Spot the impostor

I first came across the term “impostor syndrome” about a year or two ago while skimming through my Twitter feed. A fellow #WomanInSTEM had posted about a personal experience and I read on in amazement. She was a senior in my field and someone I greatly…

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The future of intelligence

Humans are born inventors – we keep on devising new technologies to (supposedly) make our lives easier and have a deeper understanding of how things work. There exists a collaborative relation between the human input and artificial intelligence, transforming our thoughts into tangible results. Computers are the closest form of technology that strives to ultimately…

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Writing your first paper: start with the basics

By Karen J. Cloete iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences, National Research Foundation, kcloete[at]tlabs.ac.za; kaboutercloete[at]gmail.com One of the most important outputs in a researcher’s career is the number of publications in high impact, international peer-reviewed journals. Getting published leads to promotions, the development of new ideas, sometimes instigates new collaborations, and – importantly – advances…

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A Social Scientist’s Lab

When I think of a laboratory, it conjures images of pipettes and burners with complex mathematical equations written on a board. My laboratory, however, as a political scientist, has little to do with Bunsen burners and more do with measuring political heat. Very few people, outside the social sciences, understand how social science research is…

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Light @ the end of the tunnel!

In order to really understand the intensity of the light, I would have to paint you a portrait of where I have been, to where I am currently with regards  to my MSc research.  This blog entry reminds me a lot of a song that I like to sing whenever I am in a good mood; “I can see clearly…

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