July 2026 round-up

July was a significant month: we exchanged contracts to buy a house which will see us move to a different area of the city, and will require a substantial change in routine; plus, I had several conversations about an important step in my career.

In July, I also celebrated child 2’s birthday, caught up with friends, and swam lots.

Research

On July 1^st I received a message saying that the grant application for the AI as patient project was unsuccessful. And, then, on July 31^st, a message saying that the grant application for the AI sovereignty project was successful. The perfect illustration of the highs and lows of academia.

The data collection for the study on customer interactions with chatbots is ongoing.

I also reached out to a researcher at a university in Ireland, to explore opportunities for a collaboration and to try to organise a visit.

Writing

I worked on a grant application about AI agents and infrastructure security, but ended up not submitting it. It was very frustrating that I couldn’t make it work. But I still think that it is a good and important project. So, I am now looking for other possible funders.

My co-authors and I worked on a paper about development of AI agents and submitted it to a journal, at the end of the month.

This month also saw the publication of the paper proposing a framework to guide the use of generative AI in research.

Teaching

I finished a set of marking.

Then, I managed supervisor allocation for the MBA research projects, and held supervision meetings with different MBA and PhD students. 

Service

The main event in July, on the service front, was the SeNSS and SENSS doctoral training partnerships’ annual conference which, this year, took place in the University of Lincoln. The mix of intense days, heatwave, carb-heavy meals, and sleeping in student accommodation meant that I was very tired, when I came back home. But it was also a really valuable time, particularly in terms of the kind of informal conversations you end up having around the different sessions, and in terms of inspiration for the employability bootcamp that we are planning for November.

And I reviewed various ethics applications and a paper.

What did July have in store for you?