Trinity College Dublin, Ecology and Evolution
Adopting green lab practices and rethinking research can significantly reduce a lab’s carbon footprint, and it’s needed now more than ever- here are some simple steps to take towards sustainable science today!
Continue reading “How green is your lab? Simple steps towards sustainable science!”Talking about your research interests can be stressful. After all, you’ve spent ages poring through the literature, devising experiments, developing a thesis, justifying your ideas for grants and in publications – trying to condense that into something appropriate for casual conversation (often with a well-meaning relative asking “what are you studying?”, shortly followed by “oh, what’s that?”) is a dangerous rabbit hole. It’s even more perilous when your research interest is something that’s virtually unknown even among other researchers in the field. Trying to explain something that niche to an audience can very quickly make you look quite mad. My research is on dietary conservatism. Hands up who’s heard of dietary conservatism?
Continue reading “A Beginner’s Guide to Dietary Conservatism”
There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters. There are no old, bold mushroom hunters.
Continue reading “Secondary Metabolites of Fungi: Friend and Foe”
Today’s post features Mo’s Guide to SciComm in Ireland, written by Maureen Williams based on her four years of PhD research and outreach. These are great opportunities for any Dublin-based PhD students, but check them out even if that’s not you. There’s definitely something you can learn from these events, whether as a participant or an audience member!
Maureen says: “Most of the people who run these events are INCREDIBLY kind and helpful. If you’re passionate about any of these, and have more questions, I’m happy to help.” Continue reading “Science Communication Opportunities”
There are a lot of how-tos on the internet (Thanks Buzzfeed!). You can life-hack yourself into an efficient machine, but before my first day at TCD I couldn’t seem to find a good article to put my nerves at ease. Once you’ve applied and been accepted to grad school it seems like it should all be a bit relaxed, but the night before I started I was a bundle of nerves. There are a few articles that are helpful, like this one from Next Scientist, but most articles I found are pretty vague. Though this is not comprehensive or exhaustive, a list of tips from my first few months are included below. Continue reading “How to start a Ph.D (or how to try, at least)”