Trinity College Dublin Archives - Page 4 of 5

08/01/201408/01/2014

A Year at EcoEvo@TCD

The Christmas decorations have been banished for another year, stashes of left-over turkey are dwindling and the hollow echo of empty biscuit boxes tone the end of holiday indulgences. As the promise of ever-longer evenings beckons and the first, brave (or fool hardy) snowdrops contemplate their next move it’s that time for the inevitable “year in review”. Rather than a countdown of favourite scientific discoveries from the year, I thought I’d celebrate a year in the life of EcoEvo@TCD.

We dusted off our competitive spirits in January to open the year with a month of blog games. Apocalypse Meow trashed the competition to win the prize for most hits for a blog post in a single day thanks to a winning formula of cute cats, birds and reddit. The cuteness theme continued with insights into why we often experience mildly violent and destructive reactions to coping with cuteness.

We’re lucky in Dublin to receive annual visits from Brent Geese, the beautiful transatlantic migrants who enliven many a winter walk. The birds were the subject of some controversy in March with a somewhat unlikely foe. The researchers who follow the geese are no less interesting and were kind enough to take some of the EvoEvo@TCD team under their wing…

We’re a diverse bunch. Our research interests lend themselves to trips to beautiful natural history museums and the opportunity to poke through some museum treasures.On the lab and field work side, we work with bees, vultures, Indonesian birds, badgers and sometimes the animals even visit us (it’s not all just about computers…). Our School of Natural Sciences postgrad symposium in April showcased the diversity and quality of current research in our School.

Some of our more popular posts are advice pieces on how to survive and thrive in academia. From how to retain your sanity during long lab experiments to thesis writing, how to find a PhD and why you should consider coming to work with us in particular, EcoEvo@TCD is your one stop shop on how to survive as a student.

And we don’t just have tips for students. Most of the EcoEvo@TCD team are active on twitter and I think we would all agree that twitter is a great resource for academics of all levels with far more benefits than downsides. Armed with science networking tips, we set forth into a summer of conference season madness. Our ranks were divided as we attended different conferences, the main ones being INTECOL in London and ESEB in Lisbon.

Many of our advice and perspective pieces arose from our weekly NERD club meetings where we bashed out the details of our current projects, prepared for conferences and seminar presentations and benefited from academic survival tips and collaborated within group projects. All of which culminated in our all-important NERD club AGM.

We had multiple forays into the world of science communication and outreach. We gave guided tours of the Zoology department’s museum over the summer and recounted the exotic tales of some of our animal residents. The museum opened its doors to the public for free as part of Discover Research Night when we showcased some of our department’s current research. Media and blogosphere reactions to some of our publications were interesting to say the least. From dealing with creationist backlash to negotiating the media storm surrounding a paper that went viral, even when that media attention is sometimes off the mark, we’re a far more media savvy bunch than before.

This year is all set for more EcoEvo@TCD fun. In February we will have our postgrad symposium and we welcome a new Chair of Zoology to the department. Our Friday seminar series continues this term so expect more insights from our final-year undergraduates. There will be more articles arising from our NERD club discussions, conferences galore in the summer as well as research and fieldwork tales.

Happy New Year EcoEvo@TCD!

Author: Sive Finlay, sfinlay[at]tcd.ie, @SiveFinlay

Image Credit: www.joe.ie

06/12/201301/12/2013

Science X-Factor

What is consciousness? Why do we live? Why did the dinosaurs die out? Are tenrecs cannibals? Can we control our dreams? Do you like cake?!

These are just some of the burning questions which I had the pleasure and challenge of trying to answer while taking part in I’m a scientist, get me out of here! This online competition is science communication and outreach designed for the X-factor generation; school students submitted their science (or otherwise!) –related questions to panels of scientists divided across different zones of research. The students used the resulting answers to cast votes to keep their favourite scientists in the competition. In each round, the person with the fewest votes was eliminated (minus the tense lighting and music which normally accompanies these things) until there was a final winner left standing in each zone of the scientific jungle – and it didn’t even involve eating bugs!

I had some notion of what to expect from following Andrew Jackson’s participation last year but even still nothing prepared me for the all-encompassing addiction I would experience. I thoroughly enjoyed delving into the dusty recesses of my general scientific knowledge, honing my googling skills for some of the tougher questions (thank you Wikipedia!) and, most importantly, developing the fine art of interspersing scientific explanation with liberal sprinklings of smiley faces and emoticons. I was in one of the general science zones (as opposed to the themed space and nanotechnology zones) which left us open to an interesting and challenging array of questions; from what is quantum mechanics (oh how I wish I had more than Junior Cert physics!) to why do we grow more when we sleep ? The scientists taking part were equally diverse in their backgrounds and stages in their research career; my zone included a chemist, mathematician, pharmacologist and neuroscientist so it was very interesting to see how our specialities influenced our answers to some of the more open-ended questions.

One of my favourite parts of the event was taking part in live chats; half-hour sessions with school classes where we were open to anything that the students cared to throw our way. They were great fun and quite intensive; classes of around 30 students all submitting questions at the same time which meant that the chats were a bit like a cross between the ultimate quick-fire quiz round and an exercise in typing speed! I loved the challenge of coming up with on the spot answers to questions ranging from “Are we alone in the universe?” and “How did life begin?” to “What did you like about school?” Varied topics to say the least but my favourite live chat question was definitely “What’s the average trajectory of a swallow” to which I replied “an African swallow or one carrying coconuts?” (You never know when an eclectic knowledge of classic comedy and musicals might come in handy!)

The main aim of the event is to encourage students to take an interest in science, not necessarily with the view towards choosing a science-related career but more to spark their curiosity in the world around them. A big part of this is trying to show scientists as “normal people” – a debatable description at the best of times but hopefully at least it’s a step away from the lab-bound, crazy-haired, mad-scientist stereotype. The dawning realisation that scientists are real people too did produce some funny outcomes – imagine having a sibling who’s older than a scientist!

I hope that the students enjoyed taking part in the event but I know that it was definitely a hugely rewarding experience for me. Aside from writing some articles it was my first foray into the world of science communication and outreach and I’ve definitely been bitten by the bug. There were some really great, difficult questions which were tough but fun to try and answer. I also enjoyed the challenge of losing the jargon while still getting across the important scientific concepts and ideas. I was delighted to win my zone; I hope that my answers had something to do with it although I have a feeling that the combination of an exotic study species, a background in zoology and a cute puppy in my profile picture may have been advantageous in appealing to the teenage demographic…

The competition was a clean sweep for TCD scientists; Shane McGuinness won the Helium Zone, Sinead Cullen came top in the Nanotechnology Zone and Joseph Roche took the prize in the Space Zone. It’s certainly a good sign for the healthy interest of Trinity staff and students in communicating their research and science in general to a wide audience. This is the second season of the event in Ireland; a spinoff from the highly successful UK event and the newly added version for engineers. It’s a great event for scientists and students alike and I would highly recommend getting involved. When else do you get the excuse to contemplate anything from cosmic computer programming creators to some of the really important parts of life?

Author: Sive Finlay, sfinlay[at]tcd.ie, @SiveFinlay

02/12/201301/12/2013

Join us!

It’s that time of year again at EcoEvo@TCD where we start looking for people to apply for Irish Research Council fellowships to come and join us as postdocs or PhD students. These awards are open to anyone, regardless of nationality. Details can be found here(PhD funding) and here (postdoc funding).

But why would you want to join us? I can talk (type?) at length about this but maybe the best people to ask are the students and postdocs we already have working here. So here are their comments instead!

Thomas Guillerme @TGuillerme

Supervisor: Natalie Cooper (Zoology)

As a French student, starting a PhD in this department was made really easy by the people working here. Not only the academic work and projects are really exciting, but also the social part of the department makes work really easy going and fun.

Deirdre McClean @deirdremclean1

Supervisor: Ian Donohue (Zoology)

I can’t recommend the zoology department enough as a place to do a PhD! This is largely due to the great diversity of projects going on and the close relationships between staff and students. Collaboration is greatly encouraged and there is so much opportunity for this through NERD club, tea breaks and pub trips! We have a really nice mix of empirical and theoretical projects meaning that we get really different and interesting perspectives on our work, which I think has been great in my development as a scientist. Being in a small department has a lot of advantages and it means I always find so much support from my supervisor, other PhD students and other staff. Because of the friendly atmosphere and the variety of research groups and backgrounds, lunchtimes, tea breaks and pub visits provide great opportunities for getting input on your work, coming up with new ideas and having debates! There is also a lot of opportunity for teaching, outreach and collaborating with other groups/departments. The campus here is beautiful and right in the centre of town so it’s a really nice place to work and socialize too!

Shane Mc Guinness @S_Mc_G

Supervisor: Anna Davies (Geography)

Without the support, funding and independence provided by IRC funding, my amibitions to study endangered species conservation and human development in Africa would not have been realised. In addition, the increasing integration of the School of Natural Sciences makes this a truly interdisciplinary environment to work in.

Karen Loxton @LoxtonKaren

Supervisor: Celia Holland (Zoology)

From fantastic supervisors to technicians who seem able to solve any problem, the Zoology Dept. has been an amazing place to study for a PhD. Staff are generous with their time and expertise and the seminars and EcoEvo group are a great way to keep up to date with research outside your own. The diversity of projects within the department ensures that pub conversations are always an opportunity to learn something new and interesting.

Kevin Healy @healyke

Supervisor: Andrew Jackson (Zoology)

So far I have really enjoyed doing my PhD in the Zoology department, mostly this is due to the fact that we get the opportunity to work on loads of cool collaboration projects (right now I’m working on a T.rex paper due to a bet in the pub on who could have a dinosaur paper first) but also because there is a very relaxed social vibe to the department as well. I think my development as a scientist over the last two years is also really down to the amount of support from not just my supervisor but all the other members of staff, whether its from our NERD club meetings, going to conferences or just a lively debate at lunch. It also helps that the department is right in the middle of Dublin so there’s plenty of pubs to continue work after 5!

Sive Finlay @SiveFinlay

Supervisor: Natalie Cooper (Zoology)

The Zoology Department is a lovely home for a PhD student. There is a very relaxed, friendly atmosphere with plenty of opportunities to mix with and learn from staff, postdocs and fellow students. We’re a relatively small department but that is definitely to our advantage because you get to know people from diverse research backgrounds and you’re not lost in the anonymity of being yet another student in a large research lab. In the past few years there’s been increased collaboration and integration across the School of Natural Sciences through our NERD club meetings, postdoc talks, weekly seminars from invited speakers and via the EcoEvo blog, all of which are great for getting out of the bubble of being stuck in your own project. There are also plenty of opportunities to get involved in teaching, collaborative projects, fun outreach events and of course a healthy amount of socialising… What’s more, Trinity is a great university with a beautiful campus in the centre of the city – not a bad place to work!

Seán Kelly @seankelly999

Supervisors: Nicola Marples and Dave Kelly (Zoology)

The Zoology Department and the School of Natural Sciences are full of friendly and welcoming students and staff from a great variety of backgrounds. I never fail to find support or advice on my PhD project when it’s needed, whether from my supervisors, other staff or students. The diversity of expertise within the department is a real asset; one that is readily available to you. Integration within and between the various departments is ever increasing and collaboration is greatly encouraged. Lunchtime conversations often turn into lively debates and sometimes lead to new collaborative projects. There’s ample opportunity for teaching experience, group learning and social outreach, as well as socialising, of course.

Sarah Hearne @SarahVHearne

Supervisor: Ian Donohue (Zoology)

I was nervous moving to a new university to study a new field of biology, but I shouldn’t have been. The department is incredibly friendly and welcoming and there is a great spirit of collaboration. This isn’t a place to hide away for three years, it’s a place where discussions are had or ideas spawned over a pint in the pub or during a lunch break. People share their successes and commiserate over failures. Some great science is done as well!

Adam Kane @P1zPalu

Supervisor: Andrew Jackson (Zoology)

The Zoology department has a great group of scientists who are interested in each other’s research which makes for excellent collaborative opportunities. The best advertisement I can give for it is that I don’t dread getting out of bed on a Monday morning.

Katherine Webster

Supervisor: Ian Donohue (Zoology)

Being part of the dynamic and interactive EcoEvo group in the School of Natural Sciences has greatly enhanced my experience at Trinity as a postdoc. From the students to faculty, you gain valuable feedback into your own research while learning about new ideas that expand your own perspectives. Being in Dublin and walking the hallowed grounds of Trinity College certainly adds to the experience!

If you’re interested and have a member of staff with appropriate research interests in mind, please get in touch! Contacts and research profiles of staff can be found here. Note that, unfortunately, the application success rate is fairly low and the applications themselves take a bit of effort to fill in for both the applicant and the academic who supports the application. Because of this we won’t be able to support every person that contacts us. But we promise to be realistic about your chances of getting funding. This is judged on your CV, the project, and the fit of the project to the chosen supervisor. The call opens in November and the deadline is January.

Author: Natalie Cooper, ncooper[at]tcd.ie, @nhcooper123

Image: Wikimedia commons

27/11/201326/11/2013

Blog-tastic!

Andrew Jackson and I started a new module this year called “Research Comprehension”. The aim of the module is simple: to help students to develop the ability to understand and interpret research from a broad range of scientific areas, and then to develop opinions about this research and how it fits into the “big picture”. In our opinion, this is perhaps the most important thing an undergraduate can get out of their degree, because no matter what you do when you graduate, in most jobs you will be expected to read, understand and interpret data. Often this will be in a subject you are unfamiliar with, or use unfamiliar methods or study organisms. So being able to understand this information is key!

The module revolves around the Evolutionary Biology and Ecology seminar series in the School of Natural Sciences, so the topics are broad and cover whole organism biology, molecular biology, genetics, plants, and animals etc. Students attend the seminar on a Friday and read some papers sent on by the speaker. There is then a tutorial on a Monday with a member of staff who has interests in the area of the seminar. This gives everyone a chance to clear up any confusion and to discuss what they liked (and disliked) about the seminar. The continuous assessment for the module is in the form of the blog posts we will post here. Thus the module also aims to improve the students’ abilities to communicate all kinds of scientific research to a general audience, a skill that is currently in great demand.

From next Wednesday onwards we will select a few blog posts to put onto EcoEvo@TCD. These may not necessarily be the posts that get the best grades, but they’ve been chosen to reflect the diversity of angles the students have taken to communicate the parts of the seminar they found most interested. Overall we’ve been extremely impressed with the quality of their blog posts, so we hope you enjoy reading them!

Author: Natalie Cooper, ncooper[at]tcd.ie, @nhcooper123

Image Source: Jorge Cham, www.phdcomics.com

25/11/201315/11/2013

Kenya- A Summary through the vegetation

Campsite at Ol Pejeta, with Acacia xanthophloea in the background. — Campsite at Ol Pejeta, with *Acacia xanthophloea* in the background.

During the first week of November I travelled to Kenya to help out on the Tropical Field Ecology course, run by Ian Donahue in the Zoology Department. Final year students from Zoology, Environmental Sciences, and Plant Sciences attended, and I was the postgraduate representative from the Botany Department. While I should under no circumstances be considered a true Botanist-I study plant-animal interactions, and my botanical skills are mediocre at best- I did my best to learn about the amazing tropical flora of this region. I’m sure others will write about the trip in detail, but I thought I would summarize our experience using the dominant or interesting plants we saw in each place we travelled.

Day 1&2- Arrive in Nairobi: After spending the night in the United Kenya Club, we awoke to a 5 hour drive north to Laikipia County. Along the way the most striking plants were ornamental and known to a number of the students already- for example, colourful Bougainvillea was visible from quite a distance, as were the beautiful flowering Jacaranda trees- neither of course are native to the region.

Day 3-Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Laikipia County: We camped for the next two days in Ol Pejeta, and although we experienced quite a bit of rain, it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. The campsite was on the river and surrounded by Acacia xanthophloea, known to the locals as “Yellow fever acacia” for its medicinal properties. It has a yellow-green bark which makes it quite distinctive. On game drives we saw a lot of scrubby shrub species, none in flower. It was difficult to identify many of the species in the conservancy but we were told many of them belong to the genus Euclea. We also got our first glimpse of Solanum incanum but more on that later.

Solanum incanum at the Chimpanzee sanctuary in Ol Pejeta — *Solanum incanum* at the Chimpanzee sanctuary in Ol Pejeta

Day 4- Nakuru: Compared to Ol Pejeta the flowering flora here was a breeze to identify! Although a lot of it comprised invasive species, such as Lantana and Datura species, and of course the conspicuous Solanum incanum (also known as Sodom’s Apple). S. incanum gives the management at Nakuru serious trouble, growing uncontrolled in areas that are over grazed or disturbed by humans. In addition to the invasives we saw a lot of Leonotis mollissima and identified a lovely shrub called Tarchonanthus camphorates from its camphor scented leaves.

Day 5-11-Baringo County: And finally, after quite a lot of driving (during which we saw some impressive Euphorbia candelabra specimen), we arrived in Baringo County. Our first day here we went for a hike at Lake Bogoria, and spotted two species of interest. First, the indigenous Adenium obesum, or Desert Rose. Some of the students carried out their mini-project on the nectar secretion and flower visitation of this species, and found nectar volume varies with time of day. Second, we saw Salvadora persica, known as the “toothbrush tree.” Our local guide told us people chew the twigs to promote dental hygiene. Throughout the county, two new species of Acacia were also evident- Acacia tortilis (The Umbrella Thorn, accurately named after its shape) and Acacia mellifera. Women in the area highly value A. mellifera because the honeybees they keep apparently favour it for making particularly sweet honey. And finally, one cannot forget to mention the damaging invasive Prosopis juliflora. Native to Mexico and Central America, it was introduced to try and control soil erosion and now has spread throughout the county. It is difficult to remove as it can regenerate from the roots, and is not particularly useful as fuel, food for livestock or fencing.

Adenium obesum, Desert Rose at our campsite in Baringo, Robert’s Camp — *Adenium obesum*, Desert Rose at our campsite in Baringo, Robert’s Camp

This description is simply the most obvious vegetation we saw on the field course. The diversity of flora and fauna was overwhelming and I think the students, demonstrators, and staff alike were impressed and awed by the environments we were fortunate enough to experience. Kenya is truly an amazing place!

Author and Picture Credits;

Erin Jo Tiedeken, tiedekee[at]tcd.ie, @EJTiedeken

25/10/201321/10/2013

A Raptor-ous Reception

Thanks to the DU ZooSoc, TCD staff and students were treated to an exhibition from Dublin Falconry last week. Set against the busy backdrop of joggers and Pav-frequenters, six beautiful birds of prey were the stars of their own lunch time show. Here’s a few pictures from the event, just a flavour of the stunning animals which we were privileged to see, touch (and hear!) up close. And for the full effect, have a look at Keith McMahon’s beautiful video.

Whooo's a pretty boy then? Barn Owl — Whooo’s a pretty boy then?
Barn Owl

Mmm, tasty finger Scandinavian morph of a barn owl — Mmm, tasty finger

Ready to take off... Peregrine falcon — Ready to take off…
Peregrine falcon

"I feel like chicken tonight..." Peregrine falcon — “I feel like chicken tonight…”

Juvenile Common buzzard - "If he looks like he's coming towards you then duck!" — Juvenile Common buzzard – “If he looks like he’s coming towards you then duck!”

What paint brushes? Bengal eagle owl — What paint brushes?
Bengal eagle owl

Author: Sive Finlay, sfinlay[at]tcd.ie, @SiveFinlay

Photo credits: Thomas Guillerme, guillert[at]tcd.ie, @TGuillerme

21/10/201308/10/2013

Night in the Research Museum

On Friday the 27^th of September, as part of the Discover Research Night we opened the doors of the department to the public. We decided that since we have a museum full of some really cool stuff, we could use it to demonstrate some of the research in the department.

Since the research night had a mix of students, families and the generally curious we introduced each tour with some of the j-awesome teeth (I make no apologies for puns) to demonstrate the basics of ecology and evolution. So, with the help of Baleen, shark jaws, elephant molars and the jaw-dropping narwhal tusk we whetted the audience’s appetite to see just what evolution can do to modify a few teeth in order to match a particular ecology (okay I apologise for some of the puns).

We then used some of the more mobile museum specimens (although the pilot whale skull we brought up from the basement would argue against that) to set up a game of “guess that longevity” to help explain some up and coming NERD club research.

This worked really well and I think people became really engaged with the idea that there is so much variation in how long animals live, especially the sturgeon that can live over 150 years. It’s then an easy sell to explain the basis of our new paper which shows that species with lower external mortality (those that can avoid danger such as by flying) live longer than expected for their size (stay posted for more info on that soon!).

I'm really just a fuzzy bird when it comes to my age — I’m really just a fuzzy bird when it comes to my age

We finished up the tour by displaying some of our individual research such as some upcoming T.rex modelling (with added Jurassic Park music), a possible new bird species (and some spot the difference) and some obligatory lasers (one guy even came to ask if he could use the scanner for his golf clubs!?). It was also a great excuse to roll out those conference posters that are often treated like an Irish convertible that only gets a spin out once a summer!

In the context of trying to engage the public with research I found it to be in complete contrast to my previous experiences as although we managed to get nearly 200 people into the department we really got the chance to explain face to face why what we do is interesting and cool (an easy task when holding a stuffed platypus) but then also explain some of the possible applications that might not be obvious (such as medical or ecological). It also allowed us to talk about the things that are interesting to the public themselves instead of continually telling them what they should be interested in.

All and all the night went great and I think everyone, including some of the specimens enjoyed the night!

Author and Photo Credits:

Kevin Healy: healyke[at]tcd.ie, @healyke

27/09/201317/09/2013

Dear students (part 2)

Part 2 of our lecturers’ letter of advice to their students …

Dear students,

We really enjoy teaching you but there are some things we wish you knew…

6. We don’t want you to fail your exams

Every year people come out of the exams complaining (or sometimes weeping!) about how they’ve definitely failed and the lecturer was clearly being mean on purpose so everyone would fail. This upsets us because it shows that you don’t trust us to be decent human beings and/or professional educators. Generally speaking, everyone does fine on the exams we set. If, for some reason (and its rare) everyone does obviously badly on an exam then it may be the case that something was misunderstood or an inappropriate question was set. When this happens we usually re-mark the exam or change the marking scheme appropriately to make it fair, and so that the number of people who pass is in line with the other exams.

7. Getting 59% overall for the year doesn’t mean you were 1 mark away from a 2.i

Your final year mark is made up of all the coursework you’ve done, plus your exams, and comes out of a total of about 1000 marks. So 1% is not equal to 1 mark. For example, if 50% of your course was continuous assessment and you got 60%, you still need 60% in your exams to get 60% overall. Often a single percent overall means finding 10% more from an exam, the equivalent of changing your grade for an essay from a 2.i to a 1^st. Sometimes it is possible to find an extra mark or two but 10% suggests that the person marking the exam made a serious error, which is very unlikely. At Trinity College Dublin everything in the final year is marked, then checked by at least two other people, one of which is an external examiner who keeps standards level with those across Europe. The project is independently marked by at least two people, as well as being checked by the examiner.

8. Collective success might be more akin to collective mediocrity

Studying as part of a group can be a fun way to revise for exams, and provide a challenging environment where you can bounce ideas off each other and learn. However, there is a potential downside. Exam study groups can often produce generic essays that have been carefully prepared by the collective. In the worst case scenario, this can drag everyone towards the mean. Furthermore, unoriginal and repetitive answers can bore the pants out of the person marking them.

9. Question spotting is a terrible idea

People have somehow got the idea that they can get away with only studying one or two topics before an exam because the same topics come up year after year. Whilst this is true, precisely the same questions do NOT appear each year, and at some point we may stop using any given topic. This question-spotting leads to people learning the “answer” to a previous year’s question and trying to apply it to the paper in front of them. Not answering the question before you in the exam, but instead regurgitating and shoe-horning in a prepared answer will not gain you marks. By all means be strategic in your revision but make sure you cover the whole course, but even more importantly, make sure you answer the questions you are given. Never rely on topics remaining the same from year to year – course content changes, as do lecturers, so you may find yourself in a situation where none of your topics come up if you only revise some of them. If that happens it’s no-one’s fault but your own!

10. Education is a privilege. Enjoy it!

Believe it or not, we hate exams as much as you do! However, we need to assess students somehow; we can’t just give everyone a degree. If we did, what would be the point in studying? Because of this, exams remain part of being a student. Notice that we say “a part” of being a student. As a student you should be here to learn as much as you possibly can from some of the leading academics in your subject. You should not be trying to learn as little as possible so you can pass an exam. Yet the question we get asked the most is “what do I need to know for the exam?”. This is infuriating because it implies that only knowledge needed to pass the exam is valuable, when learning for the sake of learning is one of the most wonderful experiences in life. In addition, many of the things you’ll learn as a student, like presentation skills, teamwork, communication skills, time management etc. are not worth any marks in exams. But these are the skills employers are looking for. Don’t waste the opportunity to improve your career prospects and general knowledge of science just because it doesn’t count towards your final grade. Education is about so much more than that.

Yours sincerely,

Natalie Cooper & Andrew Jackson (Assistant Professors at TCD)

@nhcooper123 @yodacomplex

ncooper[at]tcd.ie, a.jackson[at]tcd.ie

Image source:

readingforall101.blogspot.ie

23/09/201317/09/2013

Dear students (part 1)

In the first of a two part post, Zoology lecturers address their students…

This week marks the beginning of another academic year at Trinity College Dublin. We’re sure staff and students alike are greeting this news with a mingled sense of excitement, anticipation and dread (!).

Near the end of last term, some of us were discussing things we wish undergraduate students understood about lecturers and the academic process, so we thought it might be fun to post this here. If any students would like to reply to this please do, we welcome your input! But please keep it polite and respectful. Most of this is aimed at the Sophister years (3^rd and 4^th year students) but most is applicable whatever stage you’re at and wherever you are studying your degree.

Dear students,

We really enjoy teaching you but there are some things we wish you knew…

1.We have feelings too!

To steal from Shakespeare: “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?” We’re not suggesting that you attack us with pointy objects or start tickling us, but the point is that lecturers are human beings, not robots [Though I’d love it if I had a robot to do my lectures sometimes, it’d be awesome if it would also clean my house and the Zoology microwave!]. It sometimes feels like undergraduates forget this as soon as we stand up and begin lecturing. For example, we’d appreciate it if students didn’t sit there and talk through lectures. If people are talking it makes it hard for everyone else to hear, and it’s extremely distracting (yes we can see you wherever you sit even in the huge lecture halls). It’s also really rude. Imagine how you would feel if someone did the same thing to you. We understand that some people might not be interested in the topic or have something urgent to discuss with a friend, but if that’s the case please don’t do it in the lecture.

We also work really hard to make our lectures interesting and informative. There is nothing more soul crushing than a student saying how rubbish your lectures are after you’ve spent days writing them, adding interesting anecdotes and trying to deliver them with enthusiasm. Of course we know not everyone is interested in the same things, but try to make negative feedback constructive so we can improve things for next year and don’t just get depressed about it!

2. Learning is a two-way process

Learning is a two-way process, so you have to be involved, especially if you want to shape the content of the lecture course. Generally, we are amenable to pausing and running through material again, in different ways if you don’t understand something. We can only do this if you are there, and if you ask a question. Complaining in feedback that the lecture notes or slides weren’t detailed enough implies you probably weren’t there in the first place to fill them in. Of course it’s hard to ask questions in large lectures, but feel free to ask us at the end of a lecture, during a practical or by email. Some of us are even amenable to being asked questions via Twitter! During the lectures/tutorials/practicals you have our almost undivided attention: this is the time to ask all your questions, not the week before exams when you are panicking and we are busy doing our other jobs (see 3 below).

3.Teaching is only part of our job

Our jobs as academics are a lot more than teaching. We also supervise Masters and PhD students, apply for research funding, perform research, write papers, review other people’s papers before they are published, go to scientific conferences and present our work, teach other scientists at workshops and run large parts of the University through administrative roles we undertake. And teaching isn’t just writing lectures and delivering them, we also have to write exams, mark exams and coursework, organize timetables and practical materials, instruct the demonstrators, and put things onto Blackboard etc. This (and see also point 4 below) is why we can’t always meet you when you’d like us to, or reschedule lectures/practicals to suit you, or necessarily offer ad hoc tutorials just before the exams. We’re generally juggling a million different tasks so although the change may seem minor to you, it could throw out our quite rigid schedules.

4.We have lives outside the university.

Not only are we very busy when we are at work, but we all have lives outside the university. We have kids who need to be picked up from school, put to bed, and looked after when they’re sick, we have partners who would like to spend time with us, we have friends, families, pets, hobbies and TV shows we like to watch in our pajamas. So please don’t get cross when we can’t give you feedback on your essay as quickly as you’d like (and don’t look quite so horrified on the occasional evenings that you bump into us in the pub!). Please note this means that if you hand something in on a Friday night, it is unlikely to have been marked by the Monday morning, as we also (occasionally) don’t work all weekend. Like everybody else, we officially work only in the working week.

5. We do not get the whole summer off from work

This follows on from point 2. Because a lot of our work actually has nothing to do with undergraduate student teaching, lecturers do not get the whole summer off work. This summer I have taken two weeks off and have worked a normal 8 hours a day schedule, rather than staying until late most nights like I do in term-time. I have also presented my work at two conferences, attended another two conferences with our PhD students, written two scientific papers, worked on two other papers, supervised a Masters thesis project, prepared work for my new intern, supervised my PhD students, and run three different workshops in Ireland and the UK. I have also been preparing my teaching for the term!

Authors

Natalie Cooper and Andrew Jackson (Assistant Professors at TCD) ncooper[at]tcd.ie, a.jackson[at]tcd.ie

@nhcooper123 @yodacomplex

Image source:
readingforall101.blogspot.ie

16/09/201316/09/2013

NERD Club AGM

And we’re back!

The tea room is fuller, society stands are being dusted down to create the Front Square Fresher’s week gauntlet and venturing out of the office during the lecture change-over times will soon be inadvisable unless you have a particular affiliation for crowd control. Trinity is gearing up for the new semester and our blog has returned from its summer hiatus.

We marked the end of the summer with NERD club’s first annual AGM. Theoretically an acronym for our networks in ecology/evolution research discussion group but practically far more appropriate if you take the true sense of the word, NERD club is our weekly meeting for people working on any aspect of ecology or evolution. It’s a diverse collection of people and certainly one of my favourite times of the week as, fuelled by the necessary provision of biscuits, we discuss each other’s research or wider topics relating to academic research and scientific careers. It is also the origination of many of our previous and, I’m sure, future blog posts.

The AGM rounded off a very successful year for NERD club’s members. Between us we attended and presented our research at 19 different conferences or workshops, received 4 new grants and produced 28 new papers, one of which was a collaborative effort arising from a NERD club discussion. We also contributed to an eclectic mix of science communication and outreach projects including radio and television interviews, blog and magazine articles and guided tours of the Zoology museum. We came up with plenty of new topics for discussion and teaching sessions along with ideas for future collaborations so I’m sure the year ahead will be equally if not more interesting.

Our NERD club awards were a fitting conclusion to a great year. Here’s the honour roll!

1) Best NERD club session of the year: Erin Jo for her research on toxic nectar and bees.