Home Science Communication New beginnings – update on work, writing and life

New beginnings – update on work, writing and life

by Eva Amsen

ButterflyIt’s been a bit quiet here, partly because I had to fix some technical issues with the blog, but also because I started a new job and a new course a few weeks ago. Everything is different now!

Over the last year I had somehow ended up in a place I didn’t want to be (the marketing department of a company) doing things I didn’t really want to do (the same repetitive tasks every week). My job was less interesting than it was when I first started working there, and that’s never a good thing, so I started exploring other opportunities.

One important step was to sign up for a narrative non-fiction writing course. I want to get back to some unfinished projects, and learn to write better. I’m now heading into week four of a ten-week course, and getting back into the swing of writing things. I’ll post some of my pieces on The Finch and Pea soon, so keep an eye out for those.

Speaking of writing, I also have a piece in The Scientist this month, where I interviewed several people who worked on the human genome project excactly 15 years ago, to find out how working on a high profile project (but with 500 authors on the papers) influenced their careers.

On the same day as my writing course started, I also started a whole new job. I’m now Scientific Engagement Manager for a group at the Institute of Cancer Research. My role involves handling the communication aspect for a new collaboration between several labs across the UK, which will be announced soon. The project is about genomics, and my role is a combination of science communication, thinking about best practices for communication to different audiences (scientists, clinicians, and everyone else), and a little bit of community management. I’ve spent the past few weeks attending various meetings with scientists, taking notes, and fiddling with Wordpress to set up a website. The next step is writing some content for the site.

The commute is far, so I’m working from home some days and doing my writing homework on the train. It’s a whole new schedule compared to a few weeks ago. Change is good.

I’ve not done much other than work and school the past three weeks, but I also haven’t felt much need to. The times when I desperately go to every possible event have always been the times where I needed a distraction or inspiration. I’m getting enough of that right now!

Although there are also a few You Me Bum Bum Train shows coming up in Spring, but not as many as there were last year, and it’s much harder to combine with my new commute, so I’ll only do a few this time.

Soon I will emerge from this work/school cocoon, and I’ll start being social again!

 

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1 comment

Christine February 8, 2016 - 8:52 AM

Congrats on all the good changes! I really enjoyed reading your article in The Scientist! 🙂

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