Well, it’s been rather a long time since I wrote a blog post. I’m not beating myself up over it – I did finish a PhD in the intervening months! More on that another time. For now, let me whisk us back to the middle of the merry month of May, at which time you … More Business in Basel
A few months ago, I was on a walk with my family when my mum mentioned to me a “100 day dress challenge” she had heard about on the radio. Today, I finished that challenge! The challenge was posed by a company called Wool&. The idea is that you wear one of their dresses for … More 100 Day Dress Challenge
Last year, I went to the Movement Disorders conference in Madrid, to present my PhD work as a poster. This year I took a poster to the same conference which was being held in Copenhagen, and I took Nicholas with me! Sunday We set off for the train station with a little trepidation, as there … More A Copenhagen Caper
I recently entered a “Three Minute Thesis” competition at my university. Delightfully, I was awarded the judges’ first prize! Trying to fit the principles behind my PhD into such a small amount of time and one static slide was a surprisingly challenging task. I really had to sharpen my thinking about which were the most … More Three Minute Thesis
Six years ago, Nicholas and I got married. The day after the wedding we set off on honeymoon, and Nicholas finally told me the surprise holiday he had in store: we would take the train north, then an overnight ferry, and then arrive at our destination of the Shetland Islands. We had an absolutely gorgeous … More Returning to Shetland
Back in February, I received an email from my university’s campaigns team. They’d heard that I’d had an “interesting career path” (History BA to Computing PhD is certainly that!), and wondered if I would be interested in talking about my experience of coming back to university for postgraduate study. I decided to challenge myself (socially … More My strange career path: an interview
Bewilderment – Richard Powers This was this month’s book group read. It is written from the point of view of Theo, an astrobiologist, recently widowed and coping with the difficult behaviour of his nine-year-old son Robin. It covers a lot of themes: the possibility of alien life, the climate crisis, politics, scientific research, parenting, mental … More Book Reviews: May
On the homepage of my website, I describe myself as a “computer science PhD student”. That’s because I am. But I have a confession to make to you: I don’t know much about computers. Let me explain. I am a data scientist and a programmer: I write code, I play with data, I use this … More Computer basics: a hardware murder mystery!
The Heart Goes Last – Margaret Atwood I picked up this book at Heathrow Airport, on my way to Gothenburg. I had a lot of time to kill before my flight, so I had a poke around the bookshop, not particularly intending to buy anything because I’d stocked up on a few options on my … More Book Reviews: April
A couple of weeks ago I went to the International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases in Gothenburg, Sweden. I was presenting a poster on my Parkinson’s research. This was my third conference, my second abroad, but the first that I was attending on my own (without colleagues). It was also my first time going … More My First Solo Conference
Cryptic Meg 