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The Black Hole

BY BETH | SEP 26 2010

This is the final entry in the So you want to be a “____” when you grow up series for the year. As Dave mentioned, this series has gotten a lot of positive feedback and we plan to bring it back again next summer, so if you have suggestions for career ideas you would like […]

BY DAVID KENT | SEP 20 2010

This is the penultimate entry in our So you want to be a “____” when you grow up series and we have received some really good feedback on it – one final one to come from Beth later this week.  We’ll definitely consider a similar series for the slow web months of Summer 2011, but […]

BY BETH | SEP 13 2010

I had two experiences this week that got me thinking about the potential benefits of scientists working with designers. First was when I received the proofs of an evaluation report that I’d written – since the report was to be given out to the community partners with whom the program works, it was sent to […]

BY DAVID KENT | AUG 30 2010

I have written before about how scientific information gets (poorly) communicated to the Government in entries about the routes of information acquisition and about getting scientists to understand how policy works.  In my mind, one of the best ways of improving things is to have members of the public service who have a good baseline […]

BY BETH | AUG 23 2010

I had to create a presentation for a meeting at work and decided to try out Prezi, a new online presentation software that helps you to think about giving presentations differently than you would with PowerPoint. Unlike PowerPoint, which is a deck of slides presented in a linear way, Prezi is a giant canvas on […]

BY DAVID KENT | AUG 16 2010

QUICK HITS: 1.  If you were interested in previous posts of mine about how well science information is distributed and received in the UK, then you might also want to have a gander at a recent post that I made on the Stem Cell Network Blog entitled Science, Science, everywhere… 2.  The Council of Canadian […]

BY BETH | AUG 08 2010

My first introduction to the world of project management as a field was in my previous job, when I took an intro to project management workshop offered.  After taking the workshop, I really wished I’d learn about this field during my PhD instead of after it, because the concepts and methods of project management are […]

BY DAVID KENT | AUG 01 2010

If you’re in graduate school or beyond, you have a wealth of experience to draw upon when it comes to assessing quality of educators.  Some were engaging, inspiring, and really understood how to teach, others were boring, incomprehensible or simply not qualified, while still others were clearly unimpressed that they had not yet retired. Along the […]

BY BETH | JUL 22 2010

Since Dave has started us off on the “So you want to be a blank when you grow up” series, I’m going to take the lowest of the low hanging fruit and tell you all about what I’ve learned since becoming a program evaluator!  But first I’d like to mention two things: If there is […]

BY DAVID KENT | JUL 15 2010

QUICK HIT: Exciting news from the fight for global access to medicines and health technology development – a new organization called Mind the Health Gap is working to bring researchers, developers, and advocates together to tackle the problems of technology development, effective delivery, and funding.  No small goal for sure, but an exciting workshop is […]

BY BETH | JUL 08 2010

A friend of mine just sent me a link to this news story and it’s gotten me quite livid: Tories scrap mandatory long-form census StatsCan says quality of data will suffer Every five years, Canada conducts a census, with the next one scheduled for 2011.  In the past, every household received the short census form, […]

BY DAVID KENT | JUL 04 2010

Over the first six months of this site’s existence, a lot of virtual ink has been dedicated to highlighting the major concerns about the way we train scientists and how scientific information is communicated to the public and government. The next six months will continue to present this type of information, but will also focus […]

BY DAVID KENT | JUN 30 2010

Quick Hit: I now write for the Stem Cell Network’s blog and have published two entries for them. The first is on stem cell resources and organizations in the UK, and the second is of broader interest regarding a New Scientist article that did a network analysis of peer reviewed publication with some rather severe […]

BY BETH | JUN 22 2010

I was at the recent Canadian Evaluation Society conference where they revealed the process for obtaining their new “credentialed evaluator (C.E.)” designation. In order to become a “C.E.,” one must demonstrate through education and experience that they are qualified as an evaluator.  Since there are few formal educational programs in “evaluation” ((Claremont Graduate University in […]

BY DAVID KENT | JUN 16 2010

Yesterday I attended a panel discussion at Cambridge run by a group called the Centre for Science and Policy. It is part of a series of events designed to engage and unite those at the University who have an interest in the role of scientific information in government policy. This particular session was entitled Working […]

BY BETH | JUN 09 2010

One of the ideas I’ve been tossing around for a blog posting here is: Why do scientists blog?  I mean, I’ve been a personal blogger for nearly five years and have been blogging here at The Black Hole since October, surely I have some insights on why people do this, right? Yet I’d been struggling […]

BY BETH | MAY 24 2010

“A science researcher at Harvard now earns an annual salary that is only 1/50th the price of a family-sized house in Cambridge, a fact that may not be lost on an intelligent female Harvard undergraduate choosing a career.” (Source) The announcement of the new Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) – 19 scientists granted $10 million […]

BY DAVID KENT | MAY 23 2010

While I was completing my doctorate, I was in a “big” lab. At its peak, the lab reached about 25 people (~8 each of graduate students and post doctoral fellows plus technicians and research students). Competing for time and attention with the boss was a definite reality – and my particular supervisor was not exactly […]

BY MARIANNE | MAY 12 2010

— Quick Hit: A big welcome to our second guest blogger Marianne Stanford, current chair of the CAPS group. As a follow up to Carl’s excellent article on the CRA’s response to the CAPS letter on Post Doc status. This is exactly the type of discussion that needs to be had and The Black Hole […]

BY CARL | MAY 11 2010

QUICK HIT: The Black Hole team is thrilled to welcome its first guest blogger to the site. Carl Wonders is a post doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and one of the founding members of the UofT Post Doc Association. We are always open to ideas for guest blog entries on a one time […]

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