Monthly Archives: September 2020

In defence of the bureaucracy of equality, diversity and inclusion

Posted on 28 September 2020 by Stephen

The UK government’s new policy to reduce bureaucracy in research institutions aims at an easy target. But the bonfire of administration lit by the Prime Minister’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, risks burning down the foundations of much-needed efforts to value … Continue reading →

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Of a Retiring Nature

Posted on 27 September 2020 by Athene Donald

The end of this month marks my retirement from my professorial position at Cambridge, something that I still find rather surprising. My career on that front has just faded out, yet another victim of the pandemic; the conference planned for … Continue reading →

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Research Culture, Fairness and Transparency

Posted on 20 September 2020 by Athene Donald

A week after the Science and University Ministers announced with respect to chartermarks such as Athena Swan “We have therefore asked the OfS, UKRI and NIHR to ensure that they place no weight upon the presence or absence of such … Continue reading →

Posted in Athena Swan, BAME, Equality, grant-giving panels, Ottoline Leyser, Science Culture, UKRI | Comments Off on Research Culture, Fairness and Transparency

We’ve Come a Long Way But…..

Posted on 14 September 2020 by Athene Donald

When Rita Colwell was born in 1934, neither Oxford nor Cambridge Universities had yet appointed a female professor in any discipline; Dorothy Garrod, the first woman to hold such a chair (the Disney Chair of Archaeology at Cambridge), was not … Continue reading →

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Still Locked Down and Blue

Posted on 14 September 2020 by Henry Gee

You’ll both no doubt recall that I have started to record some music at home, as a displacement activity while I cannot play with my regular beat combo for reasons that will hardly need to be explained. You can listen … Continue reading →

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Our Beirut Brexit

Posted on 13 September 2020 by Stephen

At 6:18 on the afternoon of Tuesday 4th August a huge store of ammonium nitrate exploded at the port of Beirut. The blast, one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history, killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands more, and … Continue reading →

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Feeling the Fear

Posted on 6 September 2020 by Athene Donald

Readers of the Guardian may, over the years, have had reason to dip into Oliver Burkeman’s columns. As he hangs up his metaphorical boots, he summarised what he had personally learned from the exercise of writing these ‘self-help’ articles. In … Continue reading →

Posted in growth, Impostor syndrome, Oliver Burkeman, Science Culture, self-confidence | Comments Off on Feeling the Fear