Monthly Archives: January 2019

Thinking globally about research evaluation – LIS-Bibliometrics talk

Last Tuesday I attended the 2019 LIS-Bibliometrics meeting which focused on open metrics and measuring openness. I was part of a panel that was asked to discuss the topic “Thinking globally about research evaluation: common challenges, common solutions”. Chaired by Lizzie Gadd … Continue reading

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In which we grow towards the light

It’s that time of year when the long winter starts to nibble away at your core. Everything feels cold, dark, and dormant, held in abeyance until better times. The festive period is a distant memory, and spring seems so far … Continue reading

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Unconscious Bias Consciousness

I’m writing this post from the wonderful Kartause Ittingen where 25 DMATL lecturers, as well as our teaching administration and a colleague from  the ETH Educational Development Center are “Retreating”. Exactly two years and many hundreds of person-hours work since … Continue reading

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Feeling Exhausted

This week I came across an article highlighting the accumulated evidence from multiple studies of the disadvantage women in science suffer, with specific reference to the fields of anthropology, ecology and evolution, the field the author – Kathleen Grogan – … Continue reading

Posted in bias, bullying, leaky pipeline, MIT, Science Culture, Women in science | Comments Off on Feeling Exhausted

In which I see through other eyes

A few months ago I had a Twitter encounter with an American far-right Trump supporter. Unbeknownst to me, this man had been lurking and – as incongruous as it sounds – apparently enjoying my Twitter feed (which is largely, these … Continue reading

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Creativity Mustn’t be Allowed to be Hijacked

 ‘In 2019, the “two cultures” described by CP Snow in 1959 will have finally ceased to have meaning.’ So said Russell Foster in a recent article in Wired. Russell is clearly an optimist and I fear I do not share … Continue reading

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Facing up to the Existence of the Jerk

As stories of harassment and bullying multiply in the media (social and otherwise), it is worth thinking about what it is in management and leadership that lets situations get out of hand. Too often I hear the phrase that someone … Continue reading

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The New Awkward

WhatsApp. It’s like Twitter, but better curated. Blogging lends itself to the meta. Over the years, when I have been battered, bruised and even left bleeding from online exchanges, I think back to my abrupt and unintentional induction into science communication; … Continue reading

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Alice’s Restaurant Massacree

I fell a bit behind with the shopping lists, which is a shame because I really wanted to show you this one before Christmas. It’s a full-blown pre-Christmas shop. Right at the top we’ve got mistletoe and greenery—both queried though: … Continue reading

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Pyramid Schemes and the Book Cover Challenge

As a child I occasionally got sucked into a strange pyramid form of exchanging postcards, an old-fashioned form of chain mail (but not of the metal variety). The details escape me but the basic idea was that you contacted half … Continue reading

Posted in Jane Austen, JE Gordon, Materials Science, Richard Jones | Comments Off on Pyramid Schemes and the Book Cover Challenge