Teaching

Academic Writing

Academic writing is a craft that demands precision, clarity, and attention to detail. It is a specialized form of writing that serves as a critical tool for scholars and researchers to communicate their ideas to the academic community and beyond.

I developed this course because over the years, I have seen many talented students struggle with academic writing due to a lack of structured training and support. Many of them feel overwhelmed, confused, or frustrated by the demands of academic writing, and find it difficult to navigate the complex rules and expectations of the academic genre. Therefore, this course aims to provide students and early-career academics with a comprehensive and structured approach to academic writing.

I taught this course at the doctoral level in Singapore with great success. I also co-teach customized writing workshops with Tanvi Mehta, who is an academic coach with more than 15 years of experience in this field. See the workshops we offer here

The 2022 cohort of my Academic Writing class

Testimonials

  • "Whether you are a first-year student just learning the basics of academic writing, or a seasoned scholar working on your next R&R, Prof. Julien’s course is sure to make you a better writer. The course gives not only a methodical overview of academic writing but also a myriad to practical tools and techniques that help you cultivate and hone your skills as a writer. I highly recommend this course for students and scholars at any stage in their career. My only regret is that I didn’t take this course sooner, before my qualifying exam."

    Rahul Narnindi

    PhD student, SMU

  • "I had the privilege of taking Prof. Cayla's Academic Writing as Craft course during my first year. Prof. Cayla's expertise and passion for writing made the course engaging and accessible. His guidance and feedback helped me improve my writing skills and develop my behavioral, social, emotional, and artisanal habits. This course has helped me become more effective in writing and better prepared for my future academic career. Although I still have a long way to go, this course provided me with a solid foundation and inspired me to continue working toward a better academic writer. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from such an outstanding professor and would highly recommend this course to anyone looking to improve their academic writing skills."

    Haoyu Liu

    PhD student, NTU

  • "I had been a policy practitioner for my entire career, so when I decided to pursue a PhD course, the transition to academic writing was a big challenge. Fortunately, Prof Julien’s academic writing course turned out to be a lifesaver. Not only did it elevate my technical knowledge of writing but it also allowed me to enjoy writing on an emotional and social level. The course involves several dimensions of experiential learning and Prof Julien’s personal writing experiences delivered with a great sense of humour, added an extra dimension to the learning experience."

    R Jai Prakash

    Phd candidate, SUSS

Consumer insights

Consumer Insights is a crucial course for those who want to develop a deep understanding of consumers and their behavior. By examining psychological, anthropological, and sociological perspectives on human action, students learn how to generate consumer insights. The course explores the conceptual building blocks of consumer insights, including the psychological and social aspects of consumer behavior, and the methodological tools used to understand consumers.

A unique approach I take in this course is to expose students, through an on learning module we developed, to consumer behavior in India. I picked a particular context—beauty—to help students appreciate the nuances of this particular market and the different ways of gaining consumer insights. 

Course Resources

Check out some of the videos I use to teach this course:

Testimonials

“This is the BEST marketing module out of my 3-year business course…”

“This course has provided me with highly practical and useful learning from real-life examples, cases, and personal interviews that he has done before…”

“Very engaging and puts a lot of efforts in helping us understand concepts and practical skills learnt in the course…”

Ethnography

Ethnography is generally defined as a mixture of methodologies, all sharing a commitment to studying communities and cultures in their natural settings through participant observation and other forms of data gathering. Ethnography emphasizes developing empathy for the subject’s point of view, and it is this insistence that can lead to paradigm shifts in the way organizations design their work environments and their modes of interaction.

I have taught ethnography at a variety of Universities and organizations including the University of New South Wales, Nanyang Business School, and the Institute of Mental Health.

I often teach ethnography with my friend and colleague Charlie Cochrane who is a great commercial ethnographer with his own firm, Jump the fence


Charlie Cochrane and I teaching ethnography at Nanyang Business School