Author Archives: Athene Donald

We’ve Come a Long Way But…..

When Rita Colwell was born in 1934, neither Oxford nor Cambridge Universities had yet appointed a female professor in any discipline; Dorothy Garrod, the first woman to hold such a chair (the Disney Chair of Archaeology at Cambridge), was not … Continue reading

Posted in Athena Swan, Equality, harassment, Ottoline Leyser, Rita Colwell, Women in science | Comments Off on We’ve Come a Long Way But…..

Feeling the Fear

Readers of the Guardian may, over the years, have had reason to dip into Oliver Burkeman’s columns. As he hangs up his metaphorical boots, he summarised what he had personally learned from the exercise of writing these ‘self-help’ articles. In … Continue reading

Posted in growth, Impostor syndrome, Oliver Burkeman, Science Culture, self-confidence | Comments Off on Feeling the Fear

Investing in Education and the Levelling Up Agenda

Early years provision has suffered during austerity, and is continuing to see cutbacks, as Polly Toynbee pointed out last week. Yet children who fall behind at the outset of their education will find it very difficult to catch up later. … Continue reading

Posted in Augar Review, education, Further Education, social mobility | Comments Off on Investing in Education and the Levelling Up Agenda

Pandemic Staycationing

As far as I’m concerned, this is not a year for travelling for a holiday. Indeed, given some of the recent events, there hasn’t even been time to take any sort of extended break. However, we have been taking days … Continue reading

Posted in Cambridge life, dreams, jackdaws, novels, ornithology | Comments Off on Pandemic Staycationing

Pandemic Staycationing

As far as I’m concerned, this is not a year for travelling for a holiday. Indeed, given some of the recent events, there hasn’t even been time to take any sort of extended break. However, we have been taking days … Continue reading

Posted in Cambridge life, dreams, jackdaws, novels, ornithology | Comments Off on Pandemic Staycationing

Pandemic Staycationing

As far as I’m concerned, this is not a year for travelling for a holiday. Indeed, given some of the recent events, there hasn’t even been time to take any sort of extended break. However, we have been taking days … Continue reading

Posted in Cambridge life, dreams, jackdaws, novels, ornithology | Comments Off on Pandemic Staycationing

Reflections on a Mad Week in Higher Education

Readers from the UK can hardly fail to have noticed the confusion across the HE sector caused by last week’s A level ‘results’.  I recall how many people had been voicing fears during the past months that the disadvantaged would … Continue reading

Posted in #honourtheoffer, A levels, education, widening participaation | Comments Off on Reflections on a Mad Week in Higher Education

Active Silencing

Aggressive. That’s such a useful put-down. As in “I think there were several very vocal, dare I say aggressive residents that, in my opinion, regardless of what work was being carried out or not, they still would have had reason … Continue reading

Posted in angry black woman, Emma Chapman, Equality, Reni Eddo-Lodge, troublemaker, Women in science | Comments Off on Active Silencing

Remembering Rosalind Franklin

By Spudgun67 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link Everyone knows a little something about Rosalind Franklin, whose hundredth birthday it would be today. Some may have little sense of her beyond the belief that she was cheated out of … Continue reading

Posted in DNA, francis crick, History of Science, Jim Watson, Women in science | Comments Off on Remembering Rosalind Franklin

Uncertain Times

We live currently in a world of great and sometimes terrifying strangeness, where the rules and customs by which we have lived for so long have been turned upside down. Some people may be focussing on whether they need to … Continue reading

Posted in Clarissa Farr, Communicating Science, COVID-19, education, politicians | Comments Off on Uncertain Times