February 2026 round-up

Another month of contrasting travels: starting with a trip to Portugal for a funeral (on my birthday) and ending with a trip to Milan for the Olympics (a birthday present). There was also time with friends, coffee with colleagues, theatre, puzzles and flowers. Research I had discussions with different colleagues about some potential research grant … Continue reading February 2026 round-up

December 2025 and January 2026 round-up

December and January involved a lot of travel. Some travel was fun, such as a surprise mother-daughter trip. Other was bitter-sweet, such as trips to spend time with a close relative whose health was rapidly deteriorating (and sadly passed away at the end of January). Quite the contrast (or, as a colleague put it: the … Continue reading December 2025 and January 2026 round-up

November 2025 round-up

November brought shoulder injuries, fractured fingers, and medical appointments galore (fortunately, not for me). But, on a more positive note, the Christmas tree is up. It feels like the older the kids get, the earlier the tree goes up, which is very much the opposite of what I thought would happen! The kiddo and the … Continue reading November 2025 round-up

September 2025 round-up

This was a big month on the personal front: I got my British citizenship achieved a key personal goal that I had set for 2025; plus, the kiddo started University. I spent the last 20 or so years wishing for the day when I wouldn’t have to plan work around the school day. I imagined … Continue reading September 2025 round-up

June 2025 round-up

This was the “I should be more intentional” month. Child 1’s birthday and child 2’s end of school exams made me kick myself for not being more intentional about doing things with them over the years (as opposed to just doing things for them). Then, some pains and aches were stark reminders that I need … Continue reading June 2025 round-up

May 2025 round-up

If April was a month of the new beginnings, May was all about gathering speed, as detailed below. On the personal front, the month included a jazz concert, Star Wars’ day, coffee with a friend, lots of fresh asparagus and the kiddo’s last day of school ever (and, thus, my last school drop-off / pick-up). … Continue reading May 2025 round-up

April 2025 round-up

My over-riding impression of April is that it was a month for new beginnings: interviews started for the agentic AI project; made inroads into two new papers; visited a University that the kiddo is keen to go to; and got started on a personal project that is really important for me. And, as the nice … Continue reading April 2025 round-up

March 2025 round-up

March was a good month. Sure, hay fever is annoying and it wasn’t fun to deal with a trapped nerve. But there were also many highlights such as running in nice weather, kicking off the SeNSS training series on GenAI in research with my AI literacy session, or joining a panel of AI experts, to discuss the … Continue reading March 2025 round-up

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. I am swimming in the rain... Research The month started with a meeting at the hotel that is the focus of the paper "Stakeholders … Continue reading February 2025 round-up

January 2025 round-up

January wasn’t bad! While it was disappointing to get rejected for a grant and it is sad that some people close to me are going through a tough time, I also managed to get clarity on some work priorities. Plus, I noticed marked improvement on my knee injury. I even decided to go back to … Continue reading January 2025 round-up