Latest posts

Words and Images

Posted on 20 March 2015 by Athene Donald

As my last post said, I have been sitting on a lot of committees recently and consequently reading a lot of references. I am pleased to observe that it has been the men round the table who have been complaining about the gendered tone of some of these letters, picking up both when a referee envisages a job in a very masculine way and so complains i Continue reading →

Posted in Alice Lee, Equality, GillianGehring, Hertha Ayrton, letters of reference, Women in science | Comments Off on Words and Images

In which the postdoc sell-by date continues to shrivel: The MRC comes to its senses

Posted on 19 March 2015 by Jennifer Rohn

How do you judge the worth of a researcher? In particular, can you tell how excellent she is by how quickly she gets from point A to point B in her career?

Old postdocs may not be as stale as they look

Old postdocs may not be as stale as they look

The funding bodies used to think speed was of the essence. Continue reading →

Posted in careers, Science Funding, staring into the abyss, The profession of science, Women in science | Comments Off on In which the postdoc sell-by date continues to shrivel: The MRC comes to its senses

10 Things to Make You a Better Committee Member

Posted on 13 March 2015 by Athene Donald

I seem to have been sitting through a lot of committee meetings recently, of diverse kinds. Every committee meeting has its own dynamic – a grant-awarding meeting is very different in form from that of some sort of a departmental strategy group; a programme committee for a conference will differ from a student-liaison body. Nevertheless there Continue reading →

Posted in committee work, paperwork, preparation, Science Culture | Comments Off on 10 Things to Make You a Better Committee Member

Sweet Serendipitous Science

Posted on 8 March 2015 by Steve Caplan

One of the best arguments for supporting basic science is that serendipitous discoveries — those not necessarily outlined in a grant proposal — have always been key to scientific progress. Many of us who lobby for basic science like to use the wonderful example of penicillin, whose discovery was attributed to Alexander Fleming, who noti Continue reading →

Posted in allulose, Andrew Han, basic science, fructose, Izumori, Newsweek, penicillin, Research, science, sugars | Comments Off on Sweet Serendipitous Science

Choosing the Right Criteria

Posted on 6 March 2015 by Athene Donald

A year ago Cambridge University launched its book ‘The Meaning of Success’ and published a letter calling on the HE community to consider what the sector values and should be promoting, figuratively and, when it comes to people, literally. This dialogue I hope has been continuing during the year in universities around the country. In Ca Continue reading →

Posted in career progression, Equality, International Woman's Day, Meaning of Success, mobility, promotion, Women in science | Comments Off on Choosing the Right Criteria

Psychology Journal Bans Almost All of Statistics

Posted on 3 March 2015 by Bob O'H

Amongst the big news last week (besides the octopus-squid battle, a dress, and a singer falling over whilst – presumably – sober) was the release of an editorial from the journal “Basic and Applied Social Psychology” (BASP) which announced that it was banning p-values. There was much rejoicing by people who didn’t read Continue reading →

Posted in science publishing, statistics | Comments Off on Psychology Journal Bans Almost All of Statistics

Being mortal and being Crick

Posted on 1 March 2015 by Stephen

Two more book reviews from my reading list for this year.

On several occasions while reading Being Mortal, surgeon Atul Gawande’s book about end-of-life care, I could feel a lump swelling in my throat and tears pressing for release. I’m not an emotional type but this is an intense book.

Continue reading →
Posted in book review, death, Life | Comments Off on Being mortal and being Crick

Why Can’t a Woman be more like a Man?

Posted on 27 February 2015 by Athene Donald

Last autumn there were some shocking figures released by the Royal Society regarding the new cohort of University Research Fellows (URFs): only two out of 43 were women. Many of us were very disappointed and depressed by these figures. I wrote about them at the time , as did the Royal Society’s President Paul Nurse on his own blog. But I̵ Continue reading →

Posted in Equality, Paul Nurse, Royal Society, University Research Fellows, Women in science | Comments Off on Why Can’t a Woman be more like a Man?

On immortality

Posted on 23 February 2015 by rpg

From the “Making dreams come true” department, we recently had a sauna installed at the new gaff.

Warming up
Warming up

It’s very nice, and you should know that South Eastern trains have a special, hidden, weekend fare that lets you use the High Speed service for the same price as the slow train, and that I can pick you up from the station.

Continue reading →
Posted in immortality, Me, Nonsense, sauna | Comments Off on On immortality

Contemplating Education Matters

Posted on 22 February 2015 by Athene Donald

This past week it was announced that I would be assuming the Presidency of the British Science Association (the BSA, formerly simply the British Association or the BA). It is a great honour to be asked to follow in the footsteps of so many of the most illustrious scientists of the last 170 odd years. The list of previous incumbents is truly humblin Continue reading →

Posted in British Science Association, DCMS, education, Vision for STEM education | Comments Off on Contemplating Education Matters