Emma Pewsey

United Kingdom

Comment and Careers Editor at Chemistry World

Comment and Careers Editor @ChemistryWorld. I like rust and #researchculture. And alliteration. Formerly @eLife. She/her

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Articles

Time off for menstruation is a good idea. Period.

1 month ago | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

Menstrual leave can improve working conditions for all employees Source: © Carol Yepes/Getty Images I abandoned my first attempt to write this article due to brain fog. At least it wasn’t cramps, backache or nausea – all examples of the variety of symptoms I might work through for a couple of days a month, thanks to the delights of my menstrual cycle. While my symptoms are unpleasant, they’re generally manageable with a few painkillers.
Cultural changes need to stop PhD students working for free

1 month ago | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

Top-down support is needed to stop exploitative PhD practices Source: © Vectorium/Shutterstock It’s easy to present career stories as a series of events that happen one after the other: found a job, gained useful skills and experience, moved on to a new job. However, few careers proceed that smoothly. New opportunities rarely come up exactly when you need one.
Jon-Paul Griffiths: ‘Starting a small company is a phenomenal experience’

Feb 21, 2025 | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

The chief technology officer of Oxeco on spinning out, supporting entrepreneurs and the difficulties of identifying a market Jon-Paul GriffithsSource: © Peter Strain @ Début Art Jon-Paul Griffiths is the chief technology officer and founder of Oxeco, which develops and manufactures coatings for the clean tech and transport sectors. Oxeco’s technology platform is based on one developed by Griffiths during a postdoc at the University of Oxford, UK.
New UKRI terms do more to acknowledge the diversity of PhD researchers

Feb 5, 2025 | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

But further stipend increases are needed to fully widen access to doctoral studyUK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI’s) 8% increase to their minimum PhD stipend levels from October won’t exactly leave PhD students flush with cash. The stipend of £20,780 is around £100 more than the yearly earnings of someone working 37.5 hours a week on the living wage after income tax and national insurance have been deducted.
Knowledge exchange will be vital for upskilling the chemistry workforce

Jan 31, 2025 | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

To meet societal challenges, chemical scientists need more opportunities to learn across disciplines and sectors The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Future Workforce and Educational Pathways report makes 13 recommendations for how to ensure the UK’s chemical industry’s workforce has the skills it needs to tackle societal challenges.
Charlotte Williams: ‘Being an academic is a wonderful job’

Jan 17, 2025 | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

The award-winning inorganic chemist on early environmental influences and a career spanning industry and academia Source: © Peter Strain @ Début Art Charlotte Williams FRS is the Statutory Chair in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford, UK, where she researches sustainable technologies for polymer production and carbon dioxide usage. In 2011, she founded Econic Technologies, which sells catalysts transforming carbon dioxide into high-performance materials.
No means no

Jan 2, 2025 | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

It’s not always productive to argue back People work at their best when they’re not overburdened. Sometimes that means having to decline when colleagues make requests for your time or your effort (and even foregoing things you might want to do yourself). Joining that committee, taking on that extra project or helping with a task for me? Absolutely not. But while ‘learn to say no’ is a classic piece of career advice, ‘learn to accept no’ is more rarely advised.
Financial challenges affect the health of UK chemistry

Nov 21, 2024 | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

Maintaining a healthy chemistry pipeline requires affordable education and training routesThe health of academic chemistry in the UK over the past 20 years has been mixed.
When goodwill goes bad

Nov 13, 2024 | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

Simple gestures can intensify workplace frustration Source: © Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images Would you sue your employer if you didn’t receive a leaving card? A recent story in The Guardian suggested one woman had attempted to do just that – only to learn at the subsequent tribunal that a colleague had prepared a card but not given it to her because he was embarrassed that only three people had signed it.
On your best behaviour

Sep 4, 2024 | chemistryworld.com | Emma Pewsey

Which might be different at work and at homeI know someone who, when you meet him in a pub, appears to be one of the most laid-back, casual people in existence. Meet him in his lab however, and he’s a completely different person. Strict is an understatement: you won’t make it within sight of the door if you’re not wearing appropriate clothing and PPE, and woe betide you if you don’t put equipment back in its proper place when you’ve finished using it.