Corey Gibson: from wild-haired barbarian to civilised Dutchman Corey Gibson, PhD, started his academic career as a student at the University of Edinburgh. After studying literature and history, he started teaching courses in literature, first in Edinburgh and currently in the Netherlands. Originally from Dumfriesshire, Scotland, Gibson has lived in several countries during his studies and later during his academic career. He is currently employed at the University of Groningen, where he teaches several literature courses to undergraduate students. After finishing his studies in Edinburgh, he moved to Berkeley, California for a few months to research 20th century Scottish literature from a Romantic perspective. Gibson, talking passionately about his field, laughs and says that “when I start talking research, I always forget context, [and] just go straight down the rabbit hole.” He also speaks about the struggles of funding research and ideas. "For an early career academic the fight is to try and get enough financial support to stay alive while you research more and publish things and write more and organise your thoughts." Now that he is living in the Netherlands, he feels he has more time and opportunities for research. “If you work in a bigger department with a more specialised teaching force, then…show more content… According to Gibson, this has to do with the sizes of departments he has taught at. While in Edinburgh he would only give lectures, in Groningen he also gives tutorials. He likes that this way he can spend a lot more time with his students, discussing texts and theories. “The English department here is really small and close-knit and the student body are intimately involved.” Another difference between Edinburgh and Groningen, Gibson quips, is that Dutch students are “maybe a little slightly better