February 2025 round-up

February was birthday month . And flu month. And full-on teaching month. And start of new projects month. Unfortunately, fitness and blogging took a back seat. Alas, you can’t have everything. 

Research

The month started with a meeting at the hotel that is the focus of the paper “Stakeholders of the World, Unite!: Hospitality in the time of COVID-19“, with the owner, T, and my co-author, Liyuan Wei. The owner kindly invites us every year, to visit the hotel, see the changes that he has made, and celebrate our collaboration. It’s a really nice occasion.

Another great moment, this month, was receiving confirmation from a company that they are willing to collaborate on a research project. The project includes my colleagues Maria Restuccia, Fulya Acikgoz and Mia Cheng, and it follows the development and launch of a generative AI product. I was also invited to join a project related to NGOs with a team from Portugal; and another one related to the use of AI in law enforcement, led by Emanuela Stagno.

I was interviewed as an expert for a project looking at customer segmentation in the Generative AI market. And, finally, I presented at the “Research and Publishing in the Age of Generative AI” event, organised by the Centre for Responsible Business, University of Birmingham.

Writing

My key goal for this month was to complete the draft of a paper and get it off my desk. While I did make good progress on it, I was unable to complete the draft due to the afore mentioned flu (and, then, having to focus on the things that I did have to deliver like teaching or the research presentation). I also did some minor work on a second paper and created the outline for a third one.

Other writing tasks included working on a grant application for a project about tackling online violence against women and girls, led by my colleague Lilith Whiley.

Teaching

I wrote the assessment briefs for one of the modules that I am teaching, which included considering how incorporate Generative AI as part of the task, to support with development of AI skills for the workplace. I also set up the online environment for the MBA module that I start teaching at the end of March.

I interviewed three PhD candidates and made an offer to a one. Met and reviewed drafts of my other PhD student. And developed two ideas for student research projects for the summer.

Service

Reviewed numerous ethics’ clearance applications, two papers for journals, four papers for my University’s REF application, and two new programme proposals for Universities in Portugal.

In my role as deputy director for the SeNSS doctoral network, I analysed the responses to the training needs analysis’ survey and prepared a report with recommendations, reviewed applications for funding to visit organisations overseas, and met with other deputy directors to discuss the development of a policy and training materials on the use of generative AI in doctoral research.

I often say that writing these round-ups is really helpful in terms of taking a step back from the daily grind, seeing how the little tasks add up and the direction that my work is taking. This month’s reflection is a great example of that: writing this summary made me realise that I am working in really exciting projects, with various super star female researchers!

What did February 2025 have in store for you?