How to hack your research life

This summer, we're all about making space in your work life for those things YOU consider a priority. University of Graz researchers have developed a useful routines, and are sharing these with us - and they tell us what they still need a “research life hack” for!

Behold, here they are:

1. How to surround yourself with awesome women (Florina Schalamon) 
2. How to stimulate the creative part of your mind (Bojana Radovanović) 
3. How to write anywhere and anytime (David Weiss) 
4. How to use distraction-free blocks (Tea Pavkov-Keller) 
5. Why you should play the bagpipes before work (Jamie Page) 
6. How to assess where to direct your focus (Heide Bruckner) 
7. How to make space for that deep focus in your research life (Georg Krainer) 
8. How to make use of your high-energy times (Markus Wurzer) 
9. How to do a pre-task metacognitive check (Shiva Taghizadeh) 
10. How to roll up your sleeves (Lara Trussardi) 
11. How to maintain your energy during the work day (Antonia Knapp) 
12. How to draw inspiration from colleagues (Juliane Jarke) 
13. How to foster your curiosity (Rafael Schögler) 

And, you may ask, what did they say about the challenges they'd still like to master? For example this:

“Honestly? Switching off. I study how people regulate their cognition, and yet I have not cracked the code on how to stop my own brain from running experiments in the background at eleven at night or waking up at four in the morning to spot a mistake in my analysis code.”

“One ongoing challenge in my research life is balancing my curiosity with the reality of limited resources like time and infrastructure. There is always more I’d like to explore than is realistically possible, and learning to focus without losing that curiosity is an ongoing task."

"Learning to say ‘no’. "

"I feel I need more tools, better arguments, or simply a thicker skin to highlight the significance of my work as a social scientist in a project – or indeed in a world – where natural science approaches tend to receive more attention and recognition."

"Managing email, communication, and research time efficiently without fragmenting the day. I’m still searching for the perfect hack for that one."

Did you enjoy the hacks? Do you emphasise with the challenges? Do you have a solution? 

Let us know!

(Interviews: Johanna Stadlbauer, RCC, June-July 2026.)