Prof Lennart Nacke, PhD

How to ace your PhD thesis defence. My Questions and Answers Guide ↓

Controversial take: Most research topics are chosen backwards. Students pick what seems important or impressive, then try to get interested in it. That's bad. It's why so many PhDs burn out. Instead, start with genuine curiosity. What keeps you up at night wondering? What…

Write your 1-page research vision Not a project. Not a topic. A vision. Something like: I want to make AI feedback feel more human, starting with education. This will anchor your program, your proposals, your student recruitment. Spend a weekend on it. Edit until it feels…

5 things you will never regret doing: 1) Taking care of your health 2) Investing in your education 3) Building your own Business 4) Spending time with your loved ones 5) Not caring about what others think of you Life is simple. We are the ones who make it complicated.

Research design is about making trade-offs. Not finding perfect solutions. • Internal validity versus external validity. • Precision versus generalizability. • Feasibility versus ideal design. The best researchers make these trade-offs. Consciously and transparently.…

So... what’s your research program? The first time someone asked me that, I blanked. I had papers. I had ideas. I had zero coherence. Turns out, a research program isn’t just the stuff you study. It’s a story arc. Tenure committees want to see: • Independence • Progression…

Professors wear every hat. Who gets burned? Most professors signed up for autonomy. To think. To teach. To write. To finally do meaningful work on your own terms. But here’s what we actually do: • 59% of our time goes to teaching • 23% to service • 18% to research…

Academic secret: Most killer research comes from combining ideas from different fields. Look for the intersections: • Your field + emerging technology • Traditional methodology + modern data sources • Established theory + contemporary problems Innovation happens at the…

Reality check: Not every fascinating question makes a good PhD topic. Ask yourself: • Can this be completed within my program timeline? • Does my department have expertise in this area? • Do I have access to necessary data/equipment? • Is the scope manageable for one…

Publication bias isn't just tied to journals It's tied to how researchers think. • We design studies we think will work. • We analyze data looking for findings. • We write up results that tell a story. But science progresses through: • Null results • Failed replications…

Words like improve, enhance, and optimize are prompt killers. They mean everything and nothing. Instead of: "Make this literature review better" Try: "Restructure this literature review to follow APA 7th edition with clear topic sentences and logical paragraph flow"…

Here's what I learned after years of research topic anxiety: The perfect topic doesn't exist. But the right topic for you (right now, with your interests, resources, and timeline) absolutely does. Stop overthinking. Start researching. Your topic will evolve as you learn.…

The 3 stages of academic writing: 1. Denial (pretending LaTeX is your friend) 2. Bargaining (writing for imaginary reviewers) 3. Acceptance (caffeine as a personality trait)

You wouldn't ask a research assistant to write your entire dissertation in one conversation. So why do that with AI? Break complex tasks into micro-prompts: → First: Generate interview questions → Then: Analyze transcripts for topical clusters → Finally: Summarize key…

A lot of academic success comes down to working on a paper long enough to make the number of mistakes required to actually figure it all out. Otherwise, you just keep starting from zero every publication.

Most academics measure success by citation numbers and grants. Academic entrepreneurs measure success by impact that ripples outward. One group debates the ethics of popularizing their work. The other group is already changing lives with it. Guess which approach AI will…