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Author Archives: Athene Donald
Hypothesising about Interdisciplinarity
How often have I heard it said that ‘the policies are good but the implementation is shaky’? I could make that comment about many of the issues around women in science, where the best-intentioned policies are defeated by negativity, implicit … Continue reading
Posted in Biological Physics, Doug Kell, grant proposal, hypotheses, Interdisciplinary Science, referees, Research Council
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The Self-Promotion Stakes
My university has recently run a consultation exercise for women from different parts of the university and across the different grades (with the exception of researchers, for whom a separate event will be held later). Various key messages have come … Continue reading
Posted in CV, Equality, mentoring, promotion, Women in science
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Broadening Horizons
Beyond the straight and narrow of their disciplines, there is far more that should form part of what every PhD student is exposed to during their doctoral (and indeed post-doctoral) years. I was reminded of this fact when I attended … Continue reading
Posted in education, energy efficiency, Interdisciplinary Science, Jevons Paradox, Winton programme for Sustainability
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Why is it Different for Girls?
Some horrible statistics to kick off today’s post: nearly half of English maintained (state) coeducational schools don’t send a single girl on to do physics A level. That’s right, nearly half (strictly speaking 49%). When I was first sent this … Continue reading
Posted in A level choices, education, Equality, physics, School, stereotype threat, Women in science
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Leadership, Management and Role Models
This week I participated in a conversation on leadership issues in front of an audience of women leaders from the Museum world. The conversation, facilitated/chaired by Vivienne Parry, was with Professor Anne Johnson, an epidemiologist from UCL whom I had … Continue reading
Posted in career paths, leader, role model, Science Culture, Vivienne Parry, Women in science
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Jobsworthiness and Horror Stories in Equality
The policeman at the centre of ‘Gategate’, who may or may not have been called a pleb by the Conservative Chief Whip, has been called in the press a ‘jobsworth’, a term certainly not complimentary even if not in the … Continue reading
Posted in CV, Equality, job applications, Unconscious bias, Women in science
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Heroic Genius or a Distraction from Reality?
This week I strayed from my occasional home on the Guardian blogs to a mainstream print newspaper, writing a piece for the Telegraph to follow on from the Stephen Hawking Grand Design programme launch I wrote about briefly before. My … Continue reading
Posted in big science, Communicating Science, education, Einstein, Newton, Primary School Curriculum
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Is it Ever Safe to Shed the L-plates?
I well remember that moment of transition when moving from undergraduate to postgraduate; that moment when my tutor asked me to call them by their first name (perhaps a rite of passage no longer so exciting, since first names are … Continue reading
Posted in confidence, fear, life skills, Science Culture
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Falling Down the Cracks: The Challenge for Interdisciplinary Science
Let’s hear it for interdisciplinary science. Everyone says what a good idea it is. The research councils strategic plans tend to laud it. And yet, and yet….Do they mean it?
Posted in BBSRC, Biological Physics, EPSRC, Interdisciplinary Science, refereeing
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Were You Inspired?
When someone sticks a microphone in front of you, it is all too easy for the truth to out, despite one’s media training. I have frequently been asked one particular question during interviews, but somehow this week I didn’t nuance … Continue reading
Posted in Adam Rutherford, Brian Cox, Communicating Science, Dara O Briain, Martin Rees, role model, Science Culture, Will Self
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