Becoming a Successful Independent Scholar (BaSIS)
In 2024 Linda Baines and I published the NCIS Guide for Independent Scholars (free to download). We are now under contract to Routledge for a book on Becoming a Successful Independent Scholar (BaSIS), to be published in their series Insider Guides to Success in Academia. These guides provide “practical and realistic guidance to address many of the needs and challenges of trying to operate, and remain, in academia.” Our book will use the lived experience of independent scholars across the globe, to address the challenges we face, how to overcome them, and the resources available to us.
If you would like to contribute to this valuable addition to the literature, please contact us on basisbook2025@gmail.com.
Finding your tribe
If you are, or are considering becoming an independent researcher, you can do no better than to join the (most definitely Inter)National Coalition of Independent Scholars (NCIS). I was one of the many people who got their doctorate late in life – I started at 48 and finished at 52 – and with the support of NCIS I have since flourished as an indie. Their moral support has been priceless, not to mention their grants programme, regular free online events and in-person conferences. Check them out at www.ncis.org on Facebook, BlueSky, and LinkedIn.
Guest blog post
In 2020 I was honoured to be asked to provide a guest post on the blog run by fellow linguist and independent scholar Dr Kathleen Stein-Smith. Happy reading! https://kathleensteinsmith.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/language-as-superpower-a-guest-post-by-amanda-j-haste-phd/
Amanda J. Haste, Ph.D. 