At the end of the third week of this pleasantly sunny and warm September, while helping with packing some books for an upcoming event, I found myself mentally going through my to-do list, thinking what I have done and what still needs to be finished.
At the end of October Sense about Science will be awarding the Maddox prize I already mentioned, a recognition to people who are committed to clear communication of science despite adversity. The nominations for this prize were 55 this year and needed to be read through, their information checked and summarized. I had gone through the candidatures carefully, looked for the material on line, put together a summary of each profile, trying to be at the same time accurate and complete, but synthetic. Now that all the candidates have been scrutinized I am really looking forward to the future steps and what the judging panel will decide.
There have been plenty of other things going on in the office, including a revision on my Statistics presentation, and on an analogue past publication about Uncertainty, which needed a fresh eye to spot small slips and typos. And then organizing a workshop on Science Communication at the beginning of October, aimed at young scientists and researchers. I was putting together some reading material for the participants, it is going to be an exciting opportunity to have a look into science as it is reported in the media and what the contribution of researchers to the scientific debate can be.
This coming last week is going to be a collection of mixed feelings: fulfilment, satisfaction for the work done, curiosity for where it will lead in the future and of course a pinch of melancholy at the idea that I am (not so) slowly seeing the end of this experience.