This blog post was originally written for and published by the Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand (HSRAANZ) Emerging Researcher Group (ERGO) section of the December 2012 Newsletter. It has been, and will continue to be, updated as I find out about new resources.
The number of resources for PhD students and emerging researchers available on the internet has increased exponentially in recent years. To assist in discovering those which can be the most helpful in navigating the difficult and often confusing (but very rewarding) path to an academic career, the ERGO group (with the assistance of the PhD Group at CHERE) has put together a list of online resources. The list is aimed at early career researchers, including PhD students, but many of the resources listed may be of interest to anyone working in health services research.
Websites / blogs
Following the blogs of people in your field can expose you to the latest research, as well as upcoming conferences, funding opportunities. There are also a number of websites and blogs aimed specifically at PhD students and early career researchers, often with a focus on writing.
| Name | Summary | Web / Twitter |
| Incidental Economist | “Contemplating health care with a focus on research, an eye on reform” | http://theincidentaleconomist.com/ @IncidentalEcon |
| Thesis Whisperer | “newspaper style blog dedicated to helping research students” | http://thesiswhisperer.com/ @thesiswhisperer |
| Healthecon-all | Subscription email list which distributes messages to the international health economics community. Set up in 1995 it has 1300 members | https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=HEALTHECON-ALL @healtheconall |
| Academic HE Blog | UK-centric blog for news, analysis and developments in health economics | http://aheblog.com/ @aheblog |
| PHTwitter Journal Club | ‘Meets’ fortnightly to discuss selected public health related academic papers | http://phtwitjc.wordpress.com/ @PHTwitJC |
| Simply stats | 3 biostats profs post interesting ideas, article links and advice for new statisticians. | http://simplystatistics.org/ @simplystats |
| 3-month thesis | “uncommon guide to thesis writing & phd life” | http://3monththesis.com/ @3monththesis |
| AcWriMo | Academic Writing Month – set a writing goal, make it public, work on it in Nov 2012 | #AcWriMo |
Twitter feeds are another good way of staying in touch with people and organizations who work in a similar area.
- Health economics – @ScHARR – HEDS; @HERC_Oxford; #healtheconomics;
- PhD students / early career researchers – @PhD2Published; @hildabast; #PhDchat; #Ecrchat;
Organisations to join
The following organizations have opportunities or resources specifically for early career researchers and/or PhD students
| Name | Early career researcher specific activities and resources | Web / Twitter |
| HSRAANZ |
|
www.hsraanz.org |
| ISPOR |
|
http://www.ispor.org/ |
| iHEA |
|
https://www.healtheconomics.org/ |
| AHES |
|
http://www.ahes.org.au/ |
| ISOQOL |
|
http://newinvestigators-isoqol.blogspot.ie/ |
iPhone / iPad apps
These apps will all make your student / research life easier!
| Name | Summary |
| Dropbox | To access all your docs from any computer, and this can include your EndNote library. There is a special promotion at the moment if you have a student/uni email address you get an extra 3Gb storage |
| Endnote for iPad | Access your EndNote library on the go. You will need to set up an EndNote web account, but then your articles, including PDF’s will be available anywhere, anytime. |
| GoodNotes | To review/revise documents |
| EverNote | For taking notes |
| TeamViewer | To access your computer remotely |
| Toodledo | To do list |
| Pomodoro Timers |
|
Feedback?
Do you have an iPad app you couldn’t live without, or a blog that you really enjoy? We would love to keep expanding and updating this list of resources, so please let us know if you have other resources that you find useful as an early career researcher.