PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Inger Mewburn

Inger Mewburn is a research educator whose work connects machine learning with doctoral careers and AI with research practice. She moves from architecture into research education in 2005, begins The Thesis Whisperer in 2010, and joins ANU as Director of Research Training in 2013 after a research fellowship at RMIT. Her work includes a 2016 study of PhD skills in job ads, the 2019 PostAc paper on a job-search platform, and the 2017 book How to be an Academic. As of October 2026, she is Professor and Director of Researcher Development at ANU; her recent research examines PhD employability, and she shares practical uses of AI in research.

Timeline

  1. 1997–2009

    Architecture and research education

    She earns a Bachelor of Architecture with honours at RMIT in 1997 and starts her academic career as an architecture lecturer in 2001, after 10 years in architecture practice. She works as a research educator from 2005 and completes a PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2009.

  2. 2010

    The Thesis Whisperer

    In 2010, she starts The Thesis Whisperer, a blog about PhD study and academic work.

  3. 2013

    Director of Research Training

    After a research-fellow role in RMIT University's School of Graduate Research, she takes up the Director of Research Training post at ANU in 2013.

  4. 2016

    Classifying PhD job ads

    In 2016, she coauthors a conference paper that tests an ontology of PhD graduate skills on SEEK job advertisements; its next stage proposes language analysis and machine learning to track industry demand.

  5. 2017

    How to be an Academic

    In 2017, she publishes How to be an Academic, a guide to thesis and article writing, research strategies, new technology and promotion in university life.

  6. 2019

    PostAc job search

    She coauthors the 2019 PostAc paper, which presents a job-search platform that uses free-form job descriptions to measure demand for PhD-level skills.

  7. 2025–2026

    AI and PhD employability

    In October 2025, she presents a webinar on AI in research, sharing examples from her research and teaching. In 2026, she coauthors a study of industry skills emphasis in PhD employability.

  8. As of October 2026

    Director of Researcher Development

    As of October 2026, she is Professor and Director of Researcher Development at ANU, where she oversees professional development workshops and programs for all ANU researchers.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Inger Mewburn yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Through a Glass Darkly press-files.anu.edu.au. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. About thesiswhisperer.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Webinar | So, you're graduating your PhD in a pandemic. What's next? (29 May) - APR.Intern aprintern.org.au. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Inger Mewburn - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. The use of machine learning to analyze job advertisements for doctoral employability dspace-prod.anu.edu.au. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. How to be an Academic | UNSW Press unsw.press. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. PostAc: A Visual Interactive Search, Exploration, and Analysis Platform for PhD Intensive Job Postings aclanthology.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. Career Progression Webinar Series: You, me and ChattieG: (mis)using AI in your research asgc.org.au. Checked 19 October 2026.
  9. Inger Mewburn - The Australian National University researchportalplus.anu.edu.au. Checked 19 October 2026.