Author Archives: Jennifer Rohn

About Jennifer Rohn

Scientist, novelist, rock chick

In which we fast-forward

Posted on 18 February 2024 by Jennifer Rohn

The phrase bleak midwinter was first coined by the English poet Christina Rossetti in 1872 and went viral when composer Gustav Holst incorporated her text into a carol a few decades later. Although the words are clearly meant to evoke … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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In which we celebrate

Posted on 24 December 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

Christmas, I argue, is a space-time continuum where the past and present layer up like sediments on the Jurassic coast. At the appointed time, old traditions are unearthed out of storage to mingle with those spontaneously invented as you go … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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In which I age backwards

Posted on 21 November 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

I don’t know if it’s just me, but for the last few years, I’ve forgotten how old I am. Because I spend so much of the year pessimistically rounding up, I’m rendered unsure by the present state of affairs. When … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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In which the wheel turns

Posted on 8 October 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

Time is a wheel, speeding me along in ever quicker circuits. As individual moments rush towards me, flare into immediacy and then blur past, most are soon forgotten save for those captured as digital images, or in some dashed lines … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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In which we land

Posted on 30 July 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

Our migration is complete: my lab now has a new home. And for me, a new office space. Numerous studies have scrutinised the effect of environment on work productivity. Anecdotally, I know that my own focus and output are greatly … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in academia, Nostalgia, Research, Science Funding, Scientific papers, staring into the abyss, The profession of science, work-life balance | Comments Off on In which we land

In which we migrate

Posted on 6 July 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

After about eight years in residence at the Royal Free Hospital, my itinerant scientific journey is about to embark on its next exciting leg. In a few weeks’ time, my lab is uprooting itself and moving to a new home … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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In which I am pummelled into viral submission

Posted on 29 May 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

I am only happy to write about this today because I suspect it is finally almost over. I’m no longer so superstitious that I think I’m tempting fate by doing so now. In short, I’ve been ill for a long … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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In which I head into the wind

Posted on 23 April 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

Sometimes joy and sadness are hard to tease apart – there should be a word for the heavy lightness, or light heaviness, of springtime. This time of year always carries ambivalence: a scrum of flowers unfurl, scenting the air, but … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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In which I capture the present, but forget why

Posted on 19 March 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

I have always been a compulsive chronicler, ever since I was a small child starting off my first journal. I still write an entry nearly every day, taking a few months to fill in all the pages with my increasingly … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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In which my lab is a garden

Posted on 29 January 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

It’s a grey afternoon, the light already fading. R. and I have just done a circuit of the back garden – ‘inspecting the troops’, we call it. The entire space is dishevelled, as it always is this time of year: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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