I hope the year has started well for you all. I don’t know about you, but it feels like these first three months have absolutely flown by!
For previous monthly updates in this series, you can find them here: Beyond the PhD Series.
Work
Research fellow (postdoc) job
As a member of staff I get invited to all the student graduation ceremonies and I recently decided to finally go along to one for the first time.
It felt a bit weird being sat up on the stage with the other academics. The last time I was at a ceremony it was for my own PhD, so it was a lovely “full circle” moment to see colleagues and friends crossing the stage from the other side.
I also finally saw the release of a podcast I was invited to record with the university’s data science institute, the Jean Golding Institute JGI. We actually recorded this way back in September 2024, so it’s been a long time coming. A lot has changed in my work since then!
This was my first time being on a podcast and I’ll admit I was beginning to wonder if it would ever see the light of day!
I haven’t actually listened to it myself yet – you are more than welcome to, but please don’t feel the need to tell me if I sound terrible!
Papers
It’s been a productive quarter for my research.
We had three abstracts accepted for the EGU (European Geosciences Union) General Assembly 2026 in Vienna this May. I won’t be there in person, but a colleague will be presenting them on the team’s behalf:
- Interactive 3D Earth Models in Unity to Visualise TROPOMI Satellite Climate Data
- Towards a Fully Machine Learning–Driven Methane Emissions Inference Pipeline at Global Scale
- From regional to global emulation: characterising regional differences to increase transfer learning performance (First Author)
In other publication news, our journal paper on the AI greenhouse gas emissions inference system all of the above relate to, is now officially available online: Enabling fast greenhouse gas emissions inference from satellites with GATES: a Graph-Neural-Network Atmospheric Transport Emulation System.
On the healthcare side, we submitted a paper to the Human Factors journal and a preprint of the work is now available: Exploring the Requirements of Clinicians for Transparent and Trustworthy Decision Support Systems in Intensive Care: Semistructured Interview Study (Preprint) (First Author).
This quarter I’ve been busy supervising five undergraduate projects. They’re all wrapping up now, and we’re starting to think about publishing options for a few of them, including Josh’s one around AI for coral reefs:
Grants
Funding-wise, things are “in the works.”
I’m costed into a recently submitted Royal Society grant application led by a collaborator.
We are currently revising an internal £15k grant application focused on AI for healthcare, which was rejected but then we were invited to revise and resubmit. If successful, this would fund me for about one day per week for six months. It would be great to get back into some healthcare-oriented work after a heavy focus on environmental projects lately.
Interestingly, I decided not to apply for a prestigious and very well funded one-year fellowship I was eligible for and was tempted to go for. While it would have been a great “academic win”, I’ve realised that prioritising the spin-out company and my upcoming travel plans is more important to me right now than chasing what could potentially simply be seen as a nice badge.
Spin-out company
We’ve recently welcomed several new members to the team, and because of this growth, I’m planning to drop my university hours even further soon to dedicate more time to the business.
The Savvy Scientist website
New posts
Since the last post in this Beyond the PhD series, I’ve managed to get three new articles live and did a major rework of an old favourite:
- PhD Profiles: Harry, PhD Student in Quantum Engineering, University of Bristol
- Scope and Delimitations: Examples (and How to Get Them Right)
- PhD Salary UK: How Much Do PhD Students Get Paid vs Graduates? (reworked and reposted)
- Beyond the PhD: Reflecting on Six Years Since Finishing My PhD
Website traffic
There were 44,714 views over these past three months, a 16% drop compared to the previous quarter, despite the typical drop over the Christmas period:
Let’s see how it progresses throughout the year given that I’ve ramped up my posting frequency compared to last year.
I do still foresee potential decreases over time with the rise of AI summaries and use of LLMs. Thankfully I don’t rely upon traffic as a means to make any money so am not too worried – though of course want to ensure enough people are reaching the site to justify spending time maintaining it!
Time off
Baking
I don’t do as much baking these days. However whenever I do I remember how much I enjoy it and recently I’ve been back in the kitchen making English muffins for the first time. They certainly don’t look as perfect and regular as ones from the shop, but they were fun to make and tasted great so would consider them a success!
I’ve also made these five minute baguettes a few times and have been very happy with the results.
Media I’ve consumed
Books
I finished reading Empire of AI by Karen Hao. It’s well worth reading even if you don’t work in the field, as it gives a fascinating look at how the technology is being developed and shaping the world.
Apps
As mentioned in the last update, I’ve been using and enjoying the free habit-forming app Finch. Recently I hit a 400-day streak on it. In the app I’ve really been enjoying adding things I want to get better at doing regularly to my daily schedule. These include getting outside, doing exercise, and spending five minutes working on this website.
If you fancy connecting on the app you can click this link (not an affiliate link) or find me with this code: AT2WAMKJ6Z.
On the topic of apps, my streak on Duolingo is also still going strong, I’m closing in on 2000 days. Currently I’m enjoying learning chess on there.
Again, if you want to connect here is my account – feel free to message me to let me know you’re a reader of this website.
Exercise
For the past few years I’ve been fairly consistent with using the chin up bar and dip station I set up in my garage. This year I wanted to branch out a bit. This started with a small addition of some gymnastics rings so that I could start doing ring versions of pull-ups, dips, and press-ups. They’re certainly more tough than the more stable versions! Long term I’d like to get a squat rack to have more of a complete set of exercises I can do at home, but this isn’t on the cards quite yet.
In stereotypical new years resolution style, in January I restarted doing Couch to 5k with my partner. If you’re not familiar it is a programme which, as the name suggests, helps beginners to work up to running a 5k (well running for 30 minutes). We’re currently up to 28-minute jogs.
On a whim on January 1st I started a challenge of doing 50 press-ups and squats per day, mostly as a way to ensure I’m doing a bit of exercise every day. On an ideal day I’ve spread them across the working day to get me moving a bit more often, though more often than not I do them near the end of the day. I created a simple spreadsheet (think star chart) to keep track and so far I’ve not missed a day.
In January, I completed the 30 days of yoga challenge with Kassandra. Some sessions were yin yoga which involved holding positions for around 2 minutes which was quite challenging, both physically and mentally. I’ve since kept up a routine of at least 15 minutes of stretching and/or yoga every evening to wind down. I can highly recommend it, for both your mind and body.
I haven’t gone on one yet but recently discovered Audax cycling challenges and would like to give at least one of these a go soon.
Personal finances
Income
Day jobs
No changes (yet) compared to last quarter: I’ve still been working 70% (i.e., 3.5 days per week) as a research fellow at the university, which in March brought in £2328.45 after taxes. I’ll likely soon be dropping my hours in this job to focus on the spin-out company, which I’m not currently claiming a salary from.
Savings
Overall, my savings went up by £85 in three months. January and February were going well so I thought I was on track for the typical £3k-5k increase, but March was a reality check. My investments dropped by £5,253 in a single month, essentially wiping out the quarter’s gains. A stark reminder of the volatility of the markets!
Summary & plans
2026 so far, and a goals update
In the last post of this series I laid out some goals for 2026. Here is where we stand at the end of the first quarter:
| Goal | Progress |
| 1. Do more social stuff | I’m reasonably happy with progress so far. I’ve been going along to more stuff than before, and trying to set stricter boundaries on life outside of work. |
| 2. Dedicate serious time to The Savvy Scientist. | This one hasn’t gone so well. The website is still often quite far down my lists of priorities and ways that I enjoy spending my time. We’ve recently started implementing a new workflow in Notion to track progress with new posts which I hope will help at least with organisation. |
| 3. Progress some long term plans | In a roundabout way this has been progressing. I decided to not apply for what sounded like a very nice fellowship and have started putting together some travel plans. |
| 4. Go hiking | No progress to share, but it has been the worst quarter of the year for hiking weather. The weather is definitely improving. I’ll aim to go on at least one day hike by the next update. |
If you enjoyed this post be sure to take a look at previous updates in the Beyond the PhD Series.
Keen to be updated on new posts? Subscribe below!
