The Effortless Academic
Courses

My first course with Ilya was the Literature Review course, which I took because I was struggling a lot with my PhD research. After that, I continued with Note Taking and Writing with AI. These three courses were essential in changing my mindset about how research can be done. Suddenly, the work started to make sense, and I knew what I needed to do to actually move things forward and get things done. Every one of Ilya’s courses is a gem, packed with practical material that helps you process information more effectively and work much more efficiently. And the best part? The support he provides and the community he has created. It keeps you updated, motivated, and helps you deal with all kinds of setbacks along the way. Money well spent.

Zdeněk Hlavsa,

PhD Candidate

Czech Technical University

I’d been using Obsidian to manage my PhD work for nearly three years before taking this course. Through YouTube tutorials, conversations with colleagues, and plenty of trial and error, I’d built a note-taking system I liked and felt comfortable with. Even with that experience, Ilya’s Information Management course changed how I think about organising knowledge. I haven’t found anyone who explains the key concepts as clearly as he does. He goes beyond showing you how to use Obsidian: he gives you a framework for thinking with your notes and connecting ideas across your research. What I especially appreciate is how the system reduces the effort of organising and maintaining your notes, leaving more room to focus on the research questions that matter most to you. I’m recommending this course to all my colleagues. I wish I’d had it at the start of my PhD, and I think it belongs in every academic’s starter toolkit.

Stefan ten Voorde,

PhD Candidate

Wageningen University

Ilya’s AI Agents course completely transformed my Obsidian workflow. Through sharp, step-by-step video instruction, he demystifies complex integrations, showing you exactly how to deploy agents across both your local vault and the broader web. The payoff is immediate: buried connections surface effortlessly, turning Obsidian into a genuinely proactive second brain. Crucially, the system amplifies output without diluting ownership — you remain completely in command of your voice, perspective, and ideas.

Nigel Andrew,

Professor

Southern Cross University, Australia

I have worked in academia for 29 years and it has been a while since I worked on a manuscript from start to finish. I joined the Academic Writing with AI because I wanted to learn what new methods of working on a paper are available to academics. Ilya's courses are chock filled with information. He shows you all his tips and shortcuts for writing AI prompts and explains how they work. It was really helpful to see the examples he provided. I would highly recommend taking this course if you want to reduce the time it takes to prepare a manuscript.

Frances Aranda,

Senior Research Specialist

University of Illinois at Chicago

Writing is a large part of the work academics do. Adding AI to the mix, especially AIs tuned to consumer levels, without a clear picture of what it can do and how it can be a reliable assistant for you, is a recipe for bad outcomes. In the webinar, Ilya shows how to think about what the writing process entails. From there, he goes on to demonstrate how to create AI assistants that you prompt to act as your own personal research assistant, colleague, editor, even reviewer number two! Your writing process is your own. This webinar gives you prompts and tools to make it more efficient, perhaps more fun, and you more productive.

Amanda Graham,

Professor, School of Social Science & Humanities

Yukon University

Ilya truly hits the nail on the head when it comes to the effective and responsible use of AI in academia. I attended the workshop hoping to learn how to better organize my literature and make the academic writing process more efficient using AI, and it exceeded my expectations! The seminar was highly informative and provided far more insights than I anticipated. I left with a range of practical ideas and tools that I can immediately apply. Ilya is an experienced and professional presenter who shares valuable examples from his own academic journey. He takes the time to answer questions thoroughly while maintaining an efficient and engaging pace. I highly recommend this workshop to anyone interested in using AI thoughtfully in academic work!

Lisa Wolf,

PhD Student

Victoria University of Wellington