathematics, they will make it say Gauss–Bonnet Theorem (with an en-dash).

I think the answer is to use MathJax:
$\unicode{x2013}$

I don't know if it works in all metadata fields, but it does work in some.

This is one of those things that MathJax does differently from LaTeX.

One of the dangers seems to be the parsing by other programs like Google Scholar then ...