Well hello there! I took a much needed break from the blog and before I knew it a few weeks had turned into several months.
To ease back in I thought I’d give an update on what I’ve been up to over the past six months, including grant submissions, some summer adventures, a trip to Morocco and my rather belated PhD graduation. I’ll also be sharing a few of my plans for 2023.
I tested positive for covid just before Christmas and as I sit here writing this post on New Year’s Eve I’m still positive and cooped up at home. At least I have no excuses for not finally getting this post out!
For previous monthly updates see here: Beyond the PhD Series.
Academic work
Postdoc 1: University of Bath
Officially leaving
After over a year and a half, I left my first postdoc position in June.
Besides an honorary contract (to keep my email account) I have no official affiliation with the university any longer. However, since we’re trying to commercialise the tech I developed during the postdoc, the work hasn’t finished. Balancing this extra work alongside a separate full time job has at times been tough over the last six months.
Grants & forming a spin out company
Last post I mentioned that we’d applied for a business grant. We later found out that our first application was borderline and got rejected, however we had the opportunity to apply again using feedback from the initial assessors. I now have some news about this second application but I’m unable to share anything quite yet…
We also recently started on a business accelerator which includes mentoring from someone with actual business experience, as well as a few in-person training days.
Finally, we’ve been given a bit of funding to try and find someone who could, at least temporarily, become our CEO. Sadly because of the funding source all potential applicants have to be signed up to a specific database, meaning we may not end up with quite as diverse a range of applicants as I’d personally like to be pushing for. Currently it is out to tender, by the next update I can share the outcome.
Is any of this spin-out stuff of interest to you? Let me know. Currently I’m not sure if it is worth sharing more details of how it came about and what advice I’d have for others considering this route.
Papers
Finally there’s been progress with submitting a paper for all of this research. I’m now going to be sharing first authorship with the previous second author, which at this point I’m fine with, I just want it to progress.
After some frustrations it is good to be getting close to something. Yes we’re trying to form a spin-out company but it was slightly weighing on my mind that I didn’t really have any research outputs to show for all the work. In fact, even with commercialisation it is important that we have papers to demonstrate the tech!
Hopefully by the next post it’ll at least be submitted.
Postdoc 2: University of Bristol
I’m finally full time, yay! Having now been full time for a few months I can safely say that I am really enjoying this job.
My previous postdoc job was fully remote and I was in a small group where no one else was really doing similar things. Now I have actual colleagues, all working on AI, all sharing an office.
On top of that, because of the fancy fellowship that my boss has, we have a huge amount of freedom to do whatever type of research is of most interest to us. It is an absolute dream. As well as research, there are some other fun things I didn’t expect to get the opportunity to be a part of, such as a children’s book about AI which we’re in the early stages of creating. I’m having a blast.
Recently I went to Cambridge for a few days and met some other AI researchers. We’ve also recently had something accepted to a conference, so in February I should be off on a little international trip.
I’ve started supervising two undergrad projects which has been very rewarding. One is very related to my day-job work and the other is more environmental, which is what I’d like to get more into.
I’ve now submitted a few research grants, all around the idea of using AI to tie together both health and environmental factors.
The first application for around £12.5k got rejected, supposedly narrowly since they emailed and asked if I’d like for them to try and find other funding for me: yes please.
Just before Christmas I submitted a second proposal for £5k to an internal pump priming call. It is important to be careful with these smaller grants: they can be very competitive and not worth the work. We’ll see if this one pays off.
PhD Graduation
In October I finally had my PhD graduation after finishing in March 2020! I went back and saw my labmates and PhD supervisors for the first time since leaving just as covid was kicking off. It was weird being back!
Graduation ceremonies really aren’t my type of thing, but I’m glad I did it and my family seemed to enjoy it. I did though sadly get ill from the trip to London which lasted a few weeks.
Here is footage from the graduation if for some reason you want to pretend like you were there with me. Unapproved clapping is optional.
The Savvy Scientist website
New posts
Since the last Beyond the PhD post, I’ve published two new posts:
I’m pretty disappointed in myself that I’ve neglected the website so much recently. My intention is to post something new at least every three weeks but it simply hasn’t been happening. I’m keen to get back on top of this next year and publish on a regular basis. I’ve also been tempted to give video a try but no promises in that area!
I’m also hoping to relaunch the ‘PhD Profiles’ series as I’m really keen to be able to share more PhD stories from around the world.
Goals for 2023: Publish a post every three weeks and restart the PhD Profiles series. Start a YouTube channel?!
Website traffic
In October I migrated my website hosting and while this should hopefully have the benefit of faster loading times, it has resulted in a drastic reduction to the number of views showing in Google Analytics, oops!
I’m still trying to get to the bottom of this, but as a result it means that: over the six months since the last update post, there have been 45,583 views (-18.4% compared to previous six months) by 32,855 users (-17.5%). For 2022 as a whole there were 101,143 recorded page views, of which 87,923 came from organic traffic. Here’s hoping that in 2023 I can correct the course and help the website to reach a bigger audience again.
New computer
Recently I finally bought a new computer after using my last laptop for over 10 years. It was starting to become a pain to use, and was one extra barrier to me wanting to write regularly, so I’m very pleased to now being able to use one which works well.
Learning new skills
DIY
Over the last six months I’ve done a fair number of different DIY projects:
- Sanding down the stairs in our house. They needed re-finishing because we removed a stair lift which left loads of holes in the stairs and we took the opportunity to get rid of the nasty 1970s stain. There is still more work to be done but they’re looking much nicer.
- I made a small widget to hold my phone while I’m doing washing up so I can watch YouTube videos.
- Installed a skylight in our shed.
- Made a wooden reindeer from last year’s Christmas tree:
Chin-ups
I found that I was stagnating a bit in my quest to do more chin ups and was spending more and more time resting between sets.
Therefore I now often set a timer for 10 minutes and see how many I can get done in that time, mostly just in mini sets of 2 or 3. I cycle through sessions of 0, 5 and 10kg added weight and switch between chins and pull ups.
My routine has fallen apart over the last few months between being ill for a few weeks, going away on holiday and now having covid. Before this I was making good progress so I’m looking forward to getting started again in early 2023.
Goal by end of 2023: clean sets of 5 for both chin ups and pull ups with 20kg added.
Jogging
Some people from the office at my new postdoc job were training for a half marathon so I decided to start going on short jogs with them. I’m not really interested in running and get worried about injuring myself (blame it on my PhD) but it has been a nice social activity and a chance to explore Bristol a bit more.
Spanish
I’ve now passed 750 consecutive days of Duolingo, woo.
A PhD student I sit near in the Bristol office is Mexican and has agreed to let me try and speak Spanish with him every so often. So hopefully I’ll be able to put my learning into practice.
Time off
Hiking and wild camping
A colleague from my new job and I decided to start going on some hikes. There are large parts of the UK I’ve not really explored before so this seemed like a great opportunity. Our first was a ~50km trip from a train station at the north of Dartmoor to one at the south and it included two nights of wild camping.
It was great to spend time outdoors and so when my partner said a few weeks later that she wanted to go on a trip we decided to do a similar one but in reverse. By this point in September it had started to get pretty chilly at night. On our first night we camped next to a river in a valley and awoke to ice on the tent!
Suffice to say that I’m going to put my hiking adventures on hold until the Spring as I’m not keen on buying lots of specialised equipment for winter weather.
Adventure festivals
In August and September I went to two adventure festivals: meeting, listening to and watching films about people who’ve gone on adventures.
We heard about everything from people running across continents to novel ways to travel forty miles.
Trip to Morocco
In November my partner and I went on a three week trip to Morocco. We had a bit of a whirlwind trip, packing a lot into our time there. It felt like we’d been away for months!
We landed in Marrakech and started with a very busy 5 day circular trip to the desert. We then had a few days back in Marrakech to recover before catching a 9 hour coach (!) down to Tafraoute in the south. Finally before heading home we spent the last few days in Essaouira on the coast.
Highlights from the trip included; amazing rocky landscapes in Tafraoute, camel riding and experiencing the dunes in the desert, all of the fantastic culture and some delicious vegetable pastillas in Essaouira.
A reminder that I always offset the emissions of my travels generously with Gold Standard. The link isn’t sponsored but read my affiliate link policy here if you want. I recommend others consider doing the same, Gold Standard support some great projects and the cost is trivial compared to a holiday. Offsetting isn’t perfect but it’s better than inaction.
While I was away I came up with a new business idea: vegan food tours around places such as Bristol. It isn’t the most lucrative idea for actually making money, but I think they’d be popular. Part of the appeal was getting experience speaking to a wide variety of people, and it just sounds fun, but I don’t realistically have the time. If you want to run with the idea, go for it!
Food Growing
This year we’ve had our first framberries from the garden (a cross between strawberries and raspberries). They are very tasty! I’ve grown lots of off-shoots so I’m hoping to be able to spread the framberry joy with some of my friends and family next year.
We also grew a bit of a pepper army in the conservatory. We now have lots of frozen pepper to last us for the next few months.
Other highlights from the garden were growing our own sweetcorn and snack-size cucumbers, figs, one amazing victoria plum and lots of juicy blackberries.
Media I’ve consumed
Books
July
- Hunger by Knut Hamsun. I read this years ago and enjoyed it again the second time. Not too much happens but I find it interesting and good for building empathy which I think is especially important with the way things are going.
- Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution by Nick Lane. A good non-fiction book. I found it very interesting. How could reading about the start of complex lifeforms not be?! It is worth reading, though the copy I read was published in 2009 and I suspect progress has been made in almost all of the book’s topics. Therefore I’d recommend seeing if an updated copy exists.
August
- The Stationary Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. I really enjoyed this! Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres. It is such a nice way to learn about a country through engaging fiction. The book covers the political history of Iran over the past 70 years which seems particularly pertinent right now.
- The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East by Rebecca Lowe. I just so happened to read two books about Iran back to back! I listened to Rebecca talk about this journey at a festival recently so wanted to read the book. She had an amazing journey cycling from London to Tehran, filled with inspiring interactions with people in each country along the way. It makes me want to do an adventure like this of some kind. 🙂
September
I didn’t end up reading any books in September as I had lots of trips away at weekends going on adventures of my own.
October
- One Woman Walks Wales by Ursula Martin. This was a book I read on the back of listening to the author speak about their journey at an adventure festival, just like the second book in August. It was heartwarming to read about the support people gave her on her travels.
- Germinal by Émile Zola. A rare re-read for me. Still one of my favourites.
November
I read lots while away on holiday:
- The Flood by Émile Zola. This follows on with the theme of rereading Zola classics. I do enjoy short stories!
- The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Such a fun, wacky and imaginative story. Another reread which I would recommend.
- Memory Improvement: Memory Manipulation: How to Train Your Brain to Think Faster, Concentrate More, and Remember Anything by T. Whitmore. I’m sure this was interesting but somewhat ironically I can’t actually remember many of the details for memory improvement techniques, oops…
- This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay. I’ve worked alongside clinicians for years so am well aware of their dedication and compassion in such an overworked and underfunded system (in the UK at least) . Neverthess the political situation endangering patients and clinicians makes me furious.
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I usually read books over the course of at least a week but this one I read in just a few days since somewhere we were staying in Morocco had it in the room. I “enjoyed” reading it and would certainly recommend it. It is amazingly well written. It would be nice to think that such awful things wouldn’t happen again.
December
- The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ties. I decided to read this modern classic because of the spin out company I’m helping to start. However, I think there is a lot to be gained by everyone reading it, including researchers. There is a lot of carryover for academic work where academics are often effectively running startups.
For instance the “pivot or persevere” idea could be useful for research. I’ve seen long term big projects run by big-name professors where they’re opposed to pivoting because of sunken time/energy/money, which is a mistake. Worth reading.
- The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson. When I first learned that I had covid my partner popped to our local library and stocked up on some books. This is the first one I decided to tackle and it’s been a really insightful read. Definitely feel like I’ve learned a lot! Going forwards I’m keen to make more of our local library as I’ve pretty much exhausted my partner’s bookshelves.
2022 reading summary
In 2022 I read 23 books. Almost two per month. My highlights were:
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.
- The Stationary Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali.
- Immune by Philipp Dettmer (non-fiction). I enjoyed this so much I read it twice this year!
Videos
YouTube channels such as The Thought Emporium completely boggle my mind. I may have said the same a few posts ago but it is worth repeating because I find them amazing.
This guy basically has his own entire science lab and is able to do incredibly cool and sophisticated experiments.
Is it just me that finds it crazy exciting to me that we now live in an age where:
- We have platforms to provide a stage for niche, highly technical content creation like this
- Mechanisms exist for these people to make a living, mostly with things like Patreon
If you haven’t watched The Thought Emporium videos probably don’t start with that one, instead enjoy ones like this or this.
In July I also listened to this interview with Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind. I have a lot of respect for Demis. If nothing else, listen to the bit near the end which I’ve linked to, it’s about figuring out how to get the most from yourself.
Short story competition
In September I entered a short story competition which was organised by the University of Bristol but was open to everyone. Unsurprisingly I didn’t win, but it was fun to write and you have to be in it to win it: remember to make the most of opportunities!
Monthly finances
Income
Postdoc +£2302.29, + £600
I’ve gotten a few pay rises recently so by December my take home pay was £2302 per month.
The university also weirdly decided to give all of its full time staff a one-off £1000 payment. Supposedly something to do with COVID, but also anyone who was employed from early in 2022 was eligible so I’m not sure. Either way, since I was part time on the date they calculated eligibility, I got an unexpected extra £600.
Savings
Every month I take stock of my finances which includes adding up my savings. Earlier in the year I lost my old spreadsheet (despite having it backed up, I now have a different system) so don’t know exactly where I started off the year, but would estimate that I’ve probably got around £10,000 more in savings than at the start of the year.
Interest rates have started to rise so saving has started to pay off. It has now become common to get savings accounts linked to current accounts which pay in excess of 5% or more.
With inflation at 10% or more this is still bad news for savings, but at least they’re being less eroded. Let me know if you’re interested in hearing more about what I’m doing with my money.
Other
I’ve started a subscription (£7/month) to Novara Media. I’ve been subscribed to their YouTube channel for a while and broadly support them. I don’t actually ever really read news articles but do want to support a free and open press holding those in power to account.
2022 Reflections
I’m broadly happy with how this year went.
A few different holidays, lots of progress around the house, transitioning into a job that I’m really enjoying and the start of a spin out company.
However a few things I’ve not been happy with:
- Not outputting any research papers. Yes I’ve got other outputs like the spin out but it’s still not great for a researcher to not produce research papers. In December we’ve had something accepted for a conference but other than that I’ve not submitted anything to a journal. Now that I’m full time in Bristol I want to get some papers submitted. Hopefully some of the stuff from my old job will eventually see the light of day too.
- Too much work.
- Not relaxing. I always feel like there is something productive I could be getting on with, which is a problem. I want to spend smaller chunks of time on activities so that I make progress (such as posting on this website) yet also giving myself approval to do unproductive things simply because I enjoy them, like hiking.
2023 Plan
My expectation is that 2023 will be busy with the start of the spin out company I’m involved with. I know that I’m liable to becoming overwhelmed so here is my plan for 2023:
- Set boundaries and learn to say no. It is important to have a work-life balance.
- Put less pressure on myself to read so many books. Reading can be fun, but not when I’m relentlessly pushing myself to read two books per month. It also means I make less time for other things, like this website.
- Be more active with this website and related content. I want to work on regaining some of the traction I lost when I switched hosts.
- Make the most of the opportunities from my Bristol postdoc, I’m very lucky to have so much academic freedom and want to capitalise on it.
I hope that you’ve had a good 2022 and I wish you all the best for 2023.
Happy New Year!
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