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August 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Author Archives: Athene Donald
Being Critical
When discussing the skills students pick up – and need to pick up – during their undergraduate courses in a subject like physics, I always highlight the fact that they learn how to be critical, notably about assumptions underpinning an … Continue reading
The Only Woman in the Room
As the Master of a Cambridge College it probably isn’t surprising that I get asked to talk about Leadership, and often more specifically Women in Leadership/as Leaders, but there is nothing that brings out the inner impostor in me faster … Continue reading
Posted in board membership, Equality, gender pay gap, Philip Hampton
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Writing, Creativity and Grief
What acts are best to provoke creativity? Some poets – from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Dylan Thomas – seem to have felt that drug- or alcohol- induced hazes may be effective, but I don’t think many scientists would recommend that … Continue reading
Posted in Communicating Science, Dictionary of National Biography, Sir Sam Edwards, Thomas Edison
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Strategic Developments at UKRI
The new super-research council (in UK terms) UKRI that acts as an umbrella organisation – sitting above the seven research councils plus Innovate UK and Research England – launched its Strategic Prospectus a few days ago. Not so much a … Continue reading
Posted in Horizon2020, interdisciplinarity, Interdisciplinary Science, Nurse Review, place, Science Funding
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How might the Athena Swan Process Emerge?
When groups of (comparative) strangers sit around a table, it is impossible to predict what will emerge in the way of new ideas. Readers of this blog will not be surprised to know that I think diversity – of background, … Continue reading
Posted in AdvanceHE, Athena Forum, diversity, Equality, letters of reference, Women in science
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The Meeting of the Ways
There are many reasons why people believe – as I do – that interdisciplinarity has to sit at the heart of any research agenda. It does not require that two disciplines bring cutting edge tools and ideas together to create … Continue reading
Posted in Bennett Institute for Public Policy, Eldar Shafir, Equality, Interdisciplinary Science, Policy, stereotype threat, values affirmation
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Will Biography be a Lost Art?
As a young postdoc I arrived, fairly literally penniless in the USA in October 1977. I had flown with the forerunner of today’s low-cost airlines, Freddie Laker, on his new invention of ‘standby’ fares. You turned up on the day … Continue reading
Posted in Communicating Science, email, letters, Maggie Thatcher, New York, Science Culture, Winston Churchill
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Are Women Underpaid?
The deadline is past for companies in the UK employing more than 250 employees to report their gender pay gap. The numbers are not pretty and the University sector is no different from other types of employers in manifesting an … Continue reading
Posted in equal pay, Equality, gender pay gap, Unconscious bias, Women in science
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Guilty of Rambling On
As a PhD student it is an exciting moment when you know you’re off to your first international conference. Whether or not you get to present (either orally or via a poster), there is still a thrill in just being … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Keller, conferences, Research, Science Culture, speakers
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The Potholes in Life
As regular readers of this blog will know, I rely on my bike to get me around to the myriad committee meetings I need to attend across Cambridge. It is my lifeline to get me speedily to the railway station … Continue reading
Posted in alpha male, bicycle, obstacles, opportunities, Science Culture
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