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October 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
Classifying Group Leaders
It’s the season for lists: best photos of the year, best quotes, best-dressed (even worst-dressed) celebs, momentous moments – you name it, there’s probably a list for it somewhere on the web. Since I’ve just covered the other seasonal topic … Continue reading
Posted in academia, careers, HR, leadership, management, Research, Science Culture
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Charisma throughout a Convoluted Career
One of the joys of Christmas is having the time to reduce the number of unread books on one’s mental ‘to do’ list by a handful, although this is a good intention sometimes challenged by the gain of a few … Continue reading
Posted in book review, ESPCI, Interdisciplinary Science, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Research, soft matter physics
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Christmas Letters and Acronym Soup
It’s the time of year for writing those Chrismassy round robin letters – or rather it’s a week or two past it, but I am late as usual. I never write simply a single letter and copy it, but try … Continue reading
Posted in committee membership, committee work, ERC, Research, Science Culture
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So You Don’t Know What You Want To Do Next?
You are not alone! I suspect that most PhD students are uncertain, and if they think they know, it is probably because they assume, without necessarily considering the question at any length, that they will just continue on the academic … Continue reading
Posted in careers, experience, luck, PhD
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Splattering Cream across Tradition
The Royal Institution is a venerable organisation: dating back to 1799, it is situated in an amazingly impressive building on Albemarle Street in London. This was the road that became the original one way street in order to cope with … Continue reading
Posted in Biological Physics, Communicating Science, Friday Evening Discourse, goo, Royal Institution
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Just How Bad Is It?
It is easy to think that science is uniquely bad amongst the academic disciplines in the problems that some women may face. In the past few weeks I have visited various Universities to discuss some of the relevant issues and … Continue reading
Posted in Athena Swan, Jenny Saul, philosophy, Science Culture, sexual harassment, Women in science
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REF Nightmares
In a moment of frivolity I sketched out how a REF committee in a dysfunctional department might pan out. As chair of my own local REF committee, I am delighted to say my own experiences bear no relationship to this … Continue reading
Posted in Department of Paintballing Studies, impact, Research, Research Excellence Framework
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Being Distracted in Paris
It’s not so long ago that I wrote about the lack of opportunity one typically has at conferences to appreciate the interesting places one gets to visit. As a counter to that slightly depressed commentary, I should add that I … Continue reading
Posted in Cassini, ESPCI, History of Science, Paris Observatory, Principia
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To Blog or Not to Blog
The challenge of using social media as a way to overcome the frequent invisibility of women in science was at the heart of the recent #SoLo12 Women In Science session organised by Seirian Sumner and Nathalie Pettorelli (see the Storify … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Good Thinking Society Science Blog Prize, social media, SoLo12, Women in science
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Engaging the Public, Citizen Science and Imperialism
Last weekend I made my first foray to Science Online or, as it is now called SpotOn, in London. It doesn’t matter that I still regard myself as a novice in the world of social media (and yes, the words … Continue reading
Posted in careers, Communicating Science, Galaxy Zoon, History of Science, Joseph Hooker, Public Engagement, Research, SpotOn London
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