Conserving our world’s biodiversity is currently one of the biggest challenges we face. I wrote a post recently about some of the issues palaeontologists face when trying to make our science relative to current conservation management and biodiversity issues (and have written elsewhere about this too). This is very much a developing issue within which palaeontology is framing itself, as with ever ...[Read More]
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VolcanicDegassing
Who should set the research agenda in Universities?
Universities are complex, organic institutions. Their heart is the academic hub of scholarship and research, sustained by the ever-changing life-blood of students who come through to learn, to challenge, to grow, and ultimately to leave, having left their mark on those who have taught them. The excitement of working in a University environment is the daily experience of being challenged to think ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
Social Media for Science Outreach – A Case Study: That social media thang
This was initially posted at: http://www.nature.com/spoton/2013/04/social-media-for-science-outreach-a-case-study-that-social-media-thang/ as part of a series of case studies exploring how academics use social media. Jon began university life as a geologist, following this with a treacherous leap into the life sciences with a course in biodiversity and taxonomy. Now undertaking a PhD in tetrapod b ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Communicating Climate Change
The UK House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee has recently launched an inquiry entitled “Climate Change: public understanding and its policy implications”, which is due to address the issue of communicating climate change research. This inquiry was raised following a recent surge in climate change scepticism and a diminishing public concern regarding its effects, with ...[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoTalk: Alexis Rouillard
GeoTalk is a regular feature highlighting early career researchers and their work. Following the EGU General Assembly, we spoke to Alexis Rouillard, an Arne Richter Outstanding Young Scientist awardee and a brilliant space scientist. First, could you introduce yourself and let us know a bit about your current work at the French National Centre for Scientific Research? Hi, I am Alexis Rouillard and ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
Why and how Master’s students should publish their research
This is an updated post from one I published a while back on my old blog at: http://wp.me/p22pR3-2F – as I’ve developed as a scientist, I thought it would be good to share these thoughts in the emergence of new information and experiences. The comments on the older post are worth a quick read. In the UK, many if not most Master’s students do not publish their postgraduate researc ...[Read More]
VolcanicDegassing
What do you wish that you had learned in Graduate School?
In the UK, the landscape of graduate doctoral training (for the PhD, or DPhil degree) in the field of environmental research is about to be radically reshaped. The main funding agency for PhD training, the Natural Environment Research Council, is currently running a competition for Universities and other Research Organisations to run coordinated doctoral training programmes from next year (Octobe ...[Read More]
VolcanicDegassing
Conference report – EGU highlights, Day 4
Large international science conferences are extraordinary events. For a week at a time, scientists emerge from their offices and laboratories and join a throng of thousands, negotiating their way through tens of thousands of presentations across multiple parallel sessions. For many of those attending, the scale of the event is less important, though, than the opportunity the meeting presents for s ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
GfGD at #EGU2013: Day four
Our fourth day at EGU 2013, and not running low on energy (although pretty high on caffeine!). With the panel discussion on the use of blogs and social media in scientific research, our interview with the BBC science correspondent about science communication, and our #gfgdcomp question competition: communication is most definitely the theme of the day. Joel Gill, GfGD Director, gave a talk today a ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
The values of social media and blogging for academics
At this years European Geosciences Union General Meeting (Vienna), I’ve been asked to be on a panel discussion describing the ways in which I think using social media and blogging can enhance academic careers. Sometimes, talks of this kind can be very echo-chambery, and there are plenty of really cool guides already out there online. This was a chance though to actually directly target a gro ...[Read More]