I really enjoyed this short piece from The Economist, reporting a study on how ancient agricultural choices (ploughing vs hoeing) are strongly predictive of percentages of women working outside of the home today. The type of evidence used strongly reminds me of some of Jared Diamond's historical and ecological detective work in Guns, Germs, and Steel. I am looking forward to Google Scholar-ing and reading the original study when I have a bit of time.
http://www.economist.com/node/18986073
Monday 25 July 2011
Saturday 23 July 2011
Up next: Engaging Researcher workshop
This Tuesday, I am going to a day-long researcher engagement workshop. It's free, and run by the Vitae organisation, which is committed to further professional/personal development for UK researchers. Their description of the workshop is as follows:
"Keen to engage the public with your research but not sure where to begin?
I have been looking forward to this all summer (really!) because I am very keen on helping to share my current project, ECHOES, with a wider audience. In theory, it is easier than ever before for those doing research to connect directly to the public and to other researchers. Unfortunately, the proliferation of media types means that it is daunting to choose your target audience and a channel by which to reach them, even if you have already 'packaged' what you want to say. Hopefully this workshop will make it all seem less scary, and give me some good ideas. Will report back after Tuesday.
"Keen to engage the public with your research but not sure where to begin?
An engaging researcher is just like any other researcher - with one important difference. Engaging researchers go out of their way to involve the public with their research. They open up opportunities for others to get involved, provide new perspectives on the value of their work, and stimulate people to be curious about the world of research - and why it matters.
This one day highly interactive workshop has been designed for researchers who are new to, or have some experience, with public engagement.
During the workshop, participants will:
- Explore how public engagement can benefit you, your research, research funders and the public with whom you engage
- Discover the huge range of activities you can use to engage the public with your research
- Investigate the needs of different publics, explore potential engagement barriers, and identify solutions for overcoming them
- Explore methods for evaluating the impact and success of public engagement activities.
- Put your knowledge and skills into action to design and plan a public engagement activity.
- Examine which public engagement activities complement your current skills and what will help you develop your skills further
- Learn how to take the next steps in finding public engagement contacts and opportunities
I have been looking forward to this all summer (really!) because I am very keen on helping to share my current project, ECHOES, with a wider audience. In theory, it is easier than ever before for those doing research to connect directly to the public and to other researchers. Unfortunately, the proliferation of media types means that it is daunting to choose your target audience and a channel by which to reach them, even if you have already 'packaged' what you want to say. Hopefully this workshop will make it all seem less scary, and give me some good ideas. Will report back after Tuesday.
Why start a research blog?
It’s good practice to keep a research journal, as an aide-memoire to later writing up of whatever you are doing now and to prevent too many good ideas and connections from disappearing into oblivion. I have plenty of notebooks, and there is a post-it note stuck to every flat surface in each of my various working habitats. I am starting this blog for an additional but equally important reason: the results of scientific research have enormous cumulative impact on the lives of everyday people, but there is relatively little understanding of where those results come from and who does the work.
By “where” I mean both established methods of collecting and testing knowledge, and the slow process of wrestling with a problem or building a potential solution over months or years. On a more basic level, there is also the question of why particular questions are being asked in the first place. In this outlet, I am planning to write about process. I personally think that in many cases it is as valuable or even more valuable than the neatly reportable end results. It’s the old case of teaching a man to fish versus taking him round to the chippie and buying him a fish supper.
I freely admit that I have some solid experience in a fairly narrow area, and some reasonable level of knowledge surrounding that. Career-wise, I am at the beginning. I am currently employed full-time as a researcher, and start my PhD in a little less than 6 months. I am inviting the blog-reading public along for the ride. Hopefully you can find out something interesting from me, and I can find out something interesting from you.
By “where” I mean both established methods of collecting and testing knowledge, and the slow process of wrestling with a problem or building a potential solution over months or years. On a more basic level, there is also the question of why particular questions are being asked in the first place. In this outlet, I am planning to write about process. I personally think that in many cases it is as valuable or even more valuable than the neatly reportable end results. It’s the old case of teaching a man to fish versus taking him round to the chippie and buying him a fish supper.
I freely admit that I have some solid experience in a fairly narrow area, and some reasonable level of knowledge surrounding that. Career-wise, I am at the beginning. I am currently employed full-time as a researcher, and start my PhD in a little less than 6 months. I am inviting the blog-reading public along for the ride. Hopefully you can find out something interesting from me, and I can find out something interesting from you.
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