Snowy days are here! Between two slides and snow ball (kind and consented) fights with colleagues, let’s see what’s in my mailbox… Well, this one is pretty topical, let’s go! Dear Sassy scientist, I think I lost all motivation for research but I need to work! What do I do? Please help me! My sweet cute pie, Let me ask you a quick question, when was the last time you took va ...[Read More]
Between protests and strikes, I finally found some time to answer some questions. In case you are not aware – idk how that’s possible… do you live on Neptune? – everything is on fire, has been for a long time tbf. So I chose Michel’s question. They ask: I’m lost. I feel like I don’t belong in academia, but neither in industry. What do I do? Dear Michel, Gosh, it has been a long time si ...[Read More]
I’m still recovering from the Glastonbury festival of geosciences. What was the question again? Unrealistic expectations… Ah, wait. Found it. So Amina asks: Why is there an implicit expectation for postdoc mobility? Dear Amina, Why did you have to choose this question? My short answer is, it’s like you are stuck in quicksand. But I know you’re going to ask me WHYYY and expect a real answer. Fine. ...[Read More]
The news has been super depressing, I need to hit myself deep in escapism. I hope this month’s question will be easy. Let’s see what we have this month …*two hours later*… So, Robin asks: Some of the projects I’m involved in during my postdoc aren’t directly related to the grant funding of my salary. Should I list my PI as a co-author on papers resulting from this work? Dear Robi ...[Read More]
Is it a good day to have a meltdown? It’s cold and there is sun outside, neh maybe not. Procrastinating even having a meltdown. But this audience doesn’t even let me do that. Today, we’re answering Kai’s question: Why do we consider leaving academia a failure? Dear Kai, Sorry, the question ended up in my spam folder, otherwise, I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t ignore poking the hornet’s ...[Read More]
Did I get sick again? Covid, is that you? Long time no see. It’d be better if you left me alone, but I guess we don’t have much choice here, do we? While I’m knocked out by the sedatives to stop my lungs from squeezing themselves out, I ended up thinking about one of the questions I got recently. So, today, we’re answering Ron’s question: Am I getting more stupid or is the PhD getting smarter? Dea ...[Read More]
Seasons change, and so do our passions. My climate anxiety? Yeah, it’s on the rise, like the global average temperature. So, Mae asks: My research field feels stagnant (or even dying), with limited opportunities, and I have developed new interests. How hard is it to change fields/direction after your PhD? Dear Mae, I mean this is kind of perfect for the wasteful spooky season. What could be scarie ...[Read More]
The first year of a PhD can quickly shift from an exciting adventure (“Ok I got this“) to an exasperating rollercoaster (“What I am doing here? What if I just move to a husky farm in Canada?“). Marina, has reached that stage and, after having exhausted her patience scrolling through <insert your preferred social media platorm here> in search of threads on how to boost ...[Read More]
Just came back from holidays and found yourself staring at your calendar that’s full of conferences? I can almost hear the inner debate you’re having. Instead of keeping this internal dialogue to yourself, Reese decided to ask this question out loud: Should I go to every conference? Dear Reese, No. What are you? An olympic world record holder in breaking the space-time continuum? No, that’s ...[Read More]
Is it hot? Is it cold? I don’t know anymore. I really need holidays or better: early, very early, retirement. Anyway, what we need is a bit of sassiness in the mix. So let’s make July a bit sassy. Yikes, it sounds like an election campaign. I don’t like it, never mind. What were we doing? Ah, yes, sassy. So, Ryu asks: How do I rediscover the joy of science? Dear Ryu, Tough audience question found ...[Read More]