Author Archives: Athene Donald

The ABC of panel scoring: Anchoring, Bias and Committee Procedures

Posted on 20 January 2017 by Athene Donald

Academic life is particularly full of rank ordered lists, even if they are frequently not transparently available. From undergraduate examinations to professorial promotions, from REF (and in future TEF) marks to grant-awarding panels, the scores matter. Anyone who has ever … Continue reading →

Posted in committee meetings, decisions, rank-ordered lists, Research, Science Funding | Comments Off on The ABC of panel scoring: Anchoring, Bias and Committee Procedures

Mentoring Matters, but for Whom?

Posted on 15 January 2017 by Athene Donald

In response to my recent post on New Year Frustrations, I received a tweet complaining that in this particular person’s university female postdocs contractually could not receive mentoring. That statement can be read in two ways: either that female postdocs … Continue reading →

Posted in advice, appraisal, early career researchers, postdocs, Research, Women in science | Comments Off on Mentoring Matters, but for Whom?

Synaptic Transfer and Interdisciplinarity

Posted on 9 January 2017 by Athene Donald

I spent much of the Christmas break admiring my new granddaughter’s constantly changing and newly acquired skills as she progressed from 8 weeks old to 10; the sense of new synaptic connections being made was very strong as her hand-eye … Continue reading →

Posted in Communicating Science, david mitchell, David Rowan, Interdisciplinary Science, Unconscious bias, Virginia Valian | Comments Off on Synaptic Transfer and Interdisciplinarity

New Year Frustrations

Posted on 3 January 2017 by Athene Donald

I spent some of my time off around New Year attempting to start as I mean to go on by tidying my ‘home office’. In the run-up to Christmas, as exhaustion took over and time ran out, I had increasingly … Continue reading →

Posted in Equality, GCSE, Glass Cliff, Laura Bates, Women in science | Comments Off on New Year Frustrations

The History of Keeping the Damned Women Out

Posted on 30 December 2016 by Athene Donald

It is easy to forget that what is your daily life today is tomorrow’s history: history is not just about the great white men long dead and buried. A talk I attended a few weeks ago vividly brought this to … Continue reading →

Posted in Churchill College, coeducation, education, Equality, Nancy Malkiel, Princeton, Women in science | Comments Off on The History of Keeping the Damned Women Out

The Cost of Education

Posted on 24 December 2016 by Athene Donald

There are many myths about the University of Cambridge (and indeed Oxford), based on historical misinformation, literature and a general feeling that it is ‘different’ from the rest of the world. Novels like Brideshead Revisited – admittedly referring to Oxford … Continue reading →

Posted in accommodation, Churchill College, education, state sector | Comments Off on The Cost of Education

Professional Bodies in the Diversity Frame

Posted on 18 December 2016 by Athene Donald

All male invited speakers at conferences or a senior leadership team that contains not a single woman are common across the employment landscape. In the physical sciences and engineering the problem is particularly acute because the numbers of women who … Continue reading →

Posted in Royal Academy of Engineering, Science Council, Science Culture, Women in science | Comments Off on Professional Bodies in the Diversity Frame

Beyond the Silo Mentality

Posted on 11 December 2016 by Athene Donald

I have been fretting about the challenges of appropriately evaluating interdisciplinary work for many years. My specific beef has been about grant assessment in the Research Councils at the interface between physics and biology, because that is where my research … Continue reading →

Posted in HEFCE, interdisciplinarity, Interdisciplinary Science, REF21, Research | Comments Off on Beyond the Silo Mentality

Evasive Tactics?

Posted on 7 December 2016 by Athene Donald

If my last post discussed an important point that doesn’t typically receive much notice – although I’m glad to say the post, and its accompanying repost on the THE website both did – this current one is meant simply as … Continue reading →

Posted in Brussles, ERC, Science Culture | Comments Off on Evasive Tactics?

Do You Want to be Described as Hard Working?

Posted on 1 December 2016 by Athene Donald

I visited Oxford this week to talk to the Women in Physics group, mainly made up of students and postdocs (not all of whom were women). Tea and excellent scones were provided to stimulate good discussion. I was duly grilled … Continue reading →

Posted in job-hunting, letters of reference, Madera, Women in science | Comments Off on Do You Want to be Described as Hard Working?