There truly is nothing like a well-planned and structured sabbatical for giving professors the intellectual and emotional space to reflect on and crystallize what their previous five to six years of long days and hard work has been most fundamentally about. This is why, in my view, where they still exist, the sabbatical should be […]
Science policy
Digital Divide Chronicles Part 3
This is the last leg of my four-month sabbatical trip to Asia and the southern hemisphere. I've met wonderful new colleagues, taught incredible students and learned a huge amount. I've been in India (2.75 months) with a side-trip to Bangladesh, Australia (3.5 weeks) with a side-trip to New Zealand. Now, I'm in Pakistan for […]
Hear about the latest UN Climate Change talks on January 4, 2018
In 2009, Annette Dubreuil and I obtained observer status from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This not only allowed members of the pan-university organized research unit, the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (2004-2015), but any and all York University members interested in climate change-related research, education and administration to attend […]
Growing International Ada Lovelace Day in Canada
In October 2017, professional communicator, and designer of #ThatOtherShirt, Elly Zupko, came to Toronto with her family, to give the 3rd International Ada Lovelace Day Lecture (see her great talk above). International Ada Lovelace Day is one of several initiatives, such as Soapbox Science, founded by women in the last 10 years, with the aim […]
In defence of sabbaticals
The 2017-18 Canadian academic school year has begun, and I kicked it off by creating a rather ruthless-sounding auto-reply. Paid sabbaticals, every 7 years, are a huge privilege that allow tenured professors to expand our research skills and knowledge. We're paid a reduced salary to "boldly go where no-one has gone before", or at least do some of […]
YorkU's COP22 delegation will debrief on 11 January 2017
Every November and December, the news fills with reports about the United Nations climate change talks. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, is one of two main international platforms where climate climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation are addressed, the other being the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Kyoto Protocol and […]
#WomenInSTEM Resources for the Symposium for Women Entering Ecology & Evolution Today (SWEEET)
Nearly 100 early career ecologists and evolutionary biologists, plus a helping of mid to late career folks, many of us with jet-lag, made it to a lecture hall in Memorial University's Education Building for SWEEET 2016's 09:00 start on Thursday July 7th 2016 . Participant ages ranged from a few months old to mid-70s! We were fortunate that the Canadian […]
SWEEET 2016: Symposium for Women Entering Ecology & Evolution Today
I've gotten way behind on my bi-monthly blog posts since mid-April. I'm down 5 posts, so my #SciComm goal while I'm at the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution, is to finish 5 draft posts, and get caught up. Yesterday, on my way to Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland, as is so often the case […]
UK Academics aren't supposed to work over 37 hours per week. Seriously
UPDATE: This is my 15 January 2016 post, which is finally going live on 7 February 2016. This Winter Term has been much more hectic that Fall Term 2015, because I'm teaching 2 four-credit biology courses: BIOL 2010.40 (Plant Biology) and BIOL 3290.40 (Plant Ecology). Each course has 3 lecture hours a week, and between 1 to 6x3 hour labs, […]
Now the hard work of restoring Canadian Science begins
On Monday 19th October, the highest number of eligible voters in Canada turned out since 1993, to hand the Liberal Party of Canada, led by Justin Trudeau, a majority government. The Green Party returned Elizabeth May to the House of Commons, while the NDP saw a huge drop in seats, and the Conservative Party of […]
