Weeknotes 8th Jan 2021
As I’m sure is the case for many of you, it’s my first week back in my living-office. This is also my first official ‘weeknote’, following the test run I published at the end of 2020.
I was lucky enough to take two full weeks off for the seasonal break (Wellcome closed the office from Friday 18th December). I enjoyed reverting my living room back to… well, a living room. Sadly the pop up office desk is back in here now.
I plan to break some old habits that became well and truly ingrained towards the end of 2020, particularly the one where I stay indoors for most of the week, venturing outside only at weekends. But with the cold weather, lockdown 3.0, and the OUT-OF-CONTROL-COVID-19 situation, particularly in london, there are even more reasons to stay put than to go outside. Will try my best.
Anyway — key notable things this week:
It’s a new year, with a new department: Corporate Affairs
In prep to deliver on Wellcome’s new strategy, we are bringing together our public engagement, campaigns and communications function under one new team — Corporate Affairs.
With this being our first week as Corporate Affairs, our new leadership team held an informal check in, mainly to see how everyone’s feeling given the pandemic situation, but to also reiterate the organisations message to put our wellbeing first.
What does this mean in practice? It means taking time over the next couple of weeks to assess what’s on our plate and think critically about what we should prioritise and what work could be paused and pushed back until we are all in a better place. A thoughtful message to kick off 2021.
Catching up, hearing updates, sharing notes:
Before the end of 2020, I was pleased to arrange a few check ins to take place this week — each linking to two key projects I supported last year.
One with Ivvet Modinou, to talk about the upcoming UK Science Festival Network conference, taking place on 19th January. I’ll be taking part in a session reflecting on the state of the sector, exploring how might we rebuild meaningful ways to engage with audiences in a post COVID world. It will be nice to see some friendly and familiar faces from the science festival world.
Ivvet is another one who’s also soon to be leaving the UK, travelling over the pond to lead new and exciting things at Science Sandbox — an initiative founded by the Simons Foundation. Congrats Ivvet!
The second catch up was with Abi Freeman and Sara Hamilton from Brink Innovation to hear an update on the setting up of their Employee Health Evidence Accelerator — an initiative we funded to develop and test up to three new models to get science and evidence into the hands of employers at scale.
The team currently have a call out to recruit two positions to join the Evidence Accelerator Strategic Advisory and Amplification Board — non-executive board that will provide the wisdom, lived experience and network needed to propel the team through the incubation period to becoming a commercially viable entity. Do get in touch with the Brink team if you are interested in finding out more.
I’m excited to see how this develops. It’s part of a programme of funded activities to test ways to reach audiences at scale, and builds on the success (and continued success) of Liminal Space’s Night Club — a great programme engaging shift workers and their employers with sleep research.
I caught up with Phoebe Tickell to talk more about our mutual interest in shifting narratives, and also hear about the Narrative Avengers Network she’s set up. I sadly missed the first meet-up that took place in December. Some interesting people on there.
Speaking of networks — I also caught up with Shomari and Salma to set up ‘randomised coffee trials’ within our network of people of colour driving change, so everyone can start meeting and connecting more informally.
Reading time:
I’ve been lucky with a gentle entry back into work this week, which has meant more time for reading.
I’m thoroughly enjoying reading Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes, which takes well known stories of women in Greek mythology, challenging what we know (and often not told) about them, how they are framed and what we are led to believe. Another great example of the impact of narratives and how to shift them.
For Christmas I received a subscription to the New Philosopher. Whilst I wait for this quarter’s magazine, I’ll be reading a previous edition on ‘fake news’.
This weekend I’ll also be delving into Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s new recipe book — Eat Better Forever — a 2021 gift to myself in hope that I will start eating better, forever.
Have a great weekend!
