Latest posts

Building Resilience Throughout a Career

Posted on 23 February 2020 by Athene Donald

How do you develop resilience? This was a question I was asked recently by a mid-career researcher. Not, please note, someone just setting out, but someone who was already well-established. This problem is ubiquitous and does not go away just because of seniority. Academia – though one might say all of life – has pressures from every direction and surviving these pressures is inevitably going to b Continue reading →

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A Holistic CV

Posted on 16 February 2020 by Athene Donald

Just recently at a dinner for heads of the Cambridge colleges the issue of the toxic culture some research students find themselves in was raised. We all know the issues exist and, in this context, the question was what could our colleges do to assist. Where it is the relationship with the supervisor that has gone wrong, and the student is willing – by no means guaranteed to be the case – to raise Continue reading →

Posted in DORA, mentoring, Research, Royal Society, Science Culture, toxic cultures | Comments Off on A Holistic CV

Hierarchies and the Power Imbalance

Posted on 9 February 2020 by Athene Donald

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 have been the resurrection of accusations of bullying against the former speaker John Bercow, and the resignation of a high profile MSP for inappropriate (for w Continue reading →

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It’s Not My Brexit Either

Posted on 2 February 2020 by Athene Donald

I am trying to decide whether to remove the Twitter ‘Scientists for the EU’ twibbon from my profile. I still am a scientist and I’m still pro EU, but there’s no longer quite the same message to be conveyed. Fellow OT blogger Stephen Curry has written eloquently how January 31st was not about his Brexit, so I won’t repeat his arguments, with which I wholeheartedly agree. I do, however, have to deci Continue reading →

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This is not my Brexit day

Posted on 31 January 2020 by Stephen

It is 31st January 2020 and as of 11 pm tonight the UK will no longer be a member of the European Union. We have arrived at Brexit day.

U2 and the EU

But this is not my Brexit. I did not want it. Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Politics | Comments Off on This is not my Brexit day

Does it pass the smell-test? Review of “The DNA of you and me”

Posted on 18 January 2020 by Steve Caplan

IMG_4824

Moving into 2020, I realize that this is now my 10th year of blogging, a sport that I never really signed up for. In 2010, my daughter was 13 years old; now she is preparing for a series of interviews for graduate programs in the biosciences. Time flies! And in the meantime, she is now suggesting books for me to read, rather than the other-way-round. One such book was a new LabLit novel called “T Continue reading →

Posted in Andrea Rothman, author, fiction, lab, Lablit, novel, olfatory, postdoc, Research, reviews, science, sense of smell, smell test, student, The DNA of you and me | Comments Off on Does it pass the smell-test? Review of “The DNA of you and me”

No More Red Meat?

Posted on 17 January 2020 by Athene Donald

The terrifying and deadly fires in Australia are a grim reminder of climate change. Greta Thunberg should be a prick (indeed more than a prick) to everyone’s conscience, reminding us that each and every one of us has a part to play in reducing global emissions through our individual carbon footprints. Thinking hard about what our personal contribution can be should be a backdrop to our l Continue reading →

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Thinking about Your Workload

Posted on 10 January 2020 by Athene Donald

The first time I was asked to serve on a research council (standing) committee, when a young(ish) researcher, I did not seek my head of department’s position. I informed him, since it happened we worked closely together, but it did not occur to me to ask permission, to check whether he thought it was compatible with my departmental job. I just assumed it was part of the job. The only quibble I had Continue reading →

Posted in Alice Roberts, Athena Swan, Communicating Science, mental health, Science Culture | Comments Off on Thinking about Your Workload

Shenanigans with the Railways

Posted on 7 January 2020 by Athene Donald

Rules about railway tickets have clearly always been mysterious, as this Punch cartoon of 1869 makes clear.

Punch 1869b

 “‘Station Master say, Mum, as cats is ‘dogs,’ and rabbits is ‘dogs,’ and so’s parrots; but this ere ‘tortis’ is an insect, so there ain’t no charge for it!”

In that case a station master (do such people even exist now? Continue reading →

Posted in Great Northern, refund, trains, travel | Comments Off on Shenanigans with the Railways

2019 Top Ten (plus one, again)

Posted on 4 January 2020 by Richard Wintle

This year’s question: is it pathetic that Adventures in Wonderland has turned into an annual top-ten-photo blog? Perhaps I’ll do better in 2020. Recent history suggests not, however.

Anyway, on to my favourite ten (plus one, as usual) photographs of 2019, in no particular order.

Continue reading →
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