Monthly Archives: February 2013

Leadership Strategies for Dealing with Jerks

My last post about jerks in academia struck a chord with many but also raised questions – jerks abound, yes, but what should we do about them? What can we do to ‘out’ them and so to attempt to ameliorate … Continue reading

Posted in Research, Science Culture | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Time to Eradicate the Academic Jerk?

There have been several articles/blogposts recently pointing out that scientists are just like everyone else. For instance, they have emotions (see this Observer article from last week detailing the ups and downs of research life); and they get stressed, as … Continue reading

Posted in Science Culture | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Fear of the Illogical

I’m on my way to Newcastle to talk to their Women’s Network about confidence, and it’s made me think a lot more about the phrase ‘Feel the Fear and Do it Anyhow’ – the title of a book I must … Continue reading

Posted in Science Culture, Women in Science | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Let’s Get Stereotypes out of Science Education

Women are from Venus, like making cupcakes, like bright colours – particularly pink – and need to be told at frequent intervals that ‘math is meant to be hard’. That seems to be the verdict you could cull from many … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Equality, Uncategorized, Women in Science | Tagged , , | 21 Comments

Confidence and Confidentiality

I have a couple of tasks ahead of me which I am currently mulling over. The first is a talk I’m going to give to Newcastle University’s Women’s Network on Building Confidence, in which I’ve been asked to build on … Continue reading

Posted in Communicating Science, Science Culture | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Confidence and Confidentiality