I kicked off the month with May Day celebrations in Oxford. It’s something that I have been wanting to do since moving to Oxford, but never managed to, for one thing or another. But with the youngest now 16 and the opportunity to join the celebrations from St Hilda’s College’s new tower (courtesy of the eldest), it has finally happened. Lovely.
In mid-May, the kids and I joined many others to look at the northern lights. It was actually really fun sharing this experience – of being in an open field, in the middle of the night, looking up at the sky – with many others.
This was also a month with lots of discussions about politics, due to local elections, Rishi Sunak calling parliamentary elections, Trump being on trial, and witnessing the campaign for the European elections while leaving in Brexit England.
Research
The team decided to re-apply for the BA grant. As it is a reapplication, I thought that I only needed to update the costs and ask our refereed to write another letter. But it turns out that some costing rules changed in the meantime, at Sussex, so it ended up consuming a lot more time that I had anticipated.
I also considered, for a while, responding to a call related to funds for AI skills’ development, but eventually realised that I am not really suited to deliver it.
On the other hand, I did respond to a parliamentary call for evidence regarding digital engagement, joined a database of experts on digital health, and connected with some researchers in Turkey who are focusing on health apps.
On the washing machines project, we said good-bye to a research assistant, and welcomed back another one, who has been instrumental in some data analysis. Also organised the contract for another research assistant and prepared their onboarding. But, most of all, we have been very busy organising a workshop, which is taking place in June.
Finally, had a meeting with two colleagues to plan some data collection for a project about the impact of GenAI on B2B marketing.
Writing
The SAMPJ paper came back with a request for minor revisions.
My colleagues on the washing machine project submitted a conference paper plus a journal one, to which we all contributed.
I also reviewed some literature for the metaverse paper.
And I was really happy to hear that a former colleague is keen to revive a paper idea we had about the interplay between gender and the digitalisation of financial services.
Teaching
Held the final teaching session for the Research Methods module.
Moderated one module at my University.
But, mostly, I marked, marked, marked, marked, marked, marked, marked, marked, marked, marked, marked….
Service
Reviewed three journal papers, one of which was a revision.
Refereed a promotion application for another University and acted as External Examiner for another one.
Participated in Sussex’s preparation efforts for REF by internally reviewing papers from colleagues. It was, actually, a really helpful exercise in terms of learning what colleagues are working on, as well as seeing examples of really great papers.
Finally, I prepared a document related to the SeNSS’s governance, for a forthcoming meeting.
The next three months are going to be complicated, logistically, which is causing me a little bit of anxiety. I need to keep reminding myself that I need to focus on the things that I can control and be patient about the others. My big goal for June is to make solid progress on the metaverse paper – stay tuned to see how well (or not) I manage to do that.
How was your May?
Ana Canhoto 