Our blogs cover a whole range of topics, to help early career dementia researchers (ECRs). Our contributors share information about their research, from social care to basic science, share advice from their own experiences, careers tips, what they learned from recent training events and conferences and much more. We have a small team of ECR staff bloggers who write each month, on a whole range of topics and every year we add more people who discuss their experiences of studying at particular places or on different topics. In addition to our staff bloggers, we welcome one-off contributions, and curate and link to content from other great sources, including our charity partners, the LSE Impact Blog, Nature Careers and where ever great support can be found.
To help find what you're looking for, you can browse through the articles, or use the filters on the right to find blogs by a particular person, or on a particular topic.
We are always on the lookout for new contributors, so if you would like to write for us, just head to the forum to drop us a line, or email dementiaresearcher@ucl.ac.uk
All of our blogs (since April 2020) come with narrations from the writer. You can listen while you read along on our website, or enjoy our blogs on the move via your podcast app. Look for Dementia Researcher Blogs, or visit one of these platforms, Podbean, iTunes, Spotify and Goodpods.
Blog – Beyond the Lab Bubble: Why PhD Teamwork Matters
Beccy Owen swaps the lab for gorge walking and Silverstone, and finds that a PhD might be an individual qualification, but science is a team sport.
Blog – 10 Things My PhD Has Taught Me So Far
Beccy Owen on 10 things my PhD has taught me so far, from troubleshooting and resilience to boundaries, confidence and not having your career mapped out.
Blog – Giving Your First Seminar: What I Learned
Beccy Owen spent months dreading her first seminar. Preparing for it turned out to be the most useful thing she did all year. Here's what she learned.
Blog – When Experiments Fail: Staying Positive in Research
Beccy Owen on why a failed experiment does not make you a bad scientist, and how to keep a positive mindset when the work refuses to cooperate.
Blog – The Trials and Tribulations of Electrophysiology
Beccy Owen blogs on a year spent learning patch-clamp electrophysiology, the broken pipettes, the phantom noise, and the cells worth waiting for.
Blog – The Long Way Round to a PhD
Beccy Owen shares her path to a PhD, from doubt and detours to finding her place in dementia research, and what the journey has really felt like.
