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Author Archives: Athene Donald
Memories of Trains
What a rubbish year this has been, on different fronts. We are in a far worse state than could conceivably have been imagined this time last year and, the start of vaccinations apart, there is little light visible to cheer … Continue reading
Posted in Glenfinnan, health and safety, London, travel
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Why Unicorns Aren’t the Answer
I’ve railed against pinkification, and the ‘gift of pink’ in the past – especially at this time of year when presents, notably toys and clothes, are to the fore for Christmas purchase. I hadn’t realised that books, too, come with … Continue reading
Posted in Books, education, Equality, Fawcett Society, gender stereotypes
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The Need for Bounce
What would you feel if someone described you as a ‘demoralised pile of pulp’? I was distinctly taken aback by this extreme phrase, describing myself – by myself. It referred to the ‘me’ I had been a year previous to … Continue reading
Posted in failure, pandemic, Research, resilience, Science Culture
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Sex, Gender, Research and Fairness
It is a daily matter to look around a typical laboratory and note the imbalance of the sexes in different roles. In a lab using animals, there may be a fair number of female technicians, but the PI is more … Continue reading
Posted in cell-lines, ERC, Gendered Innovations, Londa Schiebinger, machine learning, Research, Science Funding, statistics, Women in science
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Becoming a Leader
This week I took part in a panel aimed at young adults who see themselves as future leaders. An interesting, if slightly disquieting experience. My fellow panellists were two young men in their twenties, who had both already done amazing … Continue reading
Posted in Equality, leadership, Michelle Obama, Simone de Beauvoir, Women in science
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Keeping On Keeping On
In the UK, as in many other countries, we have entered another lockdown, mysteriously assigned in some quarters a decimal point, as in lockdown 2.0. It’s a lockdown with a difference, in that the rules are not the same as … Continue reading
Posted in Lockdown, nature, Science Culture, Zoom
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Mentors and Role Models
Five years ago I received a package in the post, with a covering letter from someone I’d never met. Dan Davis, Professor of Immunology at the University of Manchester and apparently a fan of this blog, had sent me a … Continue reading
Posted in careers, Dan Davis, gender champion, Julia Higgins, Peter Medawar, Sam Edwards, Women in science
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Getting Behind Diversity Statistics
Earlier this year UKRI published ‘harmonised’ diversity data across all its councils. These did not make for comfortable reading, with attention being particularly focussed on two findings: Female and ethnic minority awardees tend to apply for and win smaller awards: … Continue reading
Posted in EPSRC, Equality, grant funding, Science Funding, Unconscious bias, Women in science
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Of a Retiring Nature
The end of this month marks my retirement from my professorial position at Cambridge, something that I still find rather surprising. My career on that front has just faded out, yet another victim of the pandemic; the conference planned for … Continue reading
Posted in Churchill College, retirement, Science Culture, support, Women in science
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Research Culture, Fairness and Transparency
A week after the Science and University Ministers announced with respect to chartermarks such as Athena Swan “We have therefore asked the OfS, UKRI and NIHR to ensure that they place no weight upon the presence or absence of such … Continue reading
Posted in Athena Swan, BAME, Equality, grant-giving panels, Ottoline Leyser, Science Culture, UKRI
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