Author Archives: Athene Donald

Cultural Values in a Time Warp

At the start of the year I wrote about my frustrations with the slow pace of change, specifically with regard to the situation for women in science in academia but also more broadly. This week I am forcibly reminded again … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Equality | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The ABC of panel scoring: Anchoring, Bias and Committee Procedures

Academic life is particularly full of rank ordered lists, even if they are frequently not transparently available. From undergraduate examinations to professorial promotions, from REF (and in future TEF) marks to grant-awarding panels, the scores matter. Anyone who has ever … Continue reading

Posted in Research, Science Funding | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Mentoring Matters, but for Whom?

In response to my recent post on New Year Frustrations, I received a tweet complaining that in this particular person’s university female postdocs contractually could not receive mentoring. That statement can be read in two ways: either that female postdocs … Continue reading

Posted in Research, Women in Science | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Synaptic Transfer and Interdisciplinarity

I spent much of the Christmas break admiring my new granddaughter’s constantly changing and newly acquired skills as she progressed from 8 weeks old to 10; the sense of new synaptic connections being made was very strong as her hand-eye … Continue reading

Posted in Communicating Science, Interdisciplinary Science | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

New Year Frustrations

I spent some of my time off around New Year attempting to start as I mean to go on by tidying my ‘home office’. In the run-up to Christmas, as exhaustion took over and time ran out, I had increasingly … Continue reading

Posted in Equality, Women in Science | Tagged , , | 2 Comments