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Author Archives: Athene Donald
What Does Excellence Look Like?
Harnessing the Metric Tide, the recently-published follow-on to the 2015 Report The Metric Tide, provides a welcome focus on our cultures and practice within HEIs. It imagines an ecosystem where metrics are collected which inform the community about the health … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in Equality, Harnessing the Metric Tide, HESA, IDAP, Research, statistics, The Metric Tide
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Has the World Changed (Enough)?
“The reported incidents of racism and misogyny are extremely alarming” according to Gareth Cook, fire brigade’s union regional organiser for London about the recent report into the London Fire Brigade. “Women have been “systematically failed” by the criminal justice system”, … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in confidence, harassment, Lindemann Trust, MIT, Women in science
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Refereeing and Bullies
We’ve heard a lot about bullying at the heart of government in recent days. One defence of the behaviour of the former Chief Whip is that it used to be worse, much worse. That is of course a line one … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in bullies, de Gennes, hierarchies, power imbalance, Science Culture
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Does Life Get Better at Mid-Career?
Julie Gould and Nature Careers podcasts have been running an interesting series (Muddle of the Middle) on what it’s like to be a mid-career/middle aged scientist. A time when precarity is likely to be past, but reality of all the different … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in equity, harassment, obstacles, patronising, Science Culture, Women in science
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Investing in People
We have all got used to the wonders of Zoom (or Teams if you prefer) over the last couple of years. It may have made academic life as we were used to it viable during the pandemic, but it has … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in apprenticeships, careers, education, House of Lords, Science Funding, skills, solar panels
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Why We Still Need Ada Lovelace Day
Today is Ada Lovelace Day, a day to celebrate women in science and inspire future generations. It is often said that ‘you cannot be what you cannot see’, and if young children only ever see images of men as scientists, … Continue reading Continue reading
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The Future of Skills and Education?
It is only six weeks since I last wrote about skills on this blog. Not, you might think, a very long time for change to happen. And yet much has. A new monarch (probably the least important for the theme … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in education, Equality, Further Education, investment, Lifelong learning entitlement, Science Funding, science superpower
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Impostors at a Conference
September has always been a busy time for conferences, and I have attended a fair few in my time. However, the one I attended this week was the first scientific one I recall having impostor syndrome publicly mentioned several times, … Continue reading Continue reading
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Dodgy Encounters with a Fragile Piece of Equipment
Doing a PhD is hard work, stressful and uncertain. Even with the most understanding of supervisors, the clearest goals and routes to get there, there will be hiccoughs and worse en route to getting the letters after your name. And, … Continue reading Continue reading
