All Male Invited Speakers? It’s Complicated!
Some time ago I wrote about the complexities that may underlie all male short-lists for high-powered jobs. The scientific world is also full of justified angst about the disproportionate number of men...
View ArticleAttacks on the Royal Society Miss the Point
This post was originally posted at ScienceGrrl. Another year, another occasion to thump the Royal Society for the make-up of its new fellows. This time it was Nature that screamed ‘Royal Society still...
View ArticleAn Education in Education (and Policy)
For the last three and a half years I have been chairing the Royal Society’s Education Committee. Under Secretary of State Michael Gove, education in England has been going through a tumultuous time...
View ArticleWell-rounded Students – What does it Take?
WS Gilbert thought it was ‘comical…that every boy and every gal… is either a little Liberal or else a little Conservative’ in the words expressed by that bored sentry PC Willis. The politics would be...
View ArticleShuffling Forward in Education
This week has been full of surprises in Whitehall. The departure of David Willetts was foreseen. Indeed, it has been predicted just about every time there has been a ministerial reshuffle in the recent...
View ArticleScience Policy and Impact: Lessons from History
REF, the Science and Innovation Strategy document (S+I) and the Nurse Review of the Research Councils collectively mean that the UK HE world of science is stuffed full of current policy issues that...
View ArticleWhy Can’t a Woman be more like a Man?
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...
View ArticleCry, cry, cry (for backwards Nobel Laureates)
So this happened – at The World Conference of Science Journalism, at a lunch sponsored by Korean female scientists and engineers – just yesterday. So as a human being, I am not sure I particularly care...
View ArticleWhat Next after Tim Hunt? (#just1action4WIS)
Last week the world erupted into a storm of outrage over remarks Sir Tim Hunt, Nobel Prize winner, made in Korea. Unacceptable, indefensible remarks. He has been made to resign from positions and...
View ArticleNational Academies and the Gender Mix Around the World
National academies of science serve a variety of purposes including recognizing the country’s eminent scientists and providing an impartial (usually) voice to government and other policy makers. If...
View ArticleDare to Dream: Parent Carer Scientist
This post first appeared here on the Huffington Post on 9th March 2016. ‘Science Needs Women’ says L’Oreal’s tagline succinctly for its For Women in Science Campaign. Science needs women to ensure the...
View ArticleExpectations
Nature this week published its annual (and international) survey on salaries. As the article points out, many respondents use the survey as a means of venting, so the survey also provides a snapshot of...
View ArticleDepersonalising the REF
Successive rounds of the RAE and its successor REF have always caused high levels of stress and anxiety. The associated workload is very substantial for institutions (and many individuals); the stakes...
View ArticleJudging on Potential (or Not)
I was trying to lay my hands on a quote I heard recently on the radio about creativity by Wolfgang von Goethe to kickstart this blogpost, and instead (amongst 100’s of others of his quotes) I came upon...
View ArticleWhere is the HE Sector Going?
There is a lot going on in the HE policy world, from the Augar Review of post-18 education and funding, to the publication of the UKRI (and its constituent parts) Delivery Plans. Yet all this is set in...
View ArticleA Holistic CV
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...
View Article
