Latest posts

Unravelling Grant Success Rates by Gender

Posted on 22 April 2016 by Athene Donald

I first realised that the problems I was facing might just, possibly, not be down to my own shortcomings when I read the 1999 MIT report on the Status of Women. For the first time it occurred to me that my failure to be persuasive in committee meetings, or to convince the head of department of the importance of my research area, or to be treated wi Continue reading →

Posted in Equality, funders, mentoring, old boys' network, Women in science | Comments Off on Unravelling Grant Success Rates by Gender

ICYMI No. 4: Books to read before university

Posted on 17 April 2016 by Stephen

This week’s Times Higher Education has a nice cover feature listing books recommended by various scholars to students preparing for university. More particularly, as the author of the piece, Matthew Reisz, explained to me in an email, “We are asking some leading academics to recommend a single book which they believe those towards the end of their Continue reading →

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RIP Sir David MacKay

Posted on 16 April 2016 by Athene Donald

Many people have been paying tribute to David MacKay, who died on Thursday, and I would like to add my own voice. He was an extraordinary man who contributed so much to physics and wider societal issues during his tragically short life. Although I never worked directly with him, nor even interacted with him much during the many years we worked in t Continue reading →

Posted in academia, Cavendish Laboratory, DECC, energy production, Sustainable Energy | Comments Off on RIP Sir David MacKay

In which I feel a bit too old for this game sometimes

Posted on 15 April 2016 by Jennifer Rohn

Age is a slippery thing. Most days I still feel like that tentative new PhD student, pulling 80-hour weeks at the University of Washington Health Sciences Center in Seattle. By the red glow of the safelight, I’d feed dusky rectangles of film into the developing machine and they’d emerge clear, slightly sticky and covered with a primitive pattern of Continue reading →

Posted in Nostalgia, Scientific method, students, The profession of science | Comments Off on In which I feel a bit too old for this game sometimes

On cooperation between dogs and squirrels

Posted on 11 April 2016 by rpg
Warm beef topside baguette and a pint of Seafarer's

Lunch

I’ve had a lovely morning walking round Harris’s Copse; not shooting anything, but seeing a few wood pigeons who are too easily spooked. A baguette and a pint for lunch from the Robin Hood, and back in, this time via the south entrance.

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What have I got to Lose?

Posted on 11 April 2016 by Athene Donald

‘Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose’ sang Janis Joplin, and working out what – if anything – there is to lose in general is frequently a good strategy. This was brought home to me recently in discussing a young researcher’s plans. Having attended a confidence-building workshop she had returned to her office and decided to ch Continue reading →

Posted in careers, decision, opportunity, risk, Science Culture | Comments Off on What have I got to Lose?

Bibliotherapy

Posted on 11 April 2016 by Erika Cule

When in doubt, read the instructions

is to productivity

what aphorisms are

to meaning.

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Posted in aphorism, book reviews, doubt, facebook, instructions, Life, life story, meaning, short poem | Comments Off on Bibliotherapy

Heroines We Still Need

Posted on 7 April 2016 by Athene Donald

I have not been able to think much about blogging recently due to a variety of factors culminating in the wedding last weekend of my daughter. Not that I had much to do with the organisation of the wedding but families and family business, as one of my recent posts spelled out, should be (and are) central to academics and scientists just as much to Continue reading →

Posted in biography, Florence Nightingale, Mark Bostridge, statistics, Vera Brittain, Women in science | Comments Off on Heroines We Still Need

What Works: A Review

Posted on 3 April 2016 by Athene Donald

My review of What Works Gender Equality by Design by Iris Bohnet can be found at Nature. This is a book that  is intended to be a guide to institutional action. I was somewhat underwhelmed, as my review makes plain. If you want a more positive take, you may also be interested in fellow Cantabrigian Victoria Bateman’s review in the Times Highe Continue reading →

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ICYMI No. 3: Academic publishing on the radio

Posted on 30 March 2016 by Stephen

This is rather self-serving, even by my standards, but I made a plan with these “In Case You Missed It” posts and I’m sticking to it. I have been on the radio a couple of times in the past month talking about academic publishing. It’s not a topic that often gets aired so I  was pleased to see two radio buses come along in quick succession, so Continue reading →

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