There’s a reason why the chainsaw is such an apt symbol for the current assault on American science: because you can cut a tree down in minutes, but growing it back takes decades.
Continue readingChainsaw massacre
Author: Brooke Morriswood
Take back control: an encounter with eLife’s publish, review, curate model
In January 2023, the journal eLife – long at the vanguard of the progressive movement in scientific publishing – took the radical step of adopting a “publish, review. curate” model. Here, with some background framing, is what it feels like to use it.
Continue readingJess is on a Break: Jess has a job!
More than ever, I feel that the story of my generation of scientists is one of a migration out of academia and into different avenues where those scientific skills can be put to fresh use. It’s an adventure, a leap, a journey, and one that Jess tells better than most. This posting not only contains some great reflections on the jobseeking process for academics striking out into the private sector, but also has some super nuggets of practical advice.
The magic of MedComms: an EMBL Careers Webinar
Medical Communications (MedComms) might just be the best industry career option out there for scientists who most enjoy the writing/communicating/organising parts of the job, and on 22nd November 2024 the EMBL Fellows’ Careers Service hosted a webinar about it. The panel members were:
- Lucija Fleisinger, Medical Writer, Oxford PharmaGenesis, UK
- Laura McMahon, Senior Scientific Director and Team Lead, Envision Pharma Group, Scotland
- Brooke Morriswood, Manager, Scientific Services, Ashfield MedComms GmbH, Germany
2024: Total Internal Reflection’s year in review
The lifetime of a field
It’s not just scientists that get old. Scientific fields have their own lifetimes, just like people.
Continue readingGreat scientists, great moustaches VIII (a Movember posting)
It’s that time of year again! Here’s another instalment in the definitive guide to scientist moustaches, TIR’s annual celebration of some great minds and the great moustaches that went (just) before them. Links to parts I-VII can be found at the end for real moustache aficionados.
Continue readingAn Empire state of mind
Reset, Reskill, Restart – A Year In
Reset Today is the anniversary of the day I walked away from academia. It took years of mulling over that decision, but I mustered the courage to go.…
Reset, Reskill, Restart – A Year In
Another sincere and disarmingly open account of life after #LeavingAcademia from Jess. Best wishes for the job search!
Pathfinding (some tips on finding science jobs outside academia)
There seems to be no shortage of outlets and people offering advice on how to find jobs outside academia right now, but for what it’s worth, this was the way I went about it.
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Total Internal Reflection 