Author Archives: Athene Donald

Is Ballroom Dancing like Academia?

Posted on 24 March 2025 by Athene Donald

One of my secret loves is watching each series of Strictly Come Dancing. It is a feel-good vibe we all need in these dark geopolitical days, however much I don’t care how many sequins are sewed on by hand.  So, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in demeaning, entitlement, equity, Science Culture, Shirley Ballas, Women in science | Leave a comment

Another Year, Another IWD: What’s Changed?

Posted on 8 March 2025 by Athene Donald

Every year International Women’s Day sparks a momentary bout of reflection about the state of women in our society. The  House of Lords has an annual debate, for instance, this year about women in STEM.  Social media will showcase many … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Barbara Castle, EPSRC, Equal Pay Act, Equality, gender pay gap, Women in science | Leave a comment

The Importance of Manufacturing

Posted on 2 March 2025 by Athene Donald

How many factories have you visited in your life? Do you have any sense of what goes on there? When I was a postdoc in the Cambridge Materials Science Department, helping out with undergraduate projects, I was offered a chance … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in factories, food waste, Research, supply chains, Tim Minshall | Leave a comment

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2025

Posted on 11 February 2025 by Athene Donald

It is ten years since UNESCO declared today, February 11th, as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Less well-known, I suspect, than International Women’s Day, it has a more specific focus. Sadly, in its ten years of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in ASPIRES2, education, Michaela, natural history, People, pipeline, schoolteachers, Women in science | Comments Off on International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2025

The Need to Join the Dots

Posted on 2 February 2025 by Athene Donald

Last week, I attended an event organised by The Productivity Institute and, more locally, the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, as part of National Productivity Week. The meeting’s theme was Innovation and Infrastructure in the East. Note, despite the recent … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in academia, appraisal, ASSET 2010, Athena Forum, Austrian science, book review, careers, education, Equality, Evelyn Fox Keller, Further Education, gender, growth, natural history, NEETs, Opportunity Mission, Oxford-Cambridge Corridor, People, professional training, promotion, Women's Issues | Comments Off on The Need to Join the Dots

How Much Does the Scientific Ecosystem Change over Time?

Posted on 26 January 2025 by Athene Donald

Desmond Bernal was an outstanding crystallographer. Not himself a Nobel Prize winner, he set the likes of Dorothy Hodgkin and Max Perutz on their own successful paths to that accolade. A Communist, he fell from grace during the 50’s and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in CP Snow, deficit model, Desmond Bernal, Interdisciplinary Science, Londa Schiebinger, macho, Project Implicit, Sage, Science Culture, Science Funding, social media, The Social Function of Science, Unconscious bias, Universities | Comments Off on How Much Does the Scientific Ecosystem Change over Time?

Unreactive Audiences and Pertinent Questions

Posted on 19 January 2025 by Athene Donald

Given that it is now a decade or more since I was particularly involved in research, if I am asked to give a seminar – usually to students, sometimes undergraduates, sometimes and more commonly PhD students and early career research … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in careers, deficit model, Interdisciplinary Science, jerks, Londa Schiebinger, macho, Project Implicit, Science Culture, Science Funding, social media, team players, Unconscious bias, Universities | Comments Off on Unreactive Audiences and Pertinent Questions

We Haven’t Had Enough of Experts

Posted on 3 January 2025 by Athene Donald

When I talk to student groups, as I still do quite often, I talk as much as what else one can do with a science/Physics degree beyond the obvious, as about the research I used to do (quite a long … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in careers, Civil Service, Government Departments, Ian Dunt | Comments Off on We Haven’t Had Enough of Experts

Praise and Possibility

Posted on 15 December 2024 by Athene Donald

Anyone who watched the final of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing will have heard words like ‘resilient’, ‘belief’ and ‘self-confidence’ thrown in the direction of the four finalists by the judges, with all contestants having been on a ‘journey’. It got … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in academic pyramid, careers, deficit model, Interdisciplinary Science, Londa Schiebinger, macho, PhD students, Project Implicit, resilience, Science Culture, Science Funding, social media, Strictly Come Dancing, supervisors, Unconscious bias, Universities | Comments Off on Praise and Possibility

Living in Silos

Posted on 8 December 2024 by Athene Donald

When I first started writing this blog in 2010, I imagined I was going to write about the science that interested me, the latest papers in my field that caught my eye, and specifically highlight the excitement and challenge of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Department for Education, education, interdisciplinarity, Interdisciplinary Science, jargon, natural history, People, Roger Pielke | Comments Off on Living in Silos