Welcome

​​Academic Life Histories: a blog about the many pathways that landed us all in the same place

​Like in many of the organisms we study, there are many alternative life histories in academia. Take any group of 4 or 5 academics, and you will undoubtedly discover a wide range of personal trajectories, experiences, and ambitions. Our lab is a star example — we represent 5 different continents and a wide range of ages. With this broad set of backgrounds comes an equally diverse set of experiences. 
 
The aim of this blog is to share our own personal experiences about life in (and out) of academia, and how our trajectories have, somehow, landed us all here together in a small town in southern Germany. Who are we? We are members (and associates and friends) that form a lab in the Department of Collective Behaviour at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. You can find out more about what we do here and a small window into each of our stories here.
 
We hope you enjoy the blog, find it useful, share it widely, and even contribute if you have a new topic or different angle on one of our posts.