Academia can be amazing, except when it isn’t.
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Only in the abstract
I do miss academia, but only in the abstract.
Continue readingScientific supply chains
Attracting international scientists should be used to complement a domestic science base, not compensate for its deficiencies.
Continue readingA riposte to the Red Queens
Good mentoring offers a rebuke to the cynicism of the Red Queens.
Continue readingScience and narcissism (an interview with Bruno Lemaitre)
TIR talks to immunologist Bruno Lemaitre, a key figure in Toll research, about science, academics, narcissism and narcissists. He is an observer and commentator on the dark side of success in scientific research.
Continue readingShutting up shop (a short guide on how NOT to start a research group)
In January 2023, I resigned from my position at the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology at the University of Würzburg. Here are some of the things that I think I should have done differently when I moved there in 2015 to start my junior research group.
Continue readingPro Bono (a riff on unpaid labour in academia)
Being unemployed is making me realise how many unpaid hours I was committing to academia.
Continue readingChanging the currency
We need to reduce the emphasis on first-author papers in academic career progression.
Continue readingWhat’s the (by-)product?
Is knowledge really the primary product of academic research?
Continue readingWalk away
No matter how committed you are, sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away.
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