Look. I grew up in the 80s. When you say AI to me, I automatically think of Skynet and humanity’s desperate fight for survival. Younger me certainly didn’t expect older me to be actively thinking about how to use AI for the public good. If anything, younger me would be bitterly disappointed that older me …
I’ve only used the photo of our library cat up there as clickbait… Can you believe that last week marked three months since I started at Maynooth. I certainly can’t. Weirdly, it seems like I’ve been here for a lot longer. Which is exactly what one of the team said to me: “God. Only three …
I’ve survived my first month! Well done me. And crucially I am still in my honeymoon period, having smashed the honeymoon period of my previous job by some margin. That one lasted a mere 13 days. Not my fault, I might add. It’s always a bit overwhelming when you start a new job in a …
Read more “I refuse to put some Irish-based cliche here so you’re stuck with this…”
I currently work in an empty void. Not the usual emotional one but rather an actual physical one. With my move to Ireland just next week, everything in my office has been packed up and sent across the waters. And so now my workspace is empty and echoey. It’s also very white. It’s like I’ve …
It’s been a funny old month. With only a few weeks left at Teesside before I leave and start my exciting new job at Maynooth University, it quickly became time to start thinking about how I was going to shift my research over to Ireland. The thing about being in one place for so long, …
I like to think that I know something about innovating. After all, I used to work for Woolworths, a company which, when faced with the rapidly changing high street sector, quickly pivoted – oh no, hold on. Hmmm. Okay, so. After all, I used to work for Blockbusters, a company which, when faced with a …
Back in the day when I was a fresh-faced PhD student at Sheffield, I had written a paper on research ethics in forensic anthropology. It was an off-shoot of my PhD work, and I felt it was an important piece to write. It was my first paper. I nervously submitted it to Medicine, Science and …
Read more “President Elect of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences”
There’s a well-used trope in sitcoms, in which the protagonist manages to arrange an evening where they go on two dates at the same time! Hilarity and humiliation always ensue. Well, that was basically me last Friday. I had been asked by two sets of conference organisers if I’d give a Keynote talk. It’s always …
Last week I was over at our National Horizons Centre meeting with Dr Jen Vanderhoven and Prof Vikki Rand, our Director and our Bioscience Research Centre lead. We were talking around various topics, including what to focus our efforts on over the next year. I keep saying that the School of Health & Life Sciences …
Look. I don’t want to do this. You don’t want me to do this. But we have no choice. It’s the New Year, and as such I am compelled to write some sort of ‘year in review’ type reflective piece. Especially since the year in question is 2020 and has been so, well, you know… …