Thesis Whisperer

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Channel • 2 Shows

Self-Improvement

Self-Improvement

Monthly
Arts

Arts

Twice monthly

30/11/2025

Is boredom your academic superpower?

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us! Welcome to the first Youtube video version of the pod! Watch it here Sorry for the sound quality for the first 10 minutes - promise it gets better when we remembered to turn the mics on! The filming/recording took ages, through many interruptions, and bad technical decisions... so much effort in fact, that we are not sure if we will do it again. Let us know if you like it and we might persist! In this episode we talk about Boredom at work. Inger reads Jason in on the literature and floats her theory that the PhD is an exercise in training boredom tolerance. Things we mentioned: Thesis Whisperer post about boredom in PhD studySavers - the thrifting superstoreAn academic affair - new romance book set in Australian Academia by Jodie McAllisterThe Dopamine Brain (book)Enshittification (book)One Battle After AnotherTron: AresSoul by PixarScispace AI Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com - Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break). - Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

30/11/2025

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1h 37m
06/03/2022

Is this book b******t? The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us! This episode of On the Reg is slightly delayed because of children being stranded in Western Port Bay, internet upload speeds and an ill-advised attempt to record in the evening after work. In other words, it took time to get our shit together (and not just because we are both now over 50 and the government is starting to show an interest in the contents of our poo (long story). This is the first of our special episode series called 'Is This Book Bullshit?' where we examine the giants of the productivity literature to see if what they say about being productive really stacks up. We start with Inger reading 'The Four Hour Work Week' by Tim Ferris in less than four hours and subjecting it to a rigorous feminist critique. Jason comes along for the ride, providing very necessary context and commentary along the way. Inger eventually rates this book as a 'Type 5' on the Brisol Stool Chart (soft blobs with clear cut edges - passed easily). The team go on to take about the Victoria special forces ('The Soggies'), why your brain does a 15 second refresh, why driving a Tesla is like riding a nervous stallion, hyper grooming, the Doom Scrolling Reminder Bot and many other side topics. In other words, it's a pretty standard episode of On The Reg, just a little late! PS: there's a bit of the odd crackle and background noise in this one - we were both recording under different circumstances than usual, apologies! Things we mentioned: Sons of God by Heath O’loaughlin : Amazon Link Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss : Amazon Link Everything we see is a mash-up of the brain’s last 15 seconds of visual information : The Conversation Future Fit by Andrea Clarke : Amazon Link Doomscrolling Reminder Bot : Profile on Twitter Endless Scream Bot : Profile on Twitter Clean Text: removes all the shitty bits from PDFs etc when you cut and paste: Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com - Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break). - Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

06/03/2022

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1h 35m
26/12/2025 · BONUS

Emergency Pod - Welcome to the resistance Calibri!

An emergency podcast. Ripped straight from the headlines of a couple weeks ago. When Calibri was unceremoniously replaced by Times New Roman under the Trump administration, we chose to process our feelings—potential travel ban be damned. Yes, this episode is about fonts. And no, it’s really not. In a looser, more unscripted conversation than usual, we turn rage into humour while exposing how typography has always been political: shaping authority, enforcing norms, and quietly excluding people. Typefaces, it turns out, have never been neutral.

26/12/2025 · Bonus

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34 min
21/09/2025

If AI is the hammer, do we have the right nails?

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us! Jason has been living his best life, travelling NZ (where he did not touch boiling mud, as much as he was tempted to) and having excuses to eat pepper steak pies. Meanwhile Inger has been having a shit time at work and waiting for her puppy to arrive. After a confession during the mailbag segment, we hear all about Jason's star keynote at the ASPIRE conference, which led to... well, a bit of a rant on Inger's part at least. You get the picture! Things we mentioned: ANU Vice Chancellor resignsJason and Ginger CatBlossom - puppy mum to beRich Academic / Poor AcademicLittle National Hotel NewcastlePerplexity AISlides: How to think about AI in the workplaceAI as thinking partner frameworkAI as verifier frameworkAI as Information Processor FrameworkHow I used Claude as a ready-to-hand technology to help me build a Structured Dialogic Thinking BotInger's structured dialogic inquiry bot (free to use)Black Hawk DownFree Time by Jenny BlakeThe EMythBreakneck - China's quest to build the futureAI as normal technologyGot thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com - Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break). - Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

21/09/2025

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2h 7m
29/06/2025

Ai powered research workflows: Inger finally realises her dream to become a cyborg

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us! This one's a bit overdue folks - that's Inger's fault, don't blame Jason! After a long catch up, where we bemoan the state of the higher education sector, and a very full mailbag, we talk about AI powered research workflows. Inger talks Jason through her new AI enabled process for doing literature reviews, analysis and writing research papers. The crew muse on the shift in working practices how you might take advantage (or not) in your own work. The team are looking at a teaching slide deck as they talk, which Inger stupidly altered, so you can't read along... (doh!). But you can see the final version of it, as delivered, here. The pre-print version of the paper about AI that Inger wrote can be retrieved here. Things we mentioned: Reading like a MongrelText expander for academics (ebook)Bullet Journal (BuJo)SpeechifyThe art of procrastination (book)Microsoft power automateMigoals journals Mind on Paper (book)Cabells Analytics (for finding journals)ConsensusElicitSemantic ScholarMaxQDA TailwindThe importance of being intereresting (blog post)Cognition in the Wild (book)Patter blog (Home of the Queen: Pat Thomson)Johnny Saldana's coding manualTiny Experiments (book)Amphetamine (app) Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com - Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break). - Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

29/06/2025

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1h 54m
19/07/2025

Tiny Experiments (and larger rants)

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us! In the depths of Canberra winter, no one can hear you scream about AI... except for Jason, who had to hear ALL of Inger's feelings. Come for the promise of a 'Is this Book B******t?' style review of 'Tiny Experiments' by Jason, stay for the Big Rant about how Inger's anti-AI academic friends now think she is a Republican... it's a lot. Things we mention: Pop Canberra (for the stickers)Fated Mates romance podcast stickersIndigenous Knowledge Systems LabOmniFocusOn The Reg Mind Sweep BotGetting Things Done (book)Ben Kraal's OTR episode with IngerHow to Make Notes and Write (book)Literary Theory for Robots (book)The Utopia of Rules (book)Evelyn Frost books Analogue Productivity (book)Rethinking Repair (paper)On the reg Structured Dialogical Inquiry BotTiny Experiments (book)Listen Later (app)On The Reg on Linkedin Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com - Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break). - Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

19/07/2025

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1h 45m
13/05/2025

What does it take to be an entreprenerd?

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us! Jason lost the annual Downs family hosted hot cross bun competition, but Inger's political team comprehensively won the federal election, so we figure we came out even. There's a bulging mail bag with lots of interesting questions from listeners - some of which we could even answer. Then we chat about the first ten months of our business 'On The Reg Team'. What lessons has Jason learned about being an entreprenerd? loyalty wont save your Higher Ed job... so how do you start your own thing (even if it's just a lifeboat for now). Clearly we had a lot to say because Inger's AirPods gave up before the end! (Inger snippity doo dah'd over half an hour... Sadly, you don't get to hear about Jason painting his boat) Things we mentioned: The first hot cross bun episode (where Jason accidentally bought secular buns)Guardian episode on Australia's obsession with sexy (!?) hot cross bun varietiesJason's pictures of the HCB off and trophy#DemocracySausage price list on InstagramInger's pictures of her election day work for PocockList of reading for nurses going into academia (thanks Sally-Anne Wherry!)Timing app and Co-Typist + our TextExpander bookMaxQDA tailwind AI assistant and ConsensusGoblin toolsDo the work by Steven PressfieldInger's enshittification postXero and Paris FinancialGot thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com - Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break). - Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

13/05/2025

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2h 5m
04/04/2021

A Bullet Journal love fest (#bujo)

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us! Jason's been sailing around in his tinny (with and without thongs) and Dj'ing on a ship that only serves vegan pizzas. Inger ordered a mid life crisis car and is looking forward to driving her new Tesla on sunlight and unicorn farts. In this episode we do a synchronised deep dive on the Bullet Journal (#bujo) method by Ryder Carroll. We talk about each of the key concepts and how we have enacted them in our own productivity systems. At the end we wonder: what now for Omnifocus and the Getting things Done (GTD) method? And why are we buying so many art supplies?! We went long on this one, so there is not a two minute tips section in this one, but there is a teaser trailer for Inger's new 'Whisperfest' podcast, which you can find here. Some #bujo links: The official Bullet Journal website Pictures and descriptions of the basic concepts we talk about Bullet journal Youtube channel Angry Uterus stickers Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com - Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break). - Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

04/04/2021

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1h 23m
02/10/2022

Building a second brain (for writing)

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us! There's a lot of sweary words in this one, headphones in! Inger brought a sword to work and Jason is back on the mats at Brazillian Ju Jitsu (BJJ) so it's business as usual at On The Reg. Big shout out to Jason's wife Cath, who has nearly finished her course, which somehow leads to a long discussion of Jason's first experience of removing unwanted body hair. In other words, the usual catch up, but if you want to skip it, go straight to 24:32, where Siobhan calls in on Speakpipe to ask Inger if she's read 'How to take smart notes' by Sonke Ahrens. Siobhan's call is a great segue into Inger and Jason's discussion, starting at 28:58, about 'Building a Second Brain: a proven method to organise your digital life and unlock your creative potential' by Tiago Forte of Forte Labs. Inger LOVED this book and spends an hour telling Jason all about it, which caused Jason to spend yet more money on books and software. There's a lot of talk about the relative merits of (and how to integrate) Pocket, Evernote, Obsidian, Roam Research, Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com - Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break). - Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

02/10/2022

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1h 48m
21/12/2021

The one about Overwhelm

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us! It's been a busy couple of weeks leading up to the end of the year for both Inger and Jason. There's a lot of cars on their respective work highways. While Inger was 'snappish', Jason suddenly found himself Overwhelmed by everything. Jason describes his terrible, no good Tuesday and tells Inger how he ate hot chips, went to afternoon Brazillian JuJitsu and bullet journaled his way out of it. Inger knows the ways of Burnout after she got carried out of a lecture theatre to hospital in 2018, after a terrible no good 2017. Inger explains to Jason why his strategies worked according to Science, using the wonderful feminist self help book 'Burnout' by the Nagoski sisters. Apparently it's all about running away from the lion, which is why Jason deciding to have his face mashed into the mat by a BJJ sparring partner was exactly The Right Thing To Do. In other news, Jason has been trying to read 'Risk: a user's guide', but is annoyed about the writing style. Inger had the opposite reaction to 'The Game' by Sean Kelly (she even sent him an admiring note about his use of Gerunds. In the 2 minute tips section Jason shares a new #bujo innovation and Inger shares the 'one decision that saves 100 decisions' about peer reviewing. Links: Burnout: the secret to unlocking the stress cycle Risk: a user's guide The Game: a portrait of Scott Morrison The Year America's Hair Fell Out And in case you were wondering, of course Inger bought the new Version Two Bullet Journal A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review My personal reviewing policy: No more billion-dollar donations Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com - Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break). - Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

21/12/2021

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1h 50m

Academically inclined entertainment produced by Professor Inger Mewburn from The Australian National University. What links all my shows is nerdish enthusiasm and good conversations.

Website

Thesis Whisperer

Top Shows

Is boredom your academic superpower?

Is this book b******t? The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris

Emergency Pod - Welcome to the resistance Calibri!

If AI is the hammer, do we have the right nails?

Ai powered research workflows: Inger finally realises her dream to become a cyborg

Tiny Experiments (and larger rants)

What does it take to be an entreprenerd?

A Bullet Journal love fest (#bujo)

Building a second brain (for writing)

The one about Overwhelm

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Thesis Whisperer

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