New #posting! This one's about how I had one enormous factor in my favour when weighing up whether or not to leave #academia last year: my wife's career.
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/07/29/couple-power/
New posting! I’m less than a year into my new scientific career in the #biotech/#pharma sector, and the biggest difference with #academia is already clear: it’s the money.
But not, as you might think, in terms of salary…👇
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/06/16/follow-the-money/
New posting! You wouldn't think that mandatory company training on policies & procedures would come across as a beacon of enlightenment, but that's how it did for me 😂 👇
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/04/28/from-the-top-down/
New posting! A riff on permanent positions in #science, and how 6 months in #MedComms has already brought more career stability (= permanent position) than 20+ years in #academia. 👇
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/03/17/apotheosis-a-riff-on-permanent-positions-in-science/
New posting! This one contains a few reflections on what I do, and don't, miss about my life in #academia.
https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/01/28/only-in-the-abstract/
New posting! Here is the Total Internal Reflection #2023 retrospective: >30,000 page views, nearly 20,000 visitors, and the most shattering decision of my professional life to date.
As always, a massive thanks to all of you out there for reading/favouriting/boosting/commenting on the postings - much appreciated.👏
It's also just over 1 year since arriving here, and it's been fantastic to meet and connect with so many of you. Here's looking forward to many more reflections in 2024!😊
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/01/07/2023-tirs-year-in-review/
New posting! This is the annual look at some great #scientists and great #moustaches in honour of #Movember2023. This year's style winner comes from Japan 🤩
A massive thanks to @batroelens for nominating a couple of 2023's style exemplars...😊
New posting! This is a short riff on the importance of scientific supply chains. The departure point is the coronavirus pandemic, and the way it illustrated the vital need to have a domestic supply chain to complement outsourcing. The same lesson, I think, is true to science training. Hope you like it!
https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/11/26/scientific-supply-chains/
The outrageously talented
Oliver Hoeller hasn't contributed to TIR in a long while (😢) but he does have a new book out 🤩- now all you budding artists and #sciart fans can learn some tips & tricks if you'd like to try sketching the world around you👇
https://oliverhoeller.com/store/Pack-Your-Sketches-Full-of-Life-p597163060
One week in to #Movember2023 and it's time to celebrate some more great scientists with great #moustaches! Here's Part II of the TIR Movember series. Anybody you'd like to nominate for the 2023 edition?
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2018/11/19/great-scientists-great-moustaches-pt-2-a-movember-posting/
#Movember2023 is under way! For those not in the know, the #Movember foundation raises awareness of #MentalHealth, #ProstateCancer, #TesticularCancer.
To tie in with the event, TIR has an annual posting of "Great scientists, great #moustaches", and 2023 will be no exception!
First though, let's take a look back at previous iterations in the series... Got someone you'd like to nominate? Let me know.😃 👨👇
It's an oldie but a goodie, re-upping it for #Halloween2023 - the #9types of horror lab. Happy Hallowe'en! 🎃 👻
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/10/31/the-9-types-of-horror-lab/
New #posting! This one suggests that good #mentoring offers an escape to the #RedQueen problem faced by many (most? all?) contemporary group leaders in #academia. Hope you like it! 👇
https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/10/29/a-riposte-to-the-red-queens/
"More and more bitter, self-pitying, repetitive" - a regular reader slams TIR's recent content (ouch!). Reminds me of a similar discussion I had nearly a year ago that inspired the following posting (👇)...it's certainly difficult balancing scientific wonder with structural commentary. But point taken; let's see if I can provide a bit more sunshine 🤩
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/11/17/a-letter-to-a-friend/
Interested in #mRNA and #trypanosomes? My dear (Tootless) friend Susanne Kramer has a #DFG-funded #PhD position available now in my old home of the University of Würzburg. Full details (including contact email) in the pic below 👇
New posting! This one riffs on a few talking points from my latest (not quite my last!) paper, namely the role of #preprints in accelerating research and providing a "director's cut" of papers, how NOT to do #PeerReview, and the importance of involving #undergraduates in frontline research.
New posting! After #LeavingAcademia at the end of April, my "jobseeker" status lasted exactly 2 weeks in the end. As of Friday I have now started a new career direction in #MedComms - some thoughts on that in the posting 👇
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/09/03/a-new-direction-the-switch-to-medcomms/
New posting! It was an honour and an absolute pleasure talking with Bruno Lemaitre about the impact of #narcissism on #science.
Bruno discovered the role of the #Toll pathway in the #Drosophila immune response to fungal infections, but the #Nobel prize went to his postdoc boss, Jules Hoffmann.
Besides the interview, there's also a link for the FREE download of his book on the topic. 👇
I would really like to do a 2nd iteration (& regular series) of this posting concept👇.
I'm looking for #BIPOC/#BAME scientists to share their stories not of what they do, but of what inspired them to follow a career in #STEM. Maybe a teacher? A friend of the family? A TV programme?
Message me/reply if interested. #MySciMoment
New posting! This one is a #HowTo guide on how NOT to start a research group in #academia - in other words, all the things that I wish I'd done differently or that I wish I'd been more aware of when I started back in 2015. I hope that helps anyone else out there taking their first steps in this direction! (And any comments/additions very welcome). 👇
Total Internal Reflection (https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com) is a blog about the human side of science, written by Brooke Morriswood.
Postings include commentary, and how-to guides for young scientists to improve their soft skills.