Author Archives: Athene Donald

An Anthropological Experiment in Birmingham

I’m not sure that spending my last day as Master of Churchill College at the Conservative Party Conference would have been quite what I expected, but so it was. I was in Birmingham – just as I was in Liverpool … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Science Culture | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on An Anthropological Experiment in Birmingham

What Can I Do to Help?

Men who’ve heard me talk about my book (Not Just for the Boys: Why we need more women in science), or more generally about the issues facing women in STEM, not infrequently ask me this question: what can I do … Continue reading

Posted in Research, Science Culture, Women in Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on What Can I Do to Help?

For the Last Time

For the Last Time I have written in the past about the challenges of doing something for the first time. For early career researchers, this could be anything from giving a conference presentation to travelling to another lab to learn … Continue reading

Posted in Careers | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Getting Feedback

Academics do not necessarily get regular or even useful ‘performance reviews’, call them what you will. Businesses typically take this a lot more seriously, but a recent report highlights the many problems that can arise even with the best of … Continue reading

Posted in Careers, Science Culture | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Getting Feedback

Does Working from Home make you more Productive?

Does working from home (and hybrid working) improve productivity or the opposite? Two recent reports have come to slightly different conclusions, and I suspect this is not surprising because the answer almost certainly is ‘it depends’. Clearly if you are … Continue reading

Posted in Careers, Equality | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment