Seeing the faces of the current crop of ERC Starting Grant awardees (congratulations everybody!) made me realise that I’m not an early career researcher any more. Continue reading
Masters and apprentices
PhD students are essential components of junior research groups – but who’s really the master, and who’s the apprentice? Continue reading
2021: TIR’s year in review
A look back at our 6th record-breaking year, and a big thanks to all of you out there. Continue reading
Our indomitable avatars
One of the most common tropes in art is about people following their dreams, or being encouraged to do so. There’ll be a scene with a chance encounter and a conversation that eventually arrives at the question: what did you want to be? Why did you stop trying? And then: Why not try now? Continue reading
A case of the Dorian Grays
What makes dealing with peer review so difficult is that it forces us to confront the worst conception of ourselves. Continue reading
Research, and Development (a lament for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer)
I’ve been thinking about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a lot in the last week… Continue reading
The invisible hand of the market
Scientists like to claim – rightly – that they’re free to do research into whatever takes their fancy, but getting funding for it is a different matter. Continue reading
Great scientists, great moustaches V (a Movember posting)
The Movember Foundation is a charity dedicating to raising awareness of men’s health issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health. As part of the annual Movember event we’ve been running a series celebrating the magnificent moustaches of the men in white coats – a salute to some great minds, and the moustaches that went (just before them). Links to parts I-IV of this series can be found at the end of the posting. Continue reading
The Name of the Prose
What if scientific English took famous authors as its style template? Continue reading
On the shoulders of ants
A salute to the also-rans. Continue reading
Total Internal Reflection 