Me, on your team.
Direct access to me as your senior academic advisor.
You bring the research, the ambitions, and the decisions. I bring 15 years of academic experience, strategic judgement, and a seat at your table.
We work together on the decisions that shape your academic career.
You bring the decisions that shape an academic career
The next paper. The next grant. The next position. The next research direction. The next leadership move. The next decade.
Most academics have people around them who contribute to their research. Co-authors, collaborators, supervisors, colleagues.
But who do you turn to when you need to make a strategic decision about your career?
Which paper should come first? Is this the right grant to pursue? Should you accept that position? How do you build a research profile that will get you where you want to go?
These are decisions that benefit enormously from the perspective of someone who has already made them.
That is what Private Academic Advisory is for.
Who this is for
Private Academic Advisory is for researchers who are ready to make deliberate decisions about where their academic career goes next.
You might be at the beginning of that career, establishing your independence, building a research group, or preparing for your next leadership position.
The questions are different. The principle is the same: academic careers benefit from strategy.
Not just finishing the thesis, but planning the decade after it.
Building a publication trajectory toward a chair, a faculty position, or independence.
Establishing an institute from zero: the team, the funding strategy, the first wave of grants, and the politics that come with all of it.
Building a serious research profile alongside the clinical role.
Pivoting methodology, field, or theoretical framework, and needing to land somewhere credibly.
Positioning for a leadership role, a chair, a major grant, or international visibility.
What this is not
Private Academic Advisory is not a thesis-writing course or a more expensive version of Ongoing Support.
If you want to learn how to structure a thesis, write a research paper, or build an academic writing routine, I have developed courses specifically for that: the Thesis Starter Course, Thesis in 30, and Paper in 30.
Private Advisory is different. Here, we work on your research direction, publication strategy, grants, academic positioning, career decisions, and leadership.
This is about building an academic career, not learning the basics of academic writing.
I’ve built an academic career. Now I can help you build yours.
I’m Prof. Dr. Carina Benstoem.
I’m a university professor, Cochrane author, methods expert, reviewer, and research leader.
I’ve built research programmes, secured competitive funding, published, supervised researchers, and navigated the decisions that come with building an academic career.
And I know that doing excellent research is only part of the equation.
You also need to understand how academia works. How decisions are made. How to position your research. When to say yes, when to say no, and which opportunities are actually worth pursuing.
These are the conversations I want to have with you.
How we work together
We work together over six or twelve months.
Some decisions need a proper conversation. Others need a second pair of eyes on a document, a quick strategic assessment, or someone who can see the bigger picture.
The advisory combines private work with me and a small group of researchers navigating their own academic careers.
We begin with a private conversation about where you are, where you want to go, and what you want to accomplish over the next six or twelve months.
We identify the priorities, decisions, and milestones that will shape our work together.
90 minutes in a small group of researchers.
Bring the decisions you are facing: a journal submission, a grant opportunity, a difficult collaboration, a career move, or a strategic question about your research.
We discuss the situation together. I provide my assessment and recommendations.
A dedicated conversation to review your progress, revisit your priorities, and make sure the decisions you are making today still support where you want to go.
Each month, you can submit one document for my review.
A manuscript, grant introduction, academic portfolio, strategic email, or another document that would benefit from an experienced academic perspective.
I review it and return written feedback.
Between our scheduled conversations, you have a private channel for short questions and decisions that cannot wait until our next meeting.
This is for focused strategic advice, not unlimited messaging.
You also receive access to Thesis Starter Course, Thesis in 30, Paper in 30, and Lit Rev in 7.
The writing systems are available whenever they are useful to your work.
Investment
I work with a maximum of five researchers at a time.
Private Advisory requires time, attention, and the ability to understand each researcher’s work and academic ambitions. That is why I keep the group small.
When all five places are filled, applications close until another place becomes available.
or $15,000 paid in full – save $1,500
or $24,000 paid in full – save $6,000
Submit your application
Tell me a little about your research, where you are in your academic career, and what you would like to accomplish over the next six or twelve months.
I read every application personally.
You will hear from me within five business days.
Apply