Total Internal Reflection @TIR_scienceblog@qoto.org

New posting! This one is about the number of unpaid hours in #academia, an insight that's come from the realisation of how much time I'm still committing despite now (currently) being unemployed. To what extent is academic research sustained by the massive expenditure of unpaid labour? How much unpaid overtime do you think you're clocking? Let's lift the lid...

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/06/29/pro-bono-a-riff-on-unpaid-labour-in-academia/

New posting! This one considers the outsize influence that 1st #authorships have an career progression in #academia, and argues that this is a system that needs to change (especially seeing as the prestige publication model is unlikely to be overturned any time soon).

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/06/18/changing-the-currency/

New posting! This one's about optics, but nothing to do with microscopy - instead it's asking whether we should perhaps view #scientists and not knowledge as the real (primary) product of #academic #research...and whether this provides a better rationalisation of the level of societal investment. Are research papers actually a by-product?

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/05/30/whats-the-by-product/

New posting! And another one dealing with me #LeavingAcademia as part of the #GreatResignation. This one has a slightly broader focus - why it's sometimes right to walk away, and that staying isn't always the best course of action. I've a feeling that #careers in #academia will struggle to stand up to scrutiny in this post-pandemic work environment. See what you think (as ever, comments always welcome!)

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/05/14/walk-away/

New posting! This is the latest in the series of postings examining my departure from #academia, and the way that taking part in the #GreatResignation has shaken me out of a torpor that took hold several years ago. #LeavingAcademia

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/04/30/goodbye-to-all-that/

New posting! This one is about how the #COVID19 #pandemic made me - like many caught up in the #GreatResignation - reconsider my career in #academia and target a better work/life balance, especially from a #parenting perspective. Hope you like it!

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/04/23/new-priorities-why-the-coronavirus-pandemic-led-to-me-quitting-academia/

New posting! Another more personal one, this time focusing on why although I'm #LeavingAcademia I have no regrets for staying as long as I did. And why perhaps all #academics should regularly ask themselves why they're staying, to be sure they're making positive #career choices.

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/04/16/no-regrets-a-salute-to-all-my-students/

New posting! And a very personal one.

In January I handed in my resignation, and will be leaving the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, the University of Würzburg, and the Physics of Parasitism network at the end of April.

I am #LeavingAcademia.

More discussion of this decision, the reasons for it, and what it means for TIR, in the posting below.

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/03/19/changing-lanes/

New posting! This is another #HowTo one, focused on writing the #Results sections of scientific #manuscripts (earlier postings in this series have focused on writing scientific reports as a whole, and more granular considerations of the writing of Figure legends and Materials & Methods sections).

As always, this represents "a" way and not "the" way, but I hope it's helpful. Comments/thoughts/feedback very welcome. 👍

http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/03/10/the-fruits-of-your-labour-a-short-guide-to-writing-results-sections/

New posting! This asks whether #science #careers in #academia have evolved from a hobby, to a #vocation, to a profession...and maybe now into a job (and how that's probably a good thing).

Funnily, when I first conceived of this posting (quite a way back) I thought it would be a negative one about how people don't care enough any more, but that has almost completely turned around - I now think it's a good thing if people are stepping back. A good #work/life_balance isn't something to whine about - we should be insisting on it.

Anyhows, read the posting and see what you think... ;-)

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/02/12/science-vocation-to-professionto-job/

New posting! This one is a look back at #2022, with a number of selected postings highlighted.

There's a summary of the continuing fallout from my research funding (and salary) being cut, the exhaustion of doing three jobs in parallel, and the probable depression caused by the invasion of Ukraine.

In addition, I've highlighted a few of the sillier postings from last year, as well as the inspiring interviews with #autism advocate Dr. Mariana De Niz, and the Algerian Women in Science group.

Lastly, I'd like to say how lovely it's been to join Mastodon this year. I'm still feeling my way into the medium and into the community, but a huge thanks to all of you who've been boosting, favouriting, and commenting on the content - fantastic interacting with you, and I hope there's a lot more to come in 2023! 😀

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/01/08/2022-tirs-year-in-review/

New posting! This one is ostensibly about the data integrity scandal that (#Stanford president & noted #neurobiologist) Marc Tessier-Levigne has found himself in, but it's also a riff about how scientific #oversight is only possible in small groups, and how the growth in size of research groups has created a caste of scientist-administrators who should perhaps recuse themselves from the #research activities of the groups they nominally lead. What do you think?

(And a salute as always to the tireless efforts of @ElisabethBik, data sleuth extraordinaire👏 )
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/12/18/short-sight-oversight-the-ballad-of-marc-tessier-lavigne/

#Movember2022 may have already ended, but it’s not too late to celebrate some top lip styling!

Here’s the 6th instalment of our series that takes an irreverent look at some great minds, and an appreciative look at the moustaches that went before them.

Represented this year: 🇩🇪🇰🇷🇬🇧🇵🇰🇺🇸🇮🇳🇯🇵🇫🇷🇳🇴🇧🇷🇭🇺 (spoiler: top grade goes to 🇳🇴)

Any suggestions on who should be featured next year?

http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/12/08/great-scientists-great-moustaches-vi-a-movember-posting/

New posting! A riff on the dream of community-led feedback on research findings, the #ReproducibilityCrisis, the problem of policing data integrity, and one possible alternative - that we all make an effort to praise and highlight good-quality work when we encounter it. Hope you like it.

https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/11/27/praise-censure-and-the-dream-of-open-science/

Just arrived here on Mastodon so here's an #introduction! Total Internal Reflection (TIR) is a #science #blog (http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com) but one that focuses on the human side of science instead of research.

Posts typically fall into two types - either commentary/opinion (sometimes silly, sometimes serious), or #HowTo guides aimed at improving young scientists' #SoftSkills.

I'll be highlighting new postings here, and would be delighted to get comments/feedback/input - the blog is all about starting a discussion rather than having the last word.