this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2024
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Privacy

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Privacy in academia? (feddit.nl)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Hi everyone,

I've been checking this forum but I have not managed to find duplicates (I'm using Summit for Lemmy). If that's the case I'll remove this post.

I'm about to start a PhD. I've been told I will be required to partake in publications and other shenanigans. I am not against it, but I'm very concerned about having my full name flying around the internet, as I've always been hesitant of sharing any of that information (real name, pictures, etc).

Ultimately, I only care for potential employers to know that it's actually me the one who has written this or that, which I would happily disclose in private.

What's the usual stance in this situation?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Hey fam, I don't fully share your perspective, but I respect it. Here are some thoughts:

  • as a student: if you want to be a leader in your field, you really should publish, and get your name out there, and talk to people, etc. However, if that's not important to you, then (usually) you only really need to "publish" your dissertation. This may vary by field and university, and will greatly depend on your advisor. In the US, a younger faculty member will want their students to publish a lot (to increase their own prestige), though a more senior faculty member may not care as much.
  • I haven't heard of people publishing under pseudonymns. But you could do something like: if your name is "John Paul Jones", and you're usually known as "John Jones", then maybe you could publish as "Paulie Jones" and then go back to "John Jones" again after graduation.
  • in security they say "define your threat model"; what threat is it you're defending against? Is there a threat that can take advantage of the fact that you are currently a student at XYZ university? I decided that risk was minimal. Is there a threat that can take advantage of an email that you published in a paper? I decided the risk of phishing attacks was real, so I used an email address that I only accessed on a "non-work" computer. etc.
  • once you graduate: a lot of people here are talking about "academics" and it sounds like they basically mean university-based researchers. But universities aren't the only places where research is done. There are many industry labs that don't publish, or only publish internal documents. Likewise in the US there are government-funded labs that conduct research that is not circulated; if you're from .nl there may be the same in Europe.
  • similarly, you can use your PhD to get a good non-research job in industry or the government. A lot of times this involves understanding cutting-edge research well enough to apply it or analyze it, and keeping up with the state of the art. (i.e. you have to be able to understand research, though you're not doing the research yourself.) These usually do not involve publishing.

Anyway good luck with the PhD!