As academics, a lot of our time is invested in activities that are not seemingly related to our research. Teaching, organising seminars, writing EGU blog posts, reviewing papers. While I don’t deny the time consumingness of it, reviewing papers is a necessary and useful activity, at least as long as the publishing system works the way it currently does (that’s a topic for another post) ...[Read More]
Being the reasonable, far-sighted and moderate entity that it is, humanity is irreversibly destroying the habitability of the planet it was given. I hope (man, I *hope*) I don’t have to convince anybody about this *fact*. Most of us are not concerned about this. Some of us are a tad concerned about the fact that the IPCC has declared that keeping the excess temperature below 1.5 degrees has ...[Read More]
The term has just begun, you’ve settled into your new place and survived the tsunami of welcome events and inductions. But what now? There’s no guidebook to a PhD, which is why Lionel has asked us: What can I expect from the first few months of my PhD? Dear Lionel, Tears. You can expect so many tears. Or at least that was my experience anyway… And that’s not because doing a ...[Read More]
We have dealt with impostor syndrome before. Not only on this weekly column, but elsewhere in the EGU blog too. Time and time again early career researchers seem to think their peers are much smarter, promptly neglecting that everyone else has the same feelings. From the bottom of her early-career crisis, Shion asks: How do I convince myself that I know something (even if just a little bit) about ...[Read More]
Lots of people think that the challenging things in academia all relate to the actual science, the nitty gritty coding, the paper writing, developing methodologies etc. However, I’m sure that you’ll be reassured by the fact that many of us are stuck with even the simplest of things. Thats why Alice has come to us asking: How can I stay in touch with my supervisor? Dear Alice, It sounds ...[Read More]
It may be not be known to the wider lectureship of this column, but every year, around May, the headquarters of EGU-blogs are up for some important (and crucially, self inflicted) bit of house-keeping: the confirmation of the members of the blog team for the incoming editorial year. Those of you with colleagues that are here with me behind the curtains, might know about it from the relentless recr ...[Read More]
It’s that time of year again. The academic year is ramping up, everyone is back from their summer holiday and expecting miraculous things from you, the deadlines are rolling in and there is (unfortunately) no end in sight. So of course, Paxman, like many of you, is wondering: How can I feel less pressure/stress in my work? Dear Paxman, Stress? Pressure? Surely you love your research enough that ev ...[Read More]
Anybody that has read at least one post of my weekly column, knows I am not shy about giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Or in this case clearly pointing at the problems in the academic world. Alba seems to have taken this one step further and asks: Why is no one in academia happy? Dear Alba, Believe me, I see where this is coming from, but this might be taking things a tiny bit too far, don ...[Read More]
Whether you’re just starting out in academia or have been around the block a few times so speak, setting out a new proposal is daunting. Whether it’s coming up with the research topic or fieldwork idea, figuring out how to get the support you need or submitting it to whoever you need approval from, none of it is easy. That’s why Jasper has asked us: What is the secret for an amaz ...[Read More]
Recently, we’ve been discussing how you can fit a holiday into your busy schedule. But once you’ve found the time to take a few days off you then have to decide where to go. This can be almost as challenging, which is why Simone has asked me: What are the best holiday destinations for a geodynamicist? Dear Simone, Excellent question! There’s nothing worse than putting all the effort into organisin ...[Read More]