postdocperspective @pdocperspective

Day 21: The meager mate It's no secret that this week I am eating, sleeping, breathing experiments, and finalising a poster in 'spare time'. This schedule leaves little time for anything else - and has left me feeling like a bit of a crummy friend. #ECRchat #postdoc #friendship

Day 19: Friday feels... finally! This week seemed to drag relentlessly. Add a few disappointing results requiring repeat experiments to my marathon meeting yesterday, and I was ready to ejecto-seato. There is something delicious about the feeling of a Friday afternoon! #ECRchat

Day 18: Manuscript Meeting Marathon Meetings are a 50% chance at best. Today, I emerged after three hours with no feelings of inadequacy, and a few moments of feeling like I was mildly competent at this whole science thing - win! #science #ECRchat #womeninscience #postdoclife

Day 17: Amateur artist Making an informative scientific poster can be challenging. Often, I have to take a step back and think - as a reader of this poster - what would I want/need to know? Would it catch my eye from across the room? What makes it stand out? #postdoclife #poster

Day 16.5: Science never sleeps Despite being a public holiday yesterday, I spent half the day at the lab.. It's hard to explain to loved ones that science doesn't care that you should be at home binge watching TV shows instead of pipetting! #science #ECRchat #scicomm #lablife

Day 15: Plotting perspectives Only by allowing time to ponder results am I able to understand what the data is saying. I find new ways to analyse or interpret from all perspectives - not just through the lens of our original hypothesis. #science #ECRchat #postdoc #lablessons

Day 14: The first pancake Mostly, the first attempt at a new protocol goes a little like the first pancake - over cooked outside, smooshy inside and a strange shape. Today's first pancake was a real winner though! #science #ECRchat #scicomm #lablife #2019 #womeninscience

Day 13: Frustration station Today, I ran smack bang into the wall put up by a selfish lab member. By lunch time I was ready to explode. Please, I beg of you - be kind, thoughtful, and responsible - lab lessons for life! #science #ECRchat #scicomm #lablife #2019 #womeninSTEM

Day 12: Cake chronicles I Today we shared a delicious carrot cake for a student's birthday. Sharing birthday wishes was a great respite from this afternoon's admin tasks, and the cake was delicious! Image: @CharlesEtoroma #science #ECRchat #lablife #cake #birthday #cupcake

Day 11: Monday morning media machine Some days, science is intense and exciting and, if you're really lucky, groundbreaking. Other days are.... a little more routine. Like three hours preparing liquid medium for my cells! #science #ECRchat #scicomm #lablife #2019 #womeninSTEM

Day 10: Casual Coder As a scientist coding completely changed how I generate and analyse data. Programming skills can empower you to ask more profound questions. It is never too late to learn to code! #science #ECRchat #scicomm #womeninscience #coding #python #scientistswhocode

Day 9: Pinball princess Today, I felt like I was in playing an old-school pinball machine. Just when I was comfortable keeping the ball (my experiment) from falling, the machine released another ball packed with emails, students and meetings! #science #ECRchat #scicomm #lablife

Day 8: The m̶i̶l̶l̶i̶o̶n thousand dollar question I got wonderful news today 🎉 - $ for my conference ✈️! All it took was asking about the outcome of a grant application. Never be afraid to ask! Read more: instagram.com/p/BssT_nlnrlf/… #ECRchat #scicomm #lablife #travelbug #funding

Day 7: Dr. Detective After a (long) day, I finally pieced together the puzzle and left this afternoon with four freshly minted DNA sequences in my virtual cart. 🕵️‍♀️ Mission accomplished. Read more: instagram.com/p/BspzQ36H0fm/… #science #ECRchat #scicomm #lablife #gene #postdoc

Day 6: Pretty in pink And so began the (no doubt first of many) weeks of plentiful plastic and pink plates - with three huge experiments on the go I need to be top of my game everyday! Read more: instagram.com/p/BsnV5N4nntu/… #science #ECRchat #scicomm #lablife #2019 #proteostasis

Day 5: The early bird gets the...words! After days of no progress (read: not one word) on manuscripts, I was determined to put pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard!). It was hands down the best hour of the week! Read more: instagram.com/p/BsfmxzdgIpO/… #science #ECRchat #AcWri

Day 4: Open door policy. Today was a "Where did the time go" day. I hope a 'closed door' policy is never necessary, but balancing my helpful mentor and busy researcher hats is challenging! #science #Academia #ECRchat #notenoughtime #opendoor Read more: instagram.com/p/BsdA_eAgJUs/…

Day 3: Party planner extraordinaire Of course, I mean complicated and time sensitive experiments! Today I planned and optimised itineraries for a week-long rave of glowing cells 🦠🔬 #science #ECRchat #experimental #plan #workhard #partyhard Read more: instagram.com/p/BsaWHCTADuy/…

Day 2: Travel agent Bad news: giving employer an interest free loan of +$4k while I wait 4 - 6 weeks for reimbursement. Good news: in 56 days I'll be Europe bound! #Academia #ECRchat #travel #wanderlust #administrationbytes #conference Read more here: instagram.com/p/BsX0kzVAmb0/…

Day 1: Best of intentions - you know, new year new me and all that. It's tough when days don't go as planned, esp. with ~oneyearleft~ in the back of my mind. But hey, the new me can always start tomorrow right? #science #research #postdoclife #ecrchat #fluorescent #mondayitis