Category Archives: PhD students

Praise and Possibility

Anyone who watched the final of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing will have heard words like ‘resilient’, ‘belief’ and ‘self-confidence’ thrown in the direction of the four finalists by the judges, with all contestants having been on a ‘journey’. It got … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in academic pyramid, careers, deficit model, Interdisciplinary Science, Londa Schiebinger, macho, PhD students, Project Implicit, resilience, Science Culture, Science Funding, social media, Strictly Come Dancing, supervisors, Unconscious bias, Universities | Comments Off on Praise and Possibility

Hierarchies and the Power Imbalance

It is perhaps helpful, if depressing, that stories of harassment and bullying in many spheres now reach headline status.  Helpful because it means these issues get an airing instead of simply lurking in the long grass. Just this week there … Continue reading

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Sausage Machines in the Academic Lab

There was a bit of a spat over Twitter last week regarding how many hours students (and postdocs) should be expected to do at the bench. This originated in a tweet from a professor of chemistry but I don’t think … Continue reading

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Does Leadership Need to be More Touchy-Feely?

If our sector is to see more minorities rise through the ranks to positions of power, indeed if any sector is to achieve this and go on, for instance, to remove the typical gender pay gap, then inclusive leadership needs … Continue reading

Posted in Equality, group leader, humble, inclusivity, minorities, PhD students, Science Culture | Comments Off on Does Leadership Need to be More Touchy-Feely?

Worrying about Deserts of Nothingness

Recently a website calling itself UKRI Observatory published two blogposts analysing information obtained by them under FoI regarding assessments of EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training. The point the blogpost was making was that it appeared at first sight that many … Continue reading

Posted in Centres for Doctoral Training, EPSRC, PhD students, Research, Science Culture, Science Funding, training | Comments Off on Worrying about Deserts of Nothingness

A student’s guide to finding and securing a desirable PhD mentor in the biomedical sciences

Several years ago I wrote a satirical article titled “How not to get a lab job.” In that piece, designed primarily for graduate students who were looking for post-doctoral positions, I tried to use real-life examples based on the types … Continue reading

Posted in anxiety, career, career in science, education, faculty, graduate program, graduate student, how to find a mentor, laboratories, labs, large lab, mentor, mentors, mentorship, new investigator, PhD students, position, post-doc, postdoc, postdoctoral fellow, productivity, publications, Research, rotations, science, scientific career, stress, success in the lab, university, vetting | Comments Off on A student’s guide to finding and securing a desirable PhD mentor in the biomedical sciences