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An academic research Xmas story
It has been 9 months since I initiated a transition from astrophysics to ecology research, and since it is the end of the year, time for a first assessment in the form of a twisty Xmas tale that ends, well…I’ll let you readers be the judge. Nine months is a short period of time to start a research project from scratch…
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Bridges
Let’s talk today about how I have been approaching finding a first research subject in ecology after my initial conversations. When it comes to entering a research field, it works a bit differently when you start as an already experienced researcher, compared to a new undergrad or PhD student. Your new colleagues just are not going to serve you a subject…
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Conversations & conservation
Today I would like to talk a bit about the importance of conversations and new encounters. A key ingredient to successfully getting into something very new, at least for me, is to talk to competent people, to get solid advice from both reliable friends and experts, to find mentors, to carefully listen with humility to what these people have to say,…
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Overcoming doubts and getting started
Changing research topics and, even more, completely changing fields, is no easy feat, even for a seasoned butterfly researcher, and it takes time to overcome one’s own doubts and limitations. I see ecology first and foremost as a life science, and I haven’t done any biology since high-school – that is, I haven’t done any biology at all. As an experienced…
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Dogs and butterflies
Scientists usually specialize in a field, and on a particular subject, quite early in their career (usually, during their PhD). Due to the ever increasing complexity, technicity, and accumulation of knowledge and publications in our fields, we also often develop a very narrow and highly technical expertise as our career progresses. This is true in astronomy & astrophysics, of course: after…
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Why research
A few years ago, while I was already thinking about a career change in the direction of environmentally-oriented jobs, I regularly asked myself: should I leave research too? After all, there are many ways in life to a) feel more part of nature b) be useful in an ecological or environmental context. Fundamental research is not necessarily the most straightforward, effective…
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Full circle: of forests, connections to nature & flows
I was at the SETE in Moulis last Thursday to attend a special seminar on old Pyrenean forests given by Philippe Falbet, a member of the NGO “Observatoire des Forêts des Pyrénées Centrales – Nature en Occitanie”. Old forests, in his definition, are not just “ancient”: they must have been untouched by humans for more than a century, and have had…
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Moulis, Ariège
Those following my personal account on Mastodon (if not, you can do so by clicking the elephant icon at the top left of your screen) have already been teased earlier this week that I have found a new, exciting workplace to get into ecological research: the Station d’Ecology Theorique et Experimentale (SETE) in Moulis, Ariège. It’s a beautiful rural place, in…
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From scratch – the origins of a transition
Greetings everyone ! My name is François Rincon, I am a theoretical physicist working in France at CNRS. I have spent the first 20 years of my career doing research on nonlinear astrophysical fluid, plasma and magnetic-field dynamics in astrophysical systems spanning many scales, ranging from the Sun, to protoplanetary accretion disks, to clusters of galaxies and the primordial Universe. (Astro)Physics…
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