The Girlymicro blog posts on all kinds of topics, but blogs tend to fit into 6 main themes: leadership, academia/PhD tips, Healthcare Science, infection control and microbiology, bringing your whole self, and guest blogs/book reviews. To help you navigate, as there are now over 200 blogs available, posts have been clustered so that you can deep dive into topics that interest you. Many of these posts could however sit within multiple categories, but I’ve done my best to weave them together in a way that makes logical sense.
NB this page is updated periodically so you should still visit the recent blog page for the most recent posts. Also, if you’d be interested in writing a guest blog for Girlymicro, please contact me using the links or via social media
Leadership
We Lift by Raising Others: Why we should all get our nomination heads on
Reputation is Everything: Why reputation matters & how reputational attacks can create shock waves
Stepping Into Leadership: What becoming a senior leader actually means
The Power of Celebration: Why we should see celebration as essential and not a selfish act
A Thank You Shout Out to the Enablers: The people who help get things done but are often invisible
Holding the Line: What it feels like to be seen as the ‘Big Bad I Said NO!’
Learning to Take Your Place: The path to owning the space you find yourself in
Just One More Block: Sometimes, the Only Way is Through
You Spin Me Right Round Baby, Right Round: Getting through the day when it’s all a bit too much
I Keep Running Up That Hill: Why is it that the email mountain never gets any smaller?
Farewell 2022: Looking back and reflecting on how we can be our own most unreliable witness
Changing of the Guard: When your mentor leaves and you have very large shoes to fill
You Can’t Be Liked by Everyone: Embracing the inevitability of not being everyone’s cup of tea
You Can’t Please Everyone: Why I try to remember the rule of thirds
Wearing My Quitter Badge With Pride: Why FOMO can damage your health
If Not You Then Who? Why seizing the opportunities that come your way is so important
I’m Not Lucky, I’m a Badass: The importance of owning your success
Some Days All We Control Is Ourselves: How to respond when things don’t go to plan
Lets Talk About Wellness: Is it just me whose struggling to engage with wellness programmes?
The Fear of Next Steps: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Science Communication: Reflections from an Ivory Tower
Infection Control/Micro
An Uninvited Guest: Food Poisoning and Foodborne outbreaks, who are the villains of the piece?
Me and My Bathroom: Being an adult scientist has way more to do with bathrooms than I’d expected
World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2023: Thinking differently about ‘Super Wicked’ problems
Talking About the Taboos: My experience of informed consent and organ donation
IPC on Tour: Reflections from the big apple
Your Wish is My Demand: Here are some of my tips for sitting MRCPath in Micro/Viro
Happy but Struggling: Welcome to my third year of the SARS CoV2 pandemic
Delving Into Risk Assessment: Thoughts on how to develop tools that may guide your thinking
Environmental Matters: Why are environmental risk assessments so tricky?
FRCPath Notes: Some notes on organism identification and antimicrobials in case useful for others
When Heroes Fall: How the intersection between fandom and public health can change who you root for
50 Shades of Grey: The realities of working in Infection Prevention and Control
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?: My month spent with shingles and the Varicella Zoster virus
Laboratory Testing for SARS CoV2 (COVID-19): Is all testing the same and why should I care?
Just One More Sleep: Why ‘Freedom Day’ doesn’t feel like Christmas to those in infection prevention
What Is Antimicrobial Resistance and What Might It Mean for Me?
The Things I Love Best About Working in Infection Prevention and Control
All at Sea Again…We Are All in the Same Storm but are Existing in Very Different Boats
My Sunday Afternoon Rage – The Mask Goes Over the Nose, People!
Academia/Top tips for PhDs
PhD Top Tips: What do you need to think about when applying for a PhD?
Handling Criticism with Grace: Top tips for responding to reviewers’ comments
One Year On: What has making professor actually meant for my day to day
It’s All in the Preparation: My top ten tips to help prepare for your conference presentation
The PhD Edit: Links to some of the Girlymicro posts that may help PhD students
PhD Top Tips: Finding the inspiration to develop your research question
PhD Top Tips: Write a thesis they said, but not like this they said
PhD Top Tips: How to carry on when the experiment you’re doing just feels cursed
PhD Top Tips: So you’ve decided you want to start a PhD
Conference Season is Upon Us: My top tips for conference presentations
Pinching Myself Again: Switching out Dr for Professor
Surviving Your Viva: My top 10 tips for oral exams
More Than the Sum of Our Grades: Why academic success only tells part of the story
The Second Year Slump: understanding the ups and downs of doing a PhD
Conference Season Is Upon Us: Top tips for anyone who struggles with networking
A Trip Down Memory Lane: Top tips I’ve learnt over 20 years of event organising
Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was a Trainee: My top ten tips for making the most of your journey
Coming to Terms With Not Being Superwoman: My turbulent journey towards work life balance
It’s Time to Talk About the F Word… Not that F word. We need to Talk About Failure
Dealing with Writer’s Block: How I Write When it’s the Last Thing I Want to Do
I Asked Twitter for Interview Tips and These are Some of the Great Responses I Received!
It’s Recruitment Season in Healthcare Science and Academia: What have I learnt which might help
My Best Science Comes from a Cup of Tea: My top tip for Healthcare Science Week
Dreams in the Time of COVID-19: Science Meets Art
I Passed my PhD 6 Years Ago This Week: What Tips do I Have for Those Who Are in the Process?
Quality Control in Scientific Publishing: what is it actually like to review papers?
Writing and Publishing Scientific Papers – Is it as hard as it seems?
Bringing Your Whole Self
A DINK Household: Embracing a life with no kids, no guilt, only joy
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Try: Why seeking external validation will never be enough
An Unexpected Absence and Why It’s OK to Not Be OK
Would You Like That Explained in Words of One Syllable? Thriving in the world of a mansplainer
The Paths that Made Us: Learning to be grateful for the moments that made us who we are
Developing the Courage to Stand Tall: Time to ignore the fear and realise it’s OK to stand out
Welcome to 2023: Here’s a toast to being open to the unexpected in the 12 months ahead
Keeping Up With the Joneses: The dangers of benchmarking success against social media
The Power of Winning: Why I think the reason you are playing the game is as important as the outcome
Responding With Grace: The art of learning to take a complement
Daring to Be Imperfect: Celebrating the joys of imperfection
How Do We Stop, When the Person We Are Competing Against is Ourselves?
What I Did On My Holidays: Or the benefits of taking some away from it all
Hello Shame Spiral, My Old Friend: The warning signs that I need rest and space to reflect
What’s Your Get Psyched Mix? How I use Music to Support my Work
Talking About The Taboos: What It’s Like to Be Childless in Your 30s and 40s
Why I Think You Should Say Yes to New Experiences (and my foray into life drawing)
Celebrating Mothers Day by Talking About How My Mum Has Contributed to the World of Science
Musings for my Facebook Friends on SARS CoV2 Testing
The Awards Season is Almost Over – It’s not Quite the Oscars, but Still…
Why I Think It’s Important to Talk About Failure (and other stories of Imposter Syndrome)
Adventures in Science Communication – Stand-up comedy edition
Healthcare Science
The Oliver Surrounded by Estellas: Training as the person who doesn’t have a financial float
Am I a Writer Yet? Two years in, over 100 posts and finally finding my feet
Speaking Truth to Power: Learning the hard truth of when science and politics collide
Clarity is Key: The role of learning agreements in supporting learner success
Celebrating National Pathology Week: What is a Trust Lead Healthcare Scientist?
Celebrating National Pathology Week: What is a clinical microbiologist?
Celebrating National Pathology Week: What is a clinical academic?
Girlymicro’s 100th Post: What I’ve learnt in my 1st year as a consultant
Prioritising the Needs of the Many: Great communicators let the message do the talking
Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science Day: A view from the Girly Side
Girlymicro 2021: A Year in Review
Changing Our Pathways: What are T-Levels and why should I care about them?
Saturday Morning Zombies: how infection is portrayed in the genre
Happy Birthday Girlymicrobiologist Blog: One year on what I have learnt about writing a blog?
Healthcare Science Education 2021: Innovation in Education
Embarking on My 17th Year as a Healthcare Scientist: What have I learnt?
Guest Blogs/Book Reviews
Book Review: Bad Blood by John Carreyrou – talking science and the Theranos scandal
Guest Blog Joanna Ward by: A year in the life of an MBio student
Guest Blog by Phillipa Burns: Part 2, the view from the finish line
Guest Blog by Karen Barclay-Elliott: Life, the universe and surviving FRCPath part 1
Guest Blog: Claire and Sam take over the Environment Network
Guest Blog from Anthony De Souza: From lab to educator, finding a new direction
Guest Blog Dr Claire Walker: The Clinical Academic Path – From the Lab to the Lectern
Guest Blog by Katy Heaney: Pathology: hidden service or hiding? Lets stop being shy
Guest Blog from Sam Watkin: Starting a PhD in a Pandemic
Guest Book Review by Dr Julie Winnard: How Bad Are Bananas? by Mike Berners Lee
Guest Book Review by Dr Claire Walker: Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy
Guest Blog Dr Claire Walker: From academia to the bench, and back again. An immunologists journey
Guest Blog by Dr Claire Walker: My top three reasons for picking Immunology
Guest Book Review by John Dodd: The Science of Storytelling
Guest Book Review by Dr Claire Walker: Oryx and Crake by Margret Atwood
Guest Blog by Dr Steve Cross: The Science of Space
Book Review: What I Love About the Science in the Newsflesh Series by Mira Grant
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