Emma Pewsey
Comment and careers editor
One of the best things about being a materials scientist is that you’re a bit of everything: chemist, physicist, engineer – in some cases even a biologist. As a result, I’ve spent my career blending chameleon-like into all kind of situations.
My early dreams of winning a Nobel Prize were scuppered by choosing to do a PhD in corrosion science (which, let’s face it, is never going to be cool enough to win mainstream awards). The experiments were fun; writing and talking about science was more fun. Academic working culture as I understood it then – long, lonely hours striving to succeed on a competitive career path – was not fun at all.
As my project looked at the corrosion of metal implants inside the human body, I figured that qualified me as a biologist and entered a biomedical writing competition. I won, which triggered a series of fortunate events that led me to join the Features team of the open-access biology journal eLife in 2014. In my time there my interest moved away from the plain-language summaries of research I’d originally been employed to write, to various issues affecting research culture: open science, working conditions, support for early-career scientists (inside and outside academia), how to fix a system where you’re fortunate to get a permanent job before the age of 35.
In 2019 I joined Chemistry World as comment and careers editor, where I get to explore those topics – and much more! It’s nice to pretend to be a chemist again.
Contact info
- Email:
- pewseye@rsc.org
- Opinion
Eugenia Kumacheva: ‘My poetry is in my research proposals’
The soft matter expert on curiosity, collaborators and creativity
- Careers
You can’t measure a mentor solely by gender
A mentoring relationship is inherently personal and unique
- Careers
In praise of appraisals
Taking the opportunity to learn more about yourself – and your employer
- Opinion
Kelly Chibale: ‘No leader should be feared’
The founder of the H3D drug discovery centre in South Africa on leadership and flying with Jürgen Klopp
- Careers
Time for the working hours debate
As universities reopen, academics should make time to take breaks
- Careers
Hobbies don’t apply for recruitment
What does the hobbies section of a CV really tell an employer about a job candidate?
- Careers
Online events aren’t automatically accessible
With lectures moving online long-term, online accessibility benefits need building on
- Careers
Working from home time
Now more than ever, there’s an overlap between professional and personal life
- Careers
How author lists can give more credit
The contributor roles taxonomy highlights the variety of work that’s crucial to a research project
- Review
Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction
A mixture of anecdote, opinion and science from an author who turned her former addiction into the topic of her neurobiology research
- Careers
Insecurity is the enemy of a healthy research culture
But scientists are still working collaboratively and creatively
- Careers
Results of the 2019 Pay and Reward Survey
Salaries have increased in line with inflation, and while the gender pay gap persists, it is at its lowest-ever level
- Careers
Fixed retirement may not fix diversity issues
The reasoning behind forcing older academics to retire is problematic
