Our blogs
- Adventures in Wonderland by Richard Wintle
- Athene Donald's Blog by Athene Donald
- Blogging by Candlelight by Erika Cule
- Confessions by Richard P Grant
- Deep Thoughts and Silliness by Bob O'Hara
- Mind the Gap by Jenny Rohn
- Nicola Spaldin's Blog by Nicola Spaldin
- No Comment by Steve Caplan
- Not ranting – honestly by Austin Elliott
- Reciprocal Space by Stephen Curry
- The End of the Pier Show by Henry Gee
- Trading Knowledge by Frank Norman
- The Occam's Typewriter Irregulars by Guest Bloggers
OT Cloud
- academia
- Apparitions
- book review
- Books
- Canada
- career
- careers
- Communicating Science
- communication
- Cromer
- Domestic bliss
- Domesticrox
- education
- Equality
- Gardening
- Guest posts
- History
- Hobbies
- humor
- Lablit
- Music
- nature
- Open Access
- personal
- Photography
- photos
- Politicrox
- Politics
- Research
- science
- Science & Politics
- Science-fiction
- Science Culture
- Science Funding
- Science Is Vital
- Scientific Life
- Silliness
- students
- technology
- The profession of science
- travel
- Uncategorized
- Women in science
- Writing
- Writing & Reading
May 2025 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
Category Archives: academia
The Need to Join the Dots
Last week, I attended an event organised by The Productivity Institute and, more locally, the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, as part of National Productivity Week. The meeting’s theme was Innovation and Infrastructure in the East. Note, despite the recent … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in academia, appraisal, ASSET 2010, Athena Forum, Austrian science, book review, careers, education, Equality, Evelyn Fox Keller, Further Education, gender, growth, natural history, NEETs, Opportunity Mission, Oxford-Cambridge Corridor, People, professional training, promotion, Women's Issues
Comments Off on The Need to Join the Dots
In which I languish in limbo
You could write an entire PhD thesis about how difficult it is for academics to relax on holiday. (And whoever’s writing it would be lying on the sofa by the Christmas tree right now, fretting about how they really ought … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in academia, Domestic bliss, The profession of science, work-life balance
Comments Off on In which I languish in limbo
Invest in Women: Venture Capitalists and Female Entrepreneurs
Back in 2019, The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship was published, spelling out just how bad the environment was for would-be female entrepreneurs. She was blunt in the opening words of her introduction “I firmly believe that the disparity … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in academia, Alison Rose, appraisal, ASSET 2010, Athena Forum, Austrian science, book review, careers, Equality, Evelyn Fox Keller, femtech, gender, History of Science, innovation, Invest in Women Taskforce, professional training, promotion, Science Funding, Women's Issues
Comments Off on Invest in Women: Venture Capitalists and Female Entrepreneurs
In which I make the best of things
Greetings from the tail end of a typical British bank holiday, where the big highlight was gardening in the rain. In all seriousness, it was rather lovely to be out tidying up the flower beds in the fresh air, among … Continue reading Continue reading
In which I dream
Last night I dreamt I was pipetting. It was a beautiful Gilson p200, the classic model of my formative years. The precision instrument felt reassuringly heavy and solid in my right hand. Despite its age, the movements were smooth and … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in academia, careers, Nostalgia, Research, Scientific thinking, The ageing process, The profession of science
Comments Off on In which I dream
In which the wheel turns
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
Posted in academia, careers, Domestic bliss, Gardening, Joshua, Research, The ageing process
Comments Off on In which the wheel turns
In which we land
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
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
Posted in academia, Research, The profession of science
Comments Off on In which we migrate
In which I capture the present, but forget why
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
Posted in academia, art, Domestic bliss, Gardening, Music, Nostalgia, The ageing process, work-life balance, Writing
Comments Off on In which I capture the present, but forget why
In which my lab is a garden
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
Posted in academia, Domestic bliss, Gardening, Research, The profession of science, work-life balance
Comments Off on In which my lab is a garden