November 2024 round-up

The month started really well. The announcement that I got the ethics position was exciting. However, it ended terribly with the announcement that Sussex is chopping 300 jobs. I am trying not to worry unnecessarily, but… it’s hard to focus on starting new projects and building things up when things are so grim everywhere you look. … Continue reading November 2024 round-up

From Writing Assistant to Teaching Tool: My Experience, so far, Using NotebookLM

Recently, I had discussions with a couple of people about NotebookLM: our experiences of using it, and the main pros and cons that we had identified, thus far. I have captured some of my thoughts, here, and would be interested to hear about your experiences, too. NotebookLM is tool developed by Google and powered by … Continue reading From Writing Assistant to Teaching Tool: My Experience, so far, Using NotebookLM

October 2024 round-up

October brought some beautiful sunsets, the last flowers from my garden, lots of leaves on the sidewalk, a concert with the family and, possibly, the last outdoor swim of the year. I started doing physio and my knee is already feeling better. I am grateful for a job that allowed me to accompany Child 1 … Continue reading October 2024 round-up

September 2024 round-up

September was all about going back to schedules and routines, and I have to say that that felt really good. Funnily enough, there’s less fretting about when to do x, when there is less freedom about when x can happen. Plus, September brings (to me) a renewed sense of energy. Maybe it’s the perspective of … Continue reading September 2024 round-up

August 2024 round-up

August was definitely better than the last couple of months: we put our things into storage and headed to Portugal, while the “new” house was being redecorated. There were a few niggles with the move into the new house, but most boxes are now empty, and life is slowly returning to normal. Research The main … Continue reading August 2024 round-up

June 2024 round-up

June was hard. We need to move houses (yes, again!), and spent a lot of time trying to find and, then, secure, a new place to move into. But, unfortunately, that fell through at the end of the month. So we are back to square one… except with a lot more stress. I also picked … Continue reading June 2024 round-up

May 2024 round-up

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), … Continue reading May 2024 round-up

April 2024 round-up

A busy month, which included a lot of fun moments. I had a lovely time at the talk with Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry. The tickets for the talk were a lovely Mother’s Day present from the-child-formerly-known-as-the-teen. I also accompanied the kiddo to golf, and had a walk around backstage at a theatre, … Continue reading April 2024 round-up

March 2024 round-up

March had its fair share of highs and lows, as you can see below. In particular, I was reminded that, even after all of these years, I still manage to grossly underestimate how long it takes me to develop a paper and to prepare a talk. Alas, at least there were no illnesses or major … Continue reading March 2024 round-up

[Miscellany] IWD 2024: Women spies, Barbie v Oscars, and online gender harassment

In honour of International Women’s Day 2024, I thought I would share with you the links to three really interesting stories about women. 1 The secret lives of MI6’s women spies A FT Weekend podcast episode about what it’s like for women to work in espionage. It discusses how difficult it is to be taken … Continue reading [Miscellany] IWD 2024: Women spies, Barbie v Oscars, and online gender harassment