Latest posts

Student Feedback

Posted on 7 April 2019 by Nicola Spaldin

After a few weeks of consolidating and tidying up the ideas generated during the retreat, the project team managed to converge a reasonably coherent curriculum structure, and decided that the next step was to run it past our current students for a feedback. In particular, we realized that our current and recently graduated students would be better able than us to spot if something essential was mi Continue reading →

Posted in education, Materials Science | Comments Off on Student Feedback

Does Leadership Need to be More Touchy-Feely?

Posted on 7 April 2019 by Athene Donald

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 to be the norm not an unusual surprise. A recent article published by the Harvard Business Review reflected on this and looked at what traits make an effective, inclusive leader w 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?

Tears Before Bedtime

Posted on 31 March 2019 by Athene Donald

Tears Before Bedtime

It is a well-worn trope that women weep and men shout. Stereotypical but, although I have occasionally seen women shout I have yet to see a man break down in public when losing an argument (as opposed to when losing a family member, for instance). There is some truth in the stereotyping.

But, in the male-by-default way of the world, shouting is still (largely) seen as somethin Continue reading →

Posted in bullying, emotion, Science Culture, shouting | Comments Off on Tears Before Bedtime

Leadership for Our Times

Posted on 27 March 2019 by Athene Donald

Much has been made recently of Theresa May’s leadership, or rather the lack of it. It reminds me how when I first took up the reins at Churchill College, several people told me the story of an earlier Master, William Hawthorne. Eminent engineer though he may have been, when it came to sensing the mood of the fellowship over the possibility of admitting women he seems to have got it badly wrong. Ho Continue reading →

Posted in Brexit, John Bercow, Microcosmographia Academica, Prime Minister, Science Culture | Comments Off on Leadership for Our Times

Lady in Red

Posted on 24 March 2019 by Athene Donald

There has been some interesting dialogue over Twitter recently regarding what sort of images may – or may not – inspire future generations of young women to think about the STEM subjects and, in the exchanges I’ve seen recently, specifically engineering. What sort of poster girls work best and which just annoy? The argument seems to be that glossy brochures dreamed up by advertising agencies featu Continue reading →

Posted in Churchill Academy, clothing, education, inspiration, pockets, Women in science | Comments Off on Lady in Red

How *NOT* to deliver a seminar

Posted on 8 March 2019 by Steve Caplan

It seems that people are apt to try and recreate or relive their greatest successes, and it turns out that I am not immune to this behavior. Some years ago, a combination of exasperation and disbelief coupled with an attempt to educate others led me to publish a satirical piece called “How NOT to get a lab job.” http://www.lablit.com/article/668

In those years I was besieged with a multitude of po Continue reading →

Posted in education, How NOT to get a lab job, how to deliver a presentation, How to give a seminar, humor, postdoc, postdoctoral fellow, presentation, Research, science, talk, tips on presenting a seminar | Comments Off on How *NOT* to deliver a seminar

To Honour Those Forced Out #IWD19

Posted on 8 March 2019 by Athene Donald

For International Women’s Day I want to take as my theme, the lines from Ecclesiasticus

And some there be who have no memorial, who are perished as though they had never been…

This is not because I’ve suddenly acquired a desire to become a lay preacher. Indeed the reason I know those lines is because we used to sing that verse, and those surrounding them, as a rather mournful dirge at my school’s Continue reading →

Posted in Camden School for Girls, Ecclesiasticus, Science Culture, Women in science | Comments Off on To Honour Those Forced Out #IWD19

As the Years Pass, What’s Changed?

Posted on 3 March 2019 by Athene Donald

Another year and International Women’s Day (IWD is on March 8th) is fast approaching. In a rather wonderful coincidence this year the date marks exactly 50 years since the Fellowship of Churchill College voted to admit women, the very first of the initially all male Cambridge colleges to do so. To celebrate this event I will be holding a public conversation with Alison Finch, one of the first thre Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Finch, Churchill College, International Women's Day, Women in science | Comments Off on As the Years Pass, What’s Changed?

The Interdisciplinary Challenge

Posted on 24 February 2019 by Athene Donald

This week I am talking at an event in London marking (I believe) the launch of Nature Reviews Physics, but the emphasis of this event will be on the promotion of best working practices in ‘physics and interdisciplinary science’, as it was phrased in the letter of invitation. In other words, what do physicists have to offer other disciplines and how can we work optimally together? Three of us will Continue reading →

Posted in crossing boundaries, Interdisciplinary Science, nature, Research, starch | Comments Off on The Interdisciplinary Challenge

Making it up as I go along

Posted on 24 February 2019 by Erika Cule

Until recently, I dreaded public speaking. Hated it, even. No-one told me, when I set out to become a scientist, that presenting my work in front of an audience would be expected. Being scheduled to give a talk, to immediate colleagues or to a conference audience, could ruin the day if not the entire conference. I still get anxious now, but I am not so disabled. I have a greater capacity to handle Continue reading →

Posted in Comedy, conferences, Fun, Improv, Life, presenting | Comments Off on Making it up as I go along