Is knowledge really the primary product of academic research?
Continue readingWalk away
Goodbye to all that
If I’d known quitting felt this good, I would have sent in my resignation letter a lot earlier.
Continue readingNew priorities (why the coronavirus pandemic led to me quitting academia)
You always feel better after throwing up, and that’s kind of where the world is right now.
Continue readingNo regrets (a salute to all my students)
I might be leaving academia, but I’ve no regrets about staying as long as I did.
Continue readingChanging Lanes
So, now it’s public – in January I wrote to my head of department to say I was resigning from all positions I hold at the University of Würzburg – group leader in the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, manager of the Germany-wide research focus network on “Physics of Parasitism”, and designated successor as student coordinator for the Faculty of Biology.
I’m leaving academia.
Continue readingThe fruits of your labour (a short guide to writing Results sections)
TIR has previously provided a general summary of how to write scientific reports/papers, as well as more detailed and specific advice on writing Figure legends and Materials & Methods sections. Now we turn our attention to the real food & drink of any manuscript: the Results section.
Continue readingScience: vocation to profession…to job?
Might abandoning the vocational aspect of academia in favour of a 9-to-5 commitment be better for all of us? And is it happening already?
Continue reading2022: TIR’s year in review
A look back at a rather rocky 7th year of operations – 2022 was the year that seemed to race by in a matter of hours, but which also felt as though it aged me five years.
Continue readingShort sight & Oversight (the ballad of Marc Tessier-Lavigne)
The Stanford president’s uncomfortable shortcomings in terms of research integrity will come as no surprise to those familiar with the dynamics of scientific career progression.
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Total Internal Reflection 