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Category Archives: Research
Dodgy Encounters with a Fragile Piece of Equipment
Doing a PhD is hard work, stressful and uncertain. Even with the most understanding of supervisors, the clearest goals and routes to get there, there will be hiccoughs and worse en route to getting the letters after your name. And, … Continue reading
Marking UKRI’s scorecard
UKRI is still a relatively young organization, trying to find its way in a funding landscape that has been impacted by Brexit, a pandemic and now soaring inflation eating away at the value of every grant or PhD stipend. Nevertheless, … Continue reading
Posted in Research, Science Funding
Tagged communications, Grant Review, interdisciplinarity, Nurse Review, Ottoline Leyser
4 Comments
The Human Face of the Carbon Queen
In my Twitter feed, there has been much publicity about the recent biography of US physicist and electrical engineer Millie Dresselhaus, Carbon Queen, by Maia Weinstock. Dresselhaus’ lifetime of research spanned over five decades, studying many different forms of carbon, … Continue reading
Posted in Research, Women in Science
Tagged Maia Weinstock, Millie Dresselhaus, MIT, Nancy Hopkins
1 Comment
‘Pure’ versus ‘Applied’ Science
When I started this blog, more than ten years ago, I imagined I would write about physics, and specifically about physics at the interface with biology. Perhaps, I thought, I would write about exciting papers I’d read; indeed, I asked … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Interdisciplinary Science, Research
Tagged Biological Physics, James Clerk Maxwell, Mike Cates, Pietro Cicuta
2 Comments
Do you know Excellence when you see it?
Politicians toss around phrases like ‘levelling up’ and ‘build back better’, not to mention ‘freedom of speech’, with gay abandon. Such words sound so positive and authoritative, what could be the problem? As many people have pointed out, however, there … Continue reading
Posted in Careers, Research, Science Funding
Tagged bias, ERC, grant-giving panels, Matthew effect, REF
Comments Off on Do you know Excellence when you see it?