With the extreme heat going on here in Kumamoto (it could be the worst in the history of the city), I was reminded of a similar heat wave that happened 10 years ago when I went to the INQUA Conference in Nagoya. During that week, I discussed my work on ice sheet modelling, and met a couple of scientists that I now collaborate with! All in all, it was great time!
This also reminded me that it has also been 10 years since I created this website. No academic should go without having some kind of presence on the Internet. I set up this site to serve as a portal for my thoughts. I had been a regular contributor to the Australian National University RSES PHD student blog, On Circulation, and I wanted to continue blogging.
It has also been 10 years since I graduated from my PHD. Blogging was a big part of my PHD, and I wanted to continue doing it. Blogging was the way that I honed my writing skills, and made it possible for me to complete my thesis. I was initially excited to continue doing it. However, that passion never really came back. I think this probably was the result of burnout. Finishing my PHD, while also attending to the duties of my postdoctoral research really took it out of me.
It was also 10 years ago I started using Twitter. It was pretty interesting at first. Its usefulness culminated for me at the 2019 INQUA Conference, when so many people were interested in my talk that the room exceeded capacity! I was able to connect with people unable to attend because of that via Twitter. It is too bad that Twitter no longer exists in that form.
In the past 10 years, I have been all over the world. I lived and worked in Sweden, Germany, and Japan. I have visited many interesting places. I have done fieldwork in the deserts of Patagonia in Argentina. I have attended conferences in Ireland, Vienna, Spain, Canada, and the United States. I have met and collaborated with many amazing and talented researchers. I have published a number of papers on many interesting topics. My work was even featured in documentaries on the BBC.
I have also struggled in many of the same ways as my contemporaries. The number of opportunities to be an academic scientist have shrunk, especially in recent years. I bounced around doing postdocs until I was too far past the end of my PHD to qualify for them anymore. I could have found opportunities in other countries, for sure, but after doing that for so many years, I was weary of the idea of moving again.
I am now teaching English on a contract basis. Teaching is fun, and I get to choose what I teach, which means lots of science. I am happy to do this, but it is not an improvement on stability, at least not at the moment. It will hopefully lead to something greater. At least I am busy, which is what I like.
10 years is a long time, and there have been many highs and lows. What will the next 10 years hold? If the past 10 years have been any indication, there is no way to know what will happen. However, whatever the future holds, I think it is important for me to begin writing again. No matter how busy I am, this is something I find fulfilling.
Raised Beaches 