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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
The History of Keeping the Damned Women Out
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
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The Cost of Education
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
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Professional Bodies in the Diversity Frame
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
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Beyond the Silo Mentality
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
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Evasive Tactics?
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
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Do You Want to be Described as Hard Working?
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
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From Cambridge to the Fens can feel a Long Way
This week I attended the Discovery Awards associated with the Longitude Prize. These provide seedcorn money for those facing some bottleneck in their quest for a rapid test that helps to rule out unnecessary use of antibiotics, the focus of … Continue reading
Posted in AMR, Communicating Science, education, Longitude Prize, Public Engagement, Wisbech
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To Chair or not to Chair
I have been kicking around the university scene so long that I forget how mysterious some parts of my life may seem to those just starting out. I was rather startled to be asked by a student over dinner the … Continue reading
Posted in committee meetings, Francis Cornford, Science Culture
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When the Going gets Tough, be Kind
In academia there is tremendous pressure to be permanently at the top of one’s game. One is expected to be able to perform across many fronts: lecturing, grant-writing, pastoral care, admissions, outreach, committees….Not only to perform, to excel in all … Continue reading
Posted in compassion, education, Equality, hate, misogyny
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Some Animals are More Equal than Others
This week I attended the Royal Society’s Diversity Day. As everyone remarked, the audience was indeed remarkably diverse. Signing of the talks for the hard-of-hearing was available and the standard white male was in (relatively) short supply both on the … Continue reading
Posted in committees, Equality, George Orwell, Unconscious bias, Women in science
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