P-cubed Newsletters

Contents HeadsUp The time of heads-down marking exams is coming to an end. As your heads come up and you look ahead to the summer, please take the time to go into PeopleSoft HR, break into your nest-egg of annual leave and book some weeks off over summer. As I said at...

Contents HeadsUp It was great to attend the School Research awards on Thursday. As usual, it was amazing to see the diversity of research activities across the School (from analogues for life on other plants to meditation and back again). T is important to recognise...

Contents HeadsUp By the time you read this, I hope you’ve all had a good and refreshing long weekend. I hope, too, that you’ve spared a thought for the struggle Labour Day commemorates.  The eight hour day may seem like an illusion to many of us academics (yes, I was...

Contents HeadsUp I’m standing in for Robin while he’s away on a few days leave, and I must admit to writing this at the last minute (thanks for the reminder, Iliane).  While grasping for inspiration, I thought about what I’d done over the previous...

Contents HeadsUp Suddenly its spring. Kowhai in bloom and the evenings stretched out by daylight saving. Such welcome signs of hope and promise. Even an unexpected long weekend. I suspect I wouldn’t be alone in the bonus Monday being more about spring that the...

Contents HeadsUp Spring is unfolding and the days are lengthening. After such a wet winter, that’s surely cause for celebration! Other reasons come to mind too….Here are a few: We have good reason to celebrate and heartily toast colleagues who have been successful in...

Contents HeadsUp I’ve been thinking about vulnerability a bit lately. It’s not exactly a theme that runs rampant in discussions about science and within members of a science faculty. But it’s intrinsic to the human condition. And it’s a dimension I’ve been aware if in...

Contents HeadsUp The days are lengthening just enough to remind us that spring is not far away. So too are two deadlines in the Head of School’s (HoS) calendar: first, in September, forming an advisory committee and considering promotion applications; and second, by...

Contents HeadsUp I doubt if many undergraduate students know what ‘softening EFTS’ are. Nor ‘onboarding’, ‘edge courses’ or any of the jargon that is used as we navigate through these uncertain times. All they want, I suspect, is clarity around what is expected and an...

Contents HeadsUp Last week I attended the (usually annual, but covid-postponed) ‘VC Recognition Dinner’. At first, I wondered why I didn’t recognise more people. As the evening unfolded, it became apparent why. Rather than an occasion dominated by accolades for...