#thisacademiclife

Off to Canada today for three weeks. I'll be attending the @inuitstudiesconference2019 and the Worked Bone Group Conference, and will be collecting data from more beautiful Dorset artefacts! Busy times... . #phd #phdlife #archaeology #conferences #thisacademiclife #travel #canada https://www.instagram.com/p/B3E2j1-ijwc/?igshid=2z5d25vv400j

K is for kids! . Disclaimer - this is not my daughter. Although also blessed with red hair she is in fact my niece 😁❤️ . Children is another topic that I will look at from two sides. Firstly: children in academia. As a female scientist, I'm curious how it will be when I eventually decide to have my own kids. I hear so many different things, and it seems very conditional on your particular academic environment as to how understanding your colleagues and supervisors are to you potentially having to rush out for child-related emergencies. Having been raised by a working mum and a stay-at-home dad, I never assumed that I'd have to be the one to stay home and look after the kids. If I think about it now, I'm not sure what I feel. However it is true that from a practical perspective is it more natural for the mum to spend more time with the child at the beginning (unless we work out how make men produce milk...). These are all very random and hypothetical musings - I would be grateful for any opinions that experienced mums can give re working in academia. . Secondly: children in archaeology. The concept of childhood in the past is still a rarely discussed concept within archaeology. Think of all that you know about archaeology - how much of it deals with the lives of children? Probably not much. Again, this is a topic that should be emphasised in the study of past society in order to make it more approachable. We shouldn't just focus solely on the central (usually male...) hunters or farmers and their roles. Instead we need to look at all the levels and ages within a community. Only then can we get a complete understanding of life in prehistory. . #atozchallenge #theleveragedphd #thisacademiclife #phd #phdlife #archaeology #archaeologist #Prehistory https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Vzu41i4CS/?igshid=1aeacd4vhjfg1

In all the excitement of yesterday I forgot to post a response to the day 16 prompt of #theleveragedphd challenge = #thisacademiclife Coincidentally enough, yesterday was a friend's PhD defense (he succeeded! 🎉) So a good little carrot on a stick to keep me motivated as things get busier in my own PhD... . . . The PhD defense is a very serious business, but out of the two I've been to so far the committee have also had a little bit of fun with the questions which makes it pretty entertaining! The rooms in which the defenses take place are in the official building of Leiden University, which are also very cool to see. The one yesterday had huge stained glass windows and fancy chandeliers, and the last one I went to (photo courtesy of @clar3l0uise ) has an intricate fireplace and walls covered in the portraits of learned professors throughout the ages. A fun 45 minutes - especially for now just as a spectator! #academicsofinstagram #phdlife #phd #withaphd https://www.instagram.com/p/BxjehSeiujM/?igshid=pfiyu89wsnx7

Today's #instachallenge prompt is #techtuesday As previously mentioned, my field of research focuses (pun intended) on the use of microscopes to look at teeny tiny microwear traces. 🔬This can be using low power (10-100x magnification) to look at things such as manufacturing traces, and high power (100-1000x magnification) to look in much more detail and see for example traces of use. It can be tiring to look with such concentration through a microscope all day, but coming from a field based in the humanities it's also pretty amazing to be using such fancy technology in your daily life! #thisacademiclife #phd #phdlife #theleveragedphd #microscopy #microwear https://www.instagram.com/p/BxLSvQplqaH/?igshid=udc1i894ssff