Latest posts

Project-based learning and craft-brewed beer

Posted on 22 September 2019 by Nicola Spaldin

One of the most enjoyable of my curriculum-revision tasks over the last weeks has been my participation in the “P2 team”, that is the Project team for Project-based learning (we could probably have done better with one very long german word for our name, but P2 seems to have stuck). On some days it is not entirely clear to me how (or indeed whether) I am contributing; one of our respon Continue reading →

Posted in education, Materials Science | Comments Off on Project-based learning and craft-brewed beer

Talking Leadership in Toronto

Posted on 22 September 2019 by Athene Donald

I’ve recently been in North America meeting up with Churchill College alumni, flying into New York City and out from Toronto, with a delightful flight with gorgeous views over New England in between. It was rather exhausting but was also something of a trip down memory lane, initially triggered by a nasty incident. A few days before travelling I had had my wallet stolen in Cambridge, pickpocketed, Continue reading →

Posted in alumni, Bruce Simpson, Equality, Maggie Thatcher | Comments Off on Talking Leadership in Toronto

Red Lines Don’t Need to be Political

Posted on 8 September 2019 by Athene Donald

Despite the introductory couple of paragraphs, this is not meant as a political diatribe….it’s just hard to avoid parliamentary affairs currently. I did foreswear following Brexit news for several months after the last deadline in the spring for the sake of my well-being, but somehow I’ve got sucked in again….

We’ve heard a lot about red lines from UK politicians over the past many months. It turn Continue reading →

Posted in Brexit, negotiation, resources, Science Culture, space | Comments Off on Red Lines Don’t Need to be Political

Lost and Wanted—A review of a new LabLit novel

Posted on 6 September 2019 by Steve Caplan

Screen Shot 2019-09-05 at 9.51.38 PM

Having recently finished the novel Lost and Wanted by Nell Freudenberger, I peeked at a smattering of the many reviews written about this novel, each claiming Lost and Wantedfor its own select cause: feminism/gender equality, race issues, friendship issues, parent-child issues (multi-generational), science and society, science and belief/religion, elitism in education, social fads, and on and on. Continue reading →

Posted in education, Research, reviews, science | Comments Off on Lost and Wanted—A review of a new LabLit novel

Trying Not to Discourage Others

Posted on 29 August 2019 by Athene Donald

What should one say to school children about to make university choices regarding life after school? Of course there are lots of positive things – clichés abound to supply them – but there are also the darker elements of the conveyor belt they are on. Talking to a group of around 50 teenage girls considering applying to Cambridge for maths or natural sciences last week, I found myself wondering wh Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge admissions, education, Maths, sixth form choices, Women in science | Comments Off on Trying Not to Discourage Others

I told myself…

Posted on 21 August 2019 by Stephen

I am on holiday – on the island of Mauritius, a tiny tropical island in the Indian Ocean. And when I go on holiday, I make ridiculous plans. 

Mauritius beach

I told myself I’d start running again. I’d get up early every morning, slip out of bed without disturbing my wife and cross the road to the beach. Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Scientific Life | Comments Off on I told myself…

In which I realize I am part of a select sci/art group

Posted on 13 August 2019 by Jennifer Rohn

Me talking about the antimicrobial resistance crisis back in 2015

I haven’t written here for a gazillion years – life is just too full-on. But I found out an amusing fact that I wanted to share. I’m not sure how it came up, but my Fiction Lab contact at the Royal Institution recently told me he’d done a little digging and found out that only three published fiction authors Continue reading →

Posted in Lablit, Nostalgia | Comments Off on In which I realize I am part of a select sci/art group

How Groupthink Contributes to Harassment

Posted on 7 August 2019 by Athene Donald

I was recently challenged by a colleague after a meeting as to whether we had all been guilty more of ‘groupthink’ than was apparent at the time or that any of us would have wished. I’m not sure that I think he was right in his conclusion, but he was certainly right to ask the question. The trouble is, it is such an insidious way to behave. We have all been in situations where you arrive at a meet Continue reading →

Posted in bullying, bystanders, consensus, Equality, Margaret Heffernan, Science Culture | Comments Off on How Groupthink Contributes to Harassment

The Transition Period

Posted on 26 July 2019 by Nicola Spaldin

“What’s going to happen with the second year students that I usually teach in the old curriculum when I’m teaching the new curriculum to the first years?” asked a colleague. YIKES! Somehow I had naively pictured our entire student body morphing smoothly into our new program in Autumn 2020, and had entirely repressed the reality that the Fall 2019 incoming class will be taug Continue reading →

Posted in education, Materials Science | Comments Off on The Transition Period

Sausage Machines in the Academic Lab

Posted on 22 July 2019 by Athene Donald

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 it is necessary to go through the exchanges in any detail. Suffice it to say that the originator believed that it was impossible to

‘do world class science in 38 hrs per week’.

Others chal Continue reading →

Posted in Phd student training, PhD students, Science Culture, Science Funding, skills | Comments Off on Sausage Machines in the Academic Lab