How to start writing your thesis

By Dr Ruth Nottingham, Impact Officer, University of Nottingham

So you are final year PhD student and the moment has finally arrived for you to put down your pipette and pick up a pen. It’s time to write a thesis!

This is an exciting time, it is the final hurdle of the PhD process and the finishing line is most definitely in sight. The tricky part is working out how to start, as whether you like writing or not the thought of writing something as large as a thesis can be a bit daunting.

To get past the fear of starting I leapt into the writing process, deciding that generating words however good or bad or in whichever order was the best way to get my thesis written. This worked out in the end but there are better strategies out there, so I thought I would share with you what I wish I had done. Continue reading “How to start writing your thesis”

Biochemical SocietyMarch 3, 2017April 24, 20172 Comments

Biochemical Society, Education & careers, Science communication & public engagement

Empowering the adults of the future

By Patricia Bernal, Imperial College London

On a cold winter day in London on January 2017, Native Scientist celebrated a warm science outreach event for children in partnership with the Embassy of Ecuador in London. The meeting took place in the Ecuadorian Consulate located near King’s Cross St. Pancras in the very heart of the city of London. The event brought together 25 Ecuadorian pupils and 5 Spanish-speaking scientists from different disciplines.

Scientists used their mother tongue to explain to the children in an engaging and fun way the work they are currently performing in the United Kingdom. The workshop allowed the scientists to improve their communication skills and increase the impact of their research in a welcome environment. Continue reading “Empowering the adults of the future”

Biochemical SocietyFebruary 24, 2017April 24, 2017Leave a comment

Education & careers, Policy

Why I think that the proposal to remove publication portability from REF2021 should be scrapped

By Charlotte Dodson, Research Fellow at Imperial College London

charlotte-dodson-portrait-photo-cropped-2 — *Charlotte Dodson*

“Do we know what’s happening about REF yet?” asked one of the participants at the departmental Principal Investigator (PI) meeting last term. There was a gentle shaking of heads around the table and we moved on. Shortly afterwards I knew the answer: the Stern Review (a UK Government-commissioned independent review into how Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 should be improved for next time) made its recommendations. There is now a consultation by HEFCE and its equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on how best to implement these in REF 2021. Continue reading “Why I think that the proposal to remove publication portability from REF2021 should be scrapped”

Biochemical SocietyFebruary 20, 2017April 24, 2017Leave a comment

Education & careers, Partner organizations, Science communication & public engagement

Investigating zebrafish with in2scienceUK

By Benjamin Simpson, Shenfield High School, Essex, UK

When I arrived at the lab, the first thing I noticed was how casual everything was. Even the principal investigator arrived at about 11am. I expected to find a strict regime of when to arrive, what to do and what to wear. Anna and Nikki were my supervisors in the Attwell lab at University College London. My project involved using zebrafish to investigate the development of myelin (a substance which is wrapped around neurons to increase conductivity). Zebrafish are especially useful because they are transparent allowing us to view the development under a microscope without harming the fish or embryo. On the first day of my placement they were only a few hours post fertilisation and so were still just a bundle of cells on a yolk. I learnt how to maintain the embryos through filtering out the dead ones and changing the water. Continue reading “Investigating zebrafish with in2scienceUK”