how science works

Postcard from Singapore: Global Young Scientists Summit 2018

Editorial Team 4 March 7, 2018

View of Singapore from 1-Altitude skyscraper.

Excite, engage, enable. These three words were the driving mission behind the gathering of over 250 PhD and postdoctoral fellows at the Global Young Scientists Summit (GYSS) in Singapore. In January 2018, Thomas Schutzius, Michael Zumstein, Daniel Sutter, and I had the distinct pleasure of representing the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) at this year’s summit. The GYSS is a mult ...[Read More]

Work-life balance: insights from geodynamicists

Iris van Zelst January 25, 2018

Don't we all have the same hobby in academia?
Credit: Classical Art Memes on Pinterest

Maintaining a good work-life balance is essential for a steady career and happy life in academia. However, like with all good things, it is not easy. In this new Wit & Wisdom post, Jessica Munch, PhD student at ETH Zürich, explores how to achieve a good work-life balance. Research is a truly amazing occupation, especially in geodynamics (okay, that might be a bit biased…). However, disre ...[Read More]

Conferences – so near and yet so far

Iris van Zelst December 6, 2017

Everyone attending their own conference?
Credit: University of Haifa Younes & Soraya Nazarian Library

Attending conferences is expensive and time consuming, so going to all the conferences relevant for your research topic(s) is an impossible mission. One solution might be to attend (parts of) conferences remotely. Suzanne Atkins, postdoc at ETH Zürich, Switzerland, discusses the pros and cons of remote conferencing. Last month the Geological Society of London live-streamed their celebration of 50 ...[Read More]

Why there should (not) be more women in geodynamics

Iris van Zelst September 20, 2017

More women in geodynamics? I don't think so.
Credit: Pixabay

Nowadays, equality is cool. Everyone is always going on about how women and men should get the same opportunities. In science, and hence, geodynamics, women are still a bit behind men for both historical (women only recently started graduating more in exact sciences) and unconscious-bias reasons. Therefore, there are lots of programs in order to stimulate women to go into science and, more importa ...[Read More]