Mission
Three things a good supervisor gives you when they have the time. Academia, Translated exists to be that support when they don't, for every final-year scholar, and especially for those who've had the least help getting this far.
Academic language is dense by design, and institutional process is rarely explained to the people navigating it. Clarity means translating both, the jargon and the process, into plain English, so you understand exactly what your examiners are assessing, and why.
In practice: chapter diagnostics, plain-English viva orientation, feedback that tells you what's good and what to fix.
You can't think your way into confidence. You have to practise your way there. Confidence means rehearsal under real conditions, with honest feedback on how you actually answer under pressure, not just what you know.
In practice: mock vivas, conference and presentation coaching, structured rehearsal before the day that matters.
A thesis and a viva are one moment. The underlying skills, structuring an argument, defending a position, presenting your work to a room, are what carry you through the rest of an academic career. Craft means teaching those skills, not just fixing this one document.
In practice: the full mentorship journey, specialist archival guidance.
Who this is for
I specialise in supporting first-generation, primarily state-educated scholars who haven't had the resources or opportunities that others have had, because I was one of them, and my own studies were only possible through funded places.
This service is open to all, regardless of whether you were state or privately educated, or whether your parents went to university. You're always going to be a little nervous hitting submit on your thesis and walking into your viva. But you can walk in with clarity, confidence, and preparation that's been properly crafted.
The Open Door Scholarship, one funded place a year, is the one exception: it's reserved specifically for first-generation scholars.
See the scholarship programme →This isn't generic academic coaching. Every review and mock viva draws on a doctoral thesis that saw me recognised as First Laureate in the CIUTI PhD Award for doctoral research excellence, and years teaching Arts & Humanities students the exact conventions your examiners will hold you to.