It’s a new year, which means a chance to set goals for the coming year and reflect on how the last 12 months went.
In this post I’ll be covering what I got up to over autumn, more widely how things went in 2021 and what I’d like to do in 2022.
For previous posts in this series see the whole Beyond the PhD Series.
Academic work
Postdoc
Work has been more busy than normal and I’ve got a lot to update you on. The main news revolves around some grants:
Grants
Grant 1 – Rejected
We had a grant rejected, boo. Since starting my job in September 2020 we must have applied for about six different grants and I think this may actually have been the first one to get rejected. We didn’t get much feedback which is a bit annoying and doesn’t really help us to improve for future applications.
Grant 2 – Pending
I’m not sure I specifically mentioned it in the last update, but over the summer we submitted a pretty big grant which would pay my salary for several years. We recently heard that we got through the first stage (yay) and so over autumn have had to put together a much more comprehensive written application and prepare a presentation which is happening in a few weeks. I’ll share the outcome, and a few more details, in the next post in this series.
Grant 3 – Successful!
Last post I mentioned that I’d been awarded my first grant as PI and after some delays in getting paperwork sorted I got started on this work in November. The grant is worth around £14k.
The fun thing with this work is that it isn’t typical research. Instead I’ve been completing a course in drafting documentation to file medical device regulatory paperwork. I haven’t actually been focussing on research since October!
On the surface it sounds pretty dry but it’s nice learning new skills and the paperwork is a necessary step, since this is all basically the stuff you need before a medical product can be used in practice. It’s been fun doing something different to research, though I’ve still spent a bit of time here and there to keep the research project going.
Although we have more work to do for it, we actually paused grant 3 after only a few weeks because of…
Grant 4 – Successful!
The curveball grant!
In October I applied for an even more unusual opportunity than Grant 3. This one offered the chance to get guidance for commercialising an academic research idea. Only a few weeks after applying we found out that we’d been successful, yay! This grant is worth around £30k.
The focus is on exploring different markets, learning from potential customers and seeing if the research technology could become a viable product. The grant pays your salary for a few months and provides funds (£15k!) to go wherever you need to go to answer the aforementioned questions. People in my cohort have been off having conversations in everywhere from San Francisco to Siberia!
I’ll share details of this grant next update in case you want to apply for it yourself.
Update: Future-Jeff here, now that I’ve been through the programme I share some more details in the next Beyond the PhD post.
Since finding out we were successful it has been a bit of a whirlwind. By mid November I was working full time on this new grant, the next week I went to Harrogate then went straight from there to Chicago for a conference and to meet some potential industry partners.
A sidenote on my recent travels
Having started a new job working remotely from a new city since 2020, and well COVID, I’d been a bit of a recluse recently.
Going to Harrogate was the first time I’d been more than about 20 miles from my house since the start of the pandemic! Then I went straight from there to London to catch an international flight to Chicago! To be honest it was a bit of a shock, especially during a pandemic but good fun to get out and about.
I was pleased to have got it all done in somewhat of a lull in the virus but even so there were times I didn’t feel particularly comfortable. The event in Harrogate was for NHS staff and I must have been one of less than ten delegates out of 400+ attendees who was wearing a mask, it boggled my mind!
When I realised I had the chance to go abroad I decided that I wanted to make the most of the trip (and carbon footprint*!) by ensuring I had time to see some of the city. I didn’t want to be someone who didn’t see outside of the conference centre!
I had a great time in Chicago and would recommend visiting if you happen to have the chance. Chicago has great cycling infrastructure including an amazing bike path along miles and miles of waterfront, I was so impressed. Loads of great vegan restaurants too. Beyond that, I got to see a lot of the typical tourist hotspots. Plus, going just 4 weeks before Christmas everything was lovely and festive.
*In an effort to live more sustainably I generally try to avoid as much unnecessary air travel as possible. It’s not ideal, but when I do fly I choose to pay to offset emissions with Gold Standard. This isn’t sponsored, I just want people to know that these options exist. Again, it’s probably better to avoid the need to offset in the first place but it’s certainly better than not taking any positive action at all. 🙂
I’m now in the midst of preparing for some more conferences and events in February (mostly online) and almost every day has been full of meetings with people who work in a whole range of industries. It has been fun but pretty tiring!
I’ve got a busy few months ahead of me until this grant finishes in early March. After that, I’ll be picking up where I left off with Grant 3 until my contract finishes at the end of March. Since we don’t have any other funding in place that is when I’m expected to finish up at Bath. We still have a few potential streams of money (Grant 2 being one of them) but with nothing concrete I had to start looking at other jobs which brings us nicely on to…
My new postdoc(!)
Deciding to apply
In the last update I mentioned that I had applied for a new job at a different university. When I applied (August/September) my contract at Bath was due to finish in December so it was time to start thinking about moving on. Since then matters have become a little complicated!
Due to our success with the grants mentioned above my existing contract was extended twice, taking me to an end date of March this year. Three months of this were earmarked for the commercialisation programme which provides fantastic opportunities to learn new skills and potentially travel.
The outcome
I’m pleased to share that I was offered the new job but my contract extensions at Bath created a bit of a predicament. The contract for the new job is for a minimum of two years, is for a higher position with more freedom and comes with a slightly higher salary (£38,600). I didn’t want to turn it down but equally I ideally wanted to stay in my current role until the end of my funding. However March was a solid five months away and so it wouldn’t have been feasible to delay starting until then.
I pitched to both my current and future bosses about me leaving when my funding finishes in March but actually starting to do a small amount of work at the new job before then. This way my new boss would see my commitment whilst allowing me to finish things off in my current job.
Thankfully everyone agreed and so in December I started doing a small amount of work for the new team. Things are a bit hectic because I’m effectively working six days a week whilst also going through a pretty intensive commercialisation programme. I’ve decided to use up a bit of my annual leave for my main job so that most weeks in total I actually only work five days which helps with my sanity.
Hopefully this explains in part why I’ve not been posting much recently! I’m looking forward to sharing more about this new position in not too long.
2021 work summary
I feel happy with how things have gone in 2021. When I started my job back in September 2020 I hadn’t had much practical coding or machine learning experience so I learned loads throughout the last year. Along with having a paper ready and waiting to submit to a journal (more on that in a sec), we’ve been successful with lots of follow-on funding.
Initially my contract was for six months and we’ve extended this many times now. It’s been really nice to be able to stay on for longer and not only get more research done but also try to create more impact with making the tech usable (and useful) for clinicians and looking to commercialise it.
Furthermore, I applied for my second postdoc position. This is going to sound like a brag, and I don’t mean it to come across as such, but I was shocked when I got offered the one and only postdoc position I applied for in 2020 and the same thing happened in 2021.
I’m not sure how I ended up getting two out of two of the postdoc jobs I’ve applied for*. Luck? Or maybe I’m not pushing myself enough? I’m not sure, both are in new research areas where I feel challenged and I’ve got a lot to learn. I’m keen to write some posts helping people get their first postdoc / get a job in machine learning.
*Eagle-eyed readers may remember I applied for another research job (research assistant) in early 2021. I didn’t get this one, so I haven’t been offered all of the jobs I’ve applied for.
Publications
PhD Papers
There are no updates to share on papers from my PhD. In the last post I mentioned that I have a fifth and final paper from my PhD (“Paper E”) which I’m keen to get published, but I’ve not put the time in to get it drafted. I had an idea to try and work on this over Christmas but relaxing got in the way! Perhaps working on it little and often is the way to go? I’ll set myself the goal of putting in at least half a day’s work to the paper by the next post in this series. Seems realistic and do-able.
Action: spend half a day working on PhD Paper E by the next quarterly Beyond the PhD post.
Postdoc Papers
Likewise, I don’t have much to share this post about papers from my current postdoc. I’m still waiting on my boss and the university to decide about patenting the tech. Until a decision gets made we’re basically blocked from submitting anything to journals.
I have one paper sat ready and waiting to submit. Our clinical collaborators are getting a little angsty about not having it submitted yet and are worried about another team swooping in before us. It’s a bit frustrating when it’s sat in a folder and could be sent out immediately!
There is a follow on paper which I’m currently doing some experiments and data analysis for. It would be good to get this work wrapped up by the end of March, though sadly it may not get submitted until the prior paper is accepted so it could be a while away from seeing the light of day.
2021 papers summary
In 2021 I had one paper published, looking forwards 2022 it would be nice to see both the final paper from my PhD and the first paper from my postdoc accepted for publication. Let’s see what happens. 🙂
Outreach
In October an email went around the university asking if people wanted to help with a series of outreach and public engagement events. By now you probably know I’m keen to help guide students and so I chose to help with a programme called I’m a Scientist.
I was selected to take part in the Futures zone and over the course of a few weeks took part in a number of one hour sessions with classes of school children from different schools. It’s all text, no video, and you spend the time frantically replying to the students and answering all their questions about life as a scientist.
It would have been more engaging answering the questions on video, or in person, but I guess this format is easier and less of a safety issue. We were encouraged to include some lighthearted details in our profiles which the students could read. This meant that as well as science-y questions, I also ended up answering lots of questions like what is my cat called and how old is my tortoise?
If you get the opportunity to take part in this type of thing I thoroughly recommend it. Not only can it be really fun but you never know what impact you could have on the path these young people choose to take.
The Savvy Scientist website
New posts
Two new posts have been published since the last Beyond the PhD post:
- Thesis acknowledgements: Samples and how to write your own thesis or dissertation acknowledgements
- Characteristics of a Researcher
Despite my best intentions to keep posts relatively short, I always tend to find more and more subtopics and advice I want to include. Do feel free to let me know how you find the length of the posts.
Website traffic
Over the past three months there were 25,062 page views by 18,314 users, up 21% and 28% respectively compared to the previous three months (July – September). In total for 2021 there were 60,623 users and 87,954 views, up 72% and 83% respectively compared to 2020.
I’m pretty happy with the growth considering how little I posted in 2021. One of my goals for 2022 is to post more frequently since I have a big backlog of ideas for posts. Once my work settles down in March/April I’ll be posting more frequently I promise.
Time off
Languages
I’ve still kept my streak going on Duolingo and have now been learning languages on there for over 400 days in a row.
Earlier in 2021 I started learning Mandarin on top of Spanish but I’ve since let things slide with Mandarin. Partly because of the steep learning curve causing frustration but also because I actually have no plans to go to China. I figure since I’m doing this for fun I might as well actually keep it fun!
On average during 2021 I spent just over 12 minutes a day on Duolingo. Hardly a big commitment but learning languages on Duolingo for the whole of 2021 was certainly one of my favourite things and I’d recommend it to others who may be looking for:
- Something fun
- A potentially useful skill
- A nice but still somewhat productive break from work
If you want you can connect with me on Duolingo, my profile is here.
Sort-of-new pet
Last update I shared how we had fostered two cats and gave them back earlier than planned because they turned out to be a nuisance.
Well, my family used to have a cat which went missing about four years ago. Three years ago they moved house and assumed that sadly they would never see the cat again. Having now been missing for a few extra years since then we had all given up hope. Fast forward to October 2021 and my mum spotted this post on a local Facebook group:
You’ve probably realised by now that it was our family’s cat, turning up four years later!
The person who posted the picture had recently moved into their home and we suspect that the previous residents had been looking after her. The house was less than 100 metres from my family’s place!
Sadly my family were no longer in a position to look after her so asked if we would be willing to take her in. We agreed and after a trip to the vets she has now been enjoying living with us since mid October.
Generally she has been a lovely addition to the house. She is 15 years old (even more reason for us to have assumed the worst when she went missing!) so spends a good amount of time sleeping.
We do let her outside but there is one local cat she really doesn’t like, especially when he gets too close to the house:
Talking of animals, in the summer I got another pet from my family, their tortoise. With the colder weather we had to bring him inside but didn’t have anywhere for him to go. I was keen to improve my woodworking skills so had fun building a “tortoise table” for him. It includes some soil so that he can burrow down:
Exercise
In 2021 I tried to increase the number of pull ups and chin ups I could do in a row. By the summer I’d hit my goal of 12 solid pull up reps in a row and felt myself stagnating and remembered a technique where you train a small amount really often (several times a day) to get in more volume.
Therefore in November I decided to try and set myself the goal of doing 2000 pull ups in the month. 100 chin ups a day with some days off sounded like a decent increase in volume without being too unrealistic. I broke this down into 5 sets of 5 reps 4 times a day.
When November came to a close I had completed 1400 chin ups in the month. I was on track to hit the target until I went away to some conferences about a week before the end of the month. In my defence I did do a few sets of chinups in a hotel in Chicago to try and stay on track!
In December I decided to add in doing some pull ups and other high volume exercises and totalled:
- 475 chin ups
- 700 pull ups
- 725 dips
- 790 press ups
It’s been fun adding in some more volume, but I’m unsure if it has actually helped me in doing many more consecutive reps. For 2022 I’d also like to add in some more weighted pull ups and chin ups. Being able to hit a few clean reps with a 20kg plate would be nice at some point this coming year.
Home improvements
Radiator reflectors
I recently made and installed some radiator reflectors: strips of reflective material supposedly good for ensuring less heat gets lost through walls. I’m not convinced how much such a thin strip of material could help but figured there was no harm in adding them.
More loft insultation
In the last update I mentioned that I’d bought lots of loft insulation but still had the not-so-fun task of actually installing it in the loft to look forward to. At the start of October I plucked up the courage to get on with it. With summer gone I figured it would be a nice temperature in the loft but I chose a pretty sunny weekend and it was horribly warm up there. Needless to say it wasn’t a particularly fun job at all so I was pleased when it was all over!
Energy and costs
With energy prices rising sharply I’m pleased to have got it done so early in our home ownership. We locked in our energy rate for a year with our provider, Octopus, back in March which means we only have a few months left before being exposed to higher prices, and that’s before the April price cap rise!
At the moment we pay a direct debit of £99 per month, for gas and electricity for our three bed house. The most we’ve actually spent in a month so far in the coldest month is £80. January and February may well be colder but since March 2021 we’re in credit by about £520. Hopefully the home improvements to cut down on energy loss have helped!
Having a gas boiler doesn’t sit nicely with me. Long term I’m keen to install a heat pump, but if we went for a ground-source heat pump installing one is no joke and would mean digging up sections of the garden. I can see why my partner isn’t the least bit interested! Curiously heat pumps seem to be very common in other parts of Europe, I think installations in the UK are pretty much the lowest across all of Europe: just because we don’t often hear about them doesn’t mean they’re not effective! In the short term I’ve put my mind slightly to rest by doing two things:
- Making our home as energy efficient as is realistically feasible. More loft insulation, cleaning radiators, sealing gaps in window frames, radiator reflectors and draught excluders all come to mind.
- Choosing an energy tariff which is as green as possible. We’re on the Octopus Super Green Tariff: 100% renewably-produced electricity and offsetting 100% of the gas we use. As before, offsetting perhaps isn’t perfect but in my mind it’s a damn sight better than doing nothing. I love Octopus for all they’re doing for energy in the UK and recommend them to everyone. If you’re looking for a new energy provider and live in the UK I can’t think of anyone better: I have a referral code for new Octopus customers whereby we both get £50 each if you signup through my Octopus referral link. Please read my affiliate policy: I only recommend companies I believe in!
Meditation
I haven’t mentioned meditation for a while but in December I passed 600 consecutive days on Headspace. Some days I’ve only meditated for a few minutes, which is less than I’d ideally like, but I’m proud to have kept at it every day. If nothing else I’m pleased with myself for remembering to go on it before midnight every day for so long!
Meditation has been a great addition to my life and starting to meditate would make for a great 2022 goal for anyone who is interested.
Note: As of January Headspace sadly no longer seem to be offering any kind of free membership. However at the time of writing, Balance Meditation is currently offering a year’s free membership (usually £67.99) so I’ve switched to using that:
Food growing
With the colder weather food production has slowed down a lot but we’ve still been harvesting. Over autumn we harvested lots of peppers, potatoes and the usual greens which have been growing since we planted them in the spring. Plus this cute little butternut squash.
Check out the heart-shaped potato. We didn’t actually plant any potatoes (or squashes), they just started growing from the compost.
I’ve been so happy to start growing food at home during 2021. In previous years I’ve been a part of community gardens but I feel really fortunate now to have space at home to be able to grow things. As well as growing veggies from seed this past year we planted some fruit bushes and trees. I’m very excited to see how they get on in the coming year. I don’t expect any fruit from the trees just yet but you never know!
Media I’ve consumed
Books
October:
- A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Pretty decent. I like historical fiction books like this: they’re not always uplifting stories but almost always add something to my life, even if it is just an appreciation of how things either are or have been in the recent past.
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Writing this summary three months after reading this book, I can’t honestly remember what I thought of it: which probably means I don’t think it is worth reading!
November:
I can’t actually remember what I read in November! I know that I didn’t hit my target of reading two books in the month but am pretty sure I read one book, I just can’t remember what it was!
December:
- Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton. Philosophy is one of those things I kind of shunned when I was younger but every time I read any I find it pretty fascinating. I really enjoyed this book and would like to read more about philosophy in 2022.
- The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. For some reason I get embarrassed admitting that I enjoyed this book a lot!
2021 book summary
I set myself the goal of reading two books per month throughout 2021. Ideally I wanted them all to be fiction but a few non-fiction books slipped in. Aside from November I’m pleased to have hit the goal every other month of the year. One month I read three books so actually, on average it came out to two books per month. Out of the 24, 16 were fiction.
Here are all the books in one place. You can click on the image to see it bigger.
You can go back through the previous posts in this series to read what I thought of each book. If there was one book I’d recommend everyone to read it would be How Not to Die, and a runner up would be The Good Ancestor. Both are non-fiction books, I guess I’m still getting used to the idea of fiction books being a useful way to spend time?
Articles
- 34 Mistakes on the Way to 34 Years Old by Ryan Holiday. I don’t agree with all the points in this list but there are certainly some bits of wisdom. It doesn’t take long to read so I suggest taking a look.
- Andrew Ng’s weekly newsletter. I read these every week and suggest checking out the intro to this recent copy. Andrew very nicely describes why, when we want to achieve something, it is important to set goals along the journey not just for the final outcome. Well worth a read for everyone.
Monthly finances
Income
Postdoc(s)
From my main job at Bath, I receive £2021.93/month after income tax, national insurance, student loan repayments and private pension contributions.
On top of that, in December I started working one day per week for my new job. This means I’m temporarily bringing in an extra £464.09/month. I do owe some national insurance and student loan repayments on this, so I’m conscious I’ll need to give some of it back!
Savings
Investments
Apple
For a few months I’d been undecided if now was the right time to upgrade my very-nearly-ten-years-old laptop. I decided to wait a few months to see how the new MacBook Pros perform before buying one (spoiler, serendipitously I got given one for my new job!) and instead decided to put a portion of the money I’d have spent into buying a few shares (£400 worth) in Apple. I really don’t suggest buying shares in single companies as a primary strategy!
The amount I invested in November only makes up a small amount of the total I have invested: which is almost all in diversified index funds. But having regretted not investing in Apple a while ago I figured it wasn’t the worst thing to put a bit of the money I’d spend on a new laptop into some shares.
The platforms I use for the bulk of my investing (chiefly Charles Stanley Direct) have high fees for investing in individual companies. So I decided to use Trading212 which was easy to use and more importantly didn’t charge me £20 or more to buy my shares! If you want to try Trading212 you can use my affiliate link and both of us get a free share in something. Please do read my affiliate policy. At the time of writing my shares are worth £437 but the markets are looking particularly volatile. Even more reason to stay diversified with lots of holdings.
Electric car charging network
In December I invested £200 via Abundance into electric car charging network Iduna 2. I’ve had decent success with Abundance but always suggest being cautious investing in individual projects like this: don’t invest more than you’re willing to lose in any one project. The expected return rate is 8%, which is nice, but it actually makes me more happy being a part of a project which could help bring about a positive change in society. In this instance that means increasing the availability of electric car chargers and thereby making electric cars more enticing.
Personal wealth
Over the past three months I’ve added over £3600 to my savings. I’m not actually sure quite how much because I’m waiting on some expense claims for my recent work travels. These will probably bring me close to a total of £4000.
For 2021 as a whole I’ve added £15,750 (plus a bit for expense claims I’m waiting on) to my savings. This averages out to be just over £1300 per month.
A few thoughts:
- Besides the recent trip (which was all paid for by my job) I’ve not really gone and done anything this year. This has meant I’ve spent less than normal on holidays and general out and about stuff.
- When I say savings, I don’t mean what is in my bank account! One of the key ways to level up your savings is to make them work for you by investing in things and compound interest can do its magic. Scared of investing or need the money soon? At least make sure your money is sat in a bank account which offers interest: see the nice summary here for good UK bank accounts. I also have some savings sat in Premium Bonds which offer 1% interest.
- As of February 2021 I now own a home. Our mortgage is quite a bit cheaper than rent would be, which helps with saving. Having spent the previous 13 years renting I’m of course happy to not be lining someone else’s pocket with my rent money, but continue to feel frustrated for so many people who aren’t able to buy. Do check out the government’s Lifetime ISA scheme if you are hoping to own your own home as this can boost your savings by £1000 a year.
- My advice is to get in the habit of saving, no matter how small the amount. Showing the self control to leave any amount of money in your account and adding to it every month is a heck of a lot better than not building your savings at all. Over a period of years and decades small but regular savings can still add up.
- I’m very happy to have saved this amount, but have found saving to be addictive. This means at times I actually find myself too reluctant to actually want to spend money on things. I’d be happy in the coming year to save less money and spend it on some fun experiences.
Autumn Summary & Winter Plan
From mid-autumn onwards I’ve been more busy with work than I’d like to be. Both applying for this intensive commercialisation funding, and trying to find a way to juggle two positions, were my own doing so I can’t really complain. Even so, part of the reason why I behave as I do financially and want to explore such varied goals is to allow me time to work on different projects. I don’t have that time at the moment, and won’t for much of winter.
Christmas came as a very welcome break from work and I was actually very happy to not be productive for once!
Looking beyond winter, I’m looking forward to going back to a more balanced life, with less hours working a day job and more hours contributing in other ways (such as this website) and enjoying myself: perhaps even go on a holiday or two?
Whatever your goals are for 2022 I hope you have a great year. I find that tracking progress towards goals is a great way to make sure ideas don’t stay dreams. In case you missed the recommendation further up the page, give the intro to this newsletter a read. Andrew very nicely describes why, when we want to achieve something, it is important to set goals along the journey not just for the final outcome. I hope you have a great year!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this quarterly update in the Beyond a PhD series. Stay up to date by subscribing here:
Hello,
It’s always nice to read your blog.
Can’t wait to read more of them!
Kind regards,
Sam
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your support. I’ve just published a new Beyond the PhD series and hope to now have more time to publish posts.
All the best,
Jeff.