October 2014
On the writing of a PhD thesis
“Writing a [thesis] is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to […]
Blog Awards Winners 2014
EcoEvo@TCD was awarded Best Science & Technology Blog in Ireland at the Blog Awards ceremony on Saturday. Thanks to everyone who has contributed posts over the past couple of years. It's nice to know that we've put some good thoughts down on paper! Keep the posts coming.
PhD - Pretty Huge Disaster
This is a mini series of two posts about finding positive things in negative results. Science is often a trial and error process and, depending on what you’re working with, errors can be fatal. As people don’t usually share their bad experiences or negative results beyond the circle of close colleagues and friends, I thought […]
Sustainability Through Stability
I recently took part in a Tansley working group, an initiative that has a main working theme of advancing the ecological foundations of sustainability science. In this specific case we are seeking to construct a unified framework to help understand the multidimensional stability of ecosystems. In an era of increased human activity, significant climate change […]
What has nature ever done for us?
Anti-environmentalists and apathists often ask why bother to conserve nature – what does it do for us? Cue enthusiastic green arm-waving and heavy sighs from environmental scientists and ecologists who have faced this attitude their entire careers. Nature is undeniably important for the human race – we wouldn’t be here without plants fixing the sun’s […]