Small Talk with Myself
Hi there—welcome to Small Talk with Myself, a podcast for PhD students and early-career academics. I’m your host, Zuduo Zheng. I’m an award-winning researcher and educator, and also a university professor, which basically means I get paid to ask questions and occasionally pretend I know the answers. I try to support you by sharing my experiences, or, sometimes, by openly exposing my ignorance. By the end of each episode, I hope you’ll feel a bit smarter, a bit happier, or, at the very least, entertained by my accent.
I make this podcast in my free time, and everything is shared for free—in the true spirit of open science and reproducible research. For more information about my research, please visit: http://www.connectedandautonomoustransport.com/
Hi there—welcome to Small Talk with Myself, a podcast for PhD students and early-career academics. I’m your host, Zuduo Zheng. I’m an award-winning researcher and educator, and also a university professor, which basically means I get paid to ask questions and occasionally pretend I know the answers. I try to support you by sharing my experiences, or, sometimes, by openly exposing my ignorance. By the end of each episode, I hope you’ll feel a bit smarter, a bit happier, or, at the very least, entertained by my accent.
I make this podcast in my free time, and everything is shared for free—in the true spirit of open science and reproducible research. For more information about my research, please visit: http://www.connectedandautonomoustransport.com/
Listen on:
Episodes

Feb 12, 2026
How to work with international students
Feb 12, 2026
Feb 12, 2026
34 min
This episode — this conversation — comes from a personal place. My experience as someone who once sat on the international student side of the table… and now sits on the supervisor side.
I make this podcast in my free time, and everything is shared for free—in the true spirit of open science and reproducible research. If you suspect this isn’t a complete waste of my evenings and weekends, I’d love your support: share it with your network, leave a comment, and drop a rating. It might even help me convince my wife and kids. Thank you!
Feb 12, 2026
34 min

Jan 29, 2026
Jan 29, 2026
23 min
Habit 6: Self-care is self-improvement;
Habit 7: Build a thick skin for failure and embarrassment — and stop comparing, stop over-thinking.
Plus some embarrassing stories.
Jan 29, 2026
23 min

Jan 14, 2026
Jan 14, 2026
25 min
This episode covers three habits:
Habit 3: Discipline executes. Consistency transforms.
Habit 4: Stay positive, stay confident, and don’t quit.
Habit 5: Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.
Jan 14, 2026
25 min

Jan 1, 2026
Jan 1, 2026
24 min
7 habits for achieving excellence in academia.
Part I: the first two habits.
Jan 1, 2026
24 min

Jan 1, 2026
Why I started this podcast
Jan 1, 2026
Jan 1, 2026
6 min
The motivation behind this podcast.
Jan 1, 2026
6 min

