Author Archives: Athene Donald

Facing up to the Existence of the Jerk

As stories of harassment and bullying multiply in the media (social and otherwise), it is worth thinking about what it is in management and leadership that lets situations get out of hand. Too often I hear the phrase that someone … Continue reading

Posted in academia, bullying, gagging orders, leadership, speaking up | Comments Off on Facing up to the Existence of the Jerk

Pyramid Schemes and the Book Cover Challenge

As a child I occasionally got sucked into a strange pyramid form of exchanging postcards, an old-fashioned form of chain mail (but not of the metal variety). The details escape me but the basic idea was that you contacted half … Continue reading

Posted in Jane Austen, JE Gordon, Materials Science, Richard Jones | Comments Off on Pyramid Schemes and the Book Cover Challenge

A Bad Week to be in Brussels

Historians of the future will no doubt make much of the UK’s political ramifications of the moment. This week has seen a particularly strange spectacle as the Tory party tears itself apart and the Labour party seems unable to sort … Continue reading

Posted in Brexit, ERC, ERC Scientific Council, Science Funding | Comments Off on A Bad Week to be in Brussels

Loading the Women – or Not?

The question of what should the composition of any team ‘look’ like remains one I feel uncertain about. Whereas a list of a dozen invited speakers who are all males smacks of bias or incompetence rather than a true reflection … Continue reading

Posted in gender balance, manels, Science Culture, Stephen Curry, Women in science | Comments Off on Loading the Women – or Not?

Being Resilient

Have a setback, bounce back. That is what all the self-help books would proclaim loud and clear. It applies as much in science as anywhere else, perhaps more so since the setback need not be in one’s career or personal … Continue reading

Posted in Breakthrough Prize, Impostor syndrome, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Science Culture, Women in science | Comments Off on Being Resilient

We Need to Work at Breaking the Barriers

Leaders in science are generally those who are excellent at their science, but no one may have checked their leadership credentials. Someone like Lord Rutherford may have got away with barking instructions at his underlings (for which loud voiced behaviour … Continue reading

Posted in bullying, chemistry, Equality, Royal Society of Chemistry, Science Culture, Women in science | Comments Off on We Need to Work at Breaking the Barriers

Worrying about Deserts of Nothingness

Recently a website calling itself UKRI Observatory published two blogposts analysing information obtained by them under FoI regarding assessments of EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training. The point the blogpost was making was that it appeared at first sight that many … Continue reading

Posted in Centres for Doctoral Training, EPSRC, PhD students, Research, Science Culture, Science Funding, training | Comments Off on Worrying about Deserts of Nothingness

The Lure of Procrastination

Why do you procrastinate? Since most people are guilty of this failing at least some of the time, few readers are likely to say ‘what me, I never do!’ I believe the reasons are many and various but I must … Continue reading

Posted in coffee, internet, Research, Science Culture, seminar, students | Comments Off on The Lure of Procrastination

To Be or Not to Be a Role Model

When you grow up what do you want to be? That is a familiar enough question but I’ve never heard of anyone who expected the answer to be ‘a role model’. Yet there are those who have an expectation that … Continue reading

Posted in academic housekeeping, Donna Strickland, Equality, inspiration, Women in science | Comments Off on To Be or Not to Be a Role Model

Will I not be ‘Important’?

This is the troubled question Jeremy Baumberg asks rhetorically in his recent book The Secret Life of Science when he discusses the vexed question of what happens if he decides not to attend some conference, along with ‘Will I no … Continue reading

Posted in conferences, display, Science Culture, travel | Comments Off on Will I not be ‘Important’?