Author Archives: Erika Cule

Unexpectedly transferable skills

Posted on 19 January 2014 by Erika Cule

The transferable skills developed over the course of a PhD have been a recurring theme on this blog. I have blogged both about being trained and, later, about training other students, in the skills that might be useful beyond the office, lab, … Continue reading →

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Notebooks

Posted on 29 December 2013 by Erika Cule

Back in 2009 the day, in a discussion on the recently archived Nature Network, I mentioned that I liked to draft blog posts the old-fashioned way. I wrote that “It is easier to get started with a pen and paper than a … Continue reading →

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Paying it forward

Posted on 26 October 2013 by Erika Cule

I submitted a physical, bound final copy of my thesis. Once the corrections to my thesis had been approved by my examiners, I ordered copies bound in regulation purple and submitted one to Imperial College Library. As of March this … Continue reading →

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The supporting cast

Posted on 15 September 2013 by Erika Cule

A PhD is, by definition, a lonely endeavour. My fellow students and I were taught the fundamentals of team work as part of our transferable skills training, only for one academic to comment that for a career in academia, they would … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013, Aren't friends ace, Fun, Happy life events, Life, PhD, PhD Comics, Support network | Comments Off on The supporting cast

Margaret McCartney at Skeptics in the Pub

Posted on 7 April 2013 by Erika Cule

Back in 2009, Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google, said in an interview I keep saying the sexy job in the next ten years will be statisticians. More recently, his review of Nate Silver‘s The Signal and the Noise, Larry … Continue reading →

Posted in Angry Glaswegian, book review, book reviews, Margaret McCartney, SITP, Skeptics in the pub, The Patient Paradox | Comments Off on Margaret McCartney at Skeptics in the Pub

Dénouement

Posted on 18 March 2013 by Erika Cule

Last week: https://twitter.com/enniscath/status/311907749040640000 https://twitter.com/BobOHara/status/311908565495455746

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Science Online 2013 without the carbon footprint

Posted on 31 January 2013 by Erika Cule

Science Online 2013 kicked off yesterday in North Carolina. For those of us who are not able to make it to the conference in person, watch parties the world over facilitate virtual attendance. In the UK, Eva Amsen and I … Continue reading →

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Sacrifice and Submission

Posted on 28 January 2013 by Erika Cule

Narratives of sacrifice are woven into many stories about research. Nobel laureate Dr Barry Marshall famously drank a culture of Helicobacter pylori in order to demonstrate that the bacterium is indeed the causative agent of stomach ulcers. Closer to my … Continue reading →

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Impressions of ASHG 2012

Posted on 15 November 2012 by Erika Cule

Whilst most of the science blogosphere my science blogging colleagues were getting stuck in to Science Online London 2012, I was at the closing plenary of the 62nd meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics. If solo12 is the home … Continue reading →

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An unexpected delight in the form of careers advice

Posted on 10 November 2012 by Erika Cule

Fellow Occam’s Typewriter blogger Jenny Rohn‘s book on sale at ASHG 2012. This week I am attending the 62nd meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics here in San Francisco. Being a PhD student, I registered for several of … Continue reading →

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