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.