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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
To Begin at the Beginning
It seems obvious: any piece of writing should have a beginning, a middle and an end. But how often have I heard the lack of structure moaned about by those folk who have to read some prose, in particular supervisors … Continue reading
Posted in Communicating Science, Girton College, PhD, prose, Research, Thesis
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Classical Public Engagement?
One of the things I have noticed in the past couple of years is that all kinds of interesting and unexpected invitations come my way. I think this is something arising from the award of the L’Oreal/UNESCO Laureate in 2009 … Continue reading
Posted in Communicating Science, Essential Classics, Public Engagement, Sarah Walker, UNESCO
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From Invisibility to Power
What can be done to render women in science less invisible? A few women may stand out from the crowd, both historically and at the present time, but the list of women scientists most people – by which I mean … Continue reading
Posted in nature, Royal Society, Science Culture, SpotOn London, Woman's Hour, Women in science
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Risk, Education and Politicians
As usual I’m a trifle behindhand in my reading, so only now am I catching up with the Darwin Lectures on Risk, a series of lectures given in 2010 and now available as a book or on your Kindle). This … Continue reading
Posted in British Academy, Communicating Science, David Spiegelhalter, education, Mathematics, quantitative skills, risk, statistics
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What You Don’t See at Conferences
Academics get to go to conferences in exotic places, there is no doubt about that. But that is not the same thing as getting to see the exotic places in which the conferences are held. In my experience, too often … Continue reading
Posted in childcare, conferences, Science Culture, travel
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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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