Author Archives: Athene Donald

Armchair Travel

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Athene Donald

One of the best things about the Christmas break is the ability to immerse oneself in books without the endless distracting ping of arriving emails or the intervention of interminable committee meetings (and accompanying papers to wade through). This year … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Equality | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The Season of Presents

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Athene Donald

I have written before of my desire to get my hands on a Pensieve, that wonderful, fantastical creation of JK Rowling characterised as the receptacle described here: One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the … Continue reading →

Posted in Science Culture | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The Metrics of Reaching Out

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Athene Donald

In my College we are pleased to see that we are doing well against a specific set of metrics associated with social mobility at admissions. This hasn’t happened by accident, but is down to years of hard work and careful … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Equality | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

What’s Changed? Anything? (#Just1action4WIS)

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Athene Donald

This was the year, amongst other things, of the #distractinglysexy hashtag, as discussed recently on BBC Radio4 here. This hashtag was itself part of the fallout of #Huntgate, the undeserved fall from grace of a Nobel prize winner on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Women in Science | Tagged , , | 69 Comments

Men Talking (and Needing to)

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Athene Donald

In the wake of the recent fracas over whether a university should celebrate International Men’s Day or not, I was struck by the following sentence in a book I was reading ‘I learned how much everyone needs to talk about … Continue reading →

Posted in Equality | Tagged , , | 1 Comment