The Man with No Time

I've been slacking a bit with my Lost Hemisphere Challenge, but I knew that was going to happen. The end of February and first two-thirds of March were always going to be pretty much a write off owing to the RLSS Speeds, conferences, and organising the BULSCA Champs eating up all of my free time for nearly a month. Then I came home and had to observe for a week! But this week I've been getting back into the swing of it, with some painting progress and my first games with Venethrax!

I recently signed up to be a part of the "Explore Your Universe" science outreach project. Outreach is something that I've been doing a reasonable amount of during my PhD, mostly in the form of the planetarium shows that I've been organising. But I've been considering outreach and science communication as a possible career alternative, and therefore looking for ways to broaden the outreach that I'm getting involved in. The 'Explore Your Universe' logo. I'm really looking forward to getting involved in this exciting project. (Credit: exploreyouruniverse.org) "Explore Your Universe"  is an interesting looking project from the UK Association of Science and Discovery Centres  that is basically a way to encourage research scientists to engage with the public in a friendly setting. The idea is that scientists, like me, sign up to the scheme and are assigned to a specific centre. There will be 'meet an expert' days at which...

Time for a 'music I'm listening to' update. Just like last time, it's prompted by the discovery that two of my favourite bands are releasing new albums. One of those releases is particularly surprising, given that I was under the impression that the band had broken up! I also want to give some more thoughts on a couple of the albums that I briefly reviewed last time around. (Credit: fanpop.com)

Whilst I was away on my epic tour of the UK, a notable event rather snuck up on me. This blog is now 1 year old! Woohoo, 1 year old! (Credit: community.webroot.com) When I started this blog, I was intending to just use it as a diary to note down things that I was getting up to. Then, as normally happens with things I get involved in, it snowballed a little and grew to become something a bit more than that. I started the film reviews and sports reviews, as well as competition reports for lifesaving events, and the originally planned diary style entries. I've really enjoyed it; after my previous experience with Livejournal, I wasn't sure I'd keep it going for long, but I've surprised myself. Partly it's the writing itself. I find it rather cathartic, and it helps me articulate me thoughts on things a little better sometimes. Partly also I think it's that I'm happy to note down posts I want to do, then write and post them when I have time rather t...

The final stop on my whirlwind, action-packed UK tour was the city of Bath. I love the place; it’s a beautiful city, and really nice just to wander around, as I discovered last Easter. This time however I wasn’t there to sight see, but to run the BULSCA Student Lifesaving Championships. Way back at the start of May last year I rashly stood for the role of Championships Coordinator on the BULSCA governing committee. I had no idea what I’d let myself in for to be honest; obviously I’d experienced the Championships several times as a competitor, and had a little experience of organising smaller competitions, but this was another level. I was apprehensive, and it turned out to be both easier and harder, less work and more work, than I was expecting.

After the discussion meeting that I blogged about yesterday, I got on a bus with lots of other scientists and went to Chicheley Hall for the associated satellite meeting. This was titled "Characterising exoplanets: the next decade", and was an invitation only event. There were however some bursaries available to allow early career researchers to attend, which covered the cost of room, board, and transport. Bursaries were supposedly awarded to researchers who were going to be at the forefront of exoplanet research over the coming decade, so I was a little surprised to get one; my supervisor obviously wrote an excellent letter of recommendation! In any case, there ended up being nine bursary students there. Some I'd met, and talked to, at the meeting in London, and they were all very friendly and approachable. We were all pretty excited to be there amongst some of the luminaries of the field, and looking forward to a bit more of an informal meeting, although we weren...

After my visit to the RLSS Speeds , the next stop on my whirlwind tour of the UK took me to London for a two day conference at the Royal Society. Titled "Characterising exoplanets: detection, formation, interiors, atmospheres and habitability", it promised to be an interesting look at some of the aspects of exoplanetary research that I'm not so in touch with or involved in. It was also the first conference that I'd attended since my visit to the SUPA Cormack Astronomy Meeting in November 2012. Ah, the Royal Society. Such a storied institution, and they've got impressive facilities too. (Credit: David Brown)