Dear CRS members,
As many of you have probably noticed, this Newsletter was not issued in the last two trimesters (June and September), which may or may not have come as a surprise to you. However, as I write this editorial piece with a four-month-old baby peacefully sleeping next to me, I am sure you will understand that I come bearing thoughts of motherhood, work-life balance and task juggling.
For those of you who don’t know me, I am a Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences at De Montfort University (Leicester, UK), which generally means I’m a junior member of Faculty trying my best to set up a research group, publish papers, write grants and get funding, while simultaneously taking care of undergraduate teaching, admin and all of the other tasks that come with an academic position – quite like many of our members, I’m sure! With CRS being a central piece of my career so far, and truly a family of peers which I enjoy going back to, I’ve taken up this Newsletter Editor-in-Chief position a couple of years ago with a lot of excitement and looking forward to contributing to the community. The work with the team has been exceptional so far, and I am really honoured to work with them in each issue. Time to acknowledge them all – Andrea Joseph, Cornelia Keck, Josh Reineke, Ju-Yen Fu, Ken Carson and Ryan Donnelly – thank you for your contributions and hard work!
In the few months before starting maternity leave on the 1st of August (with an expected birth date on the 5th!), everything was urgent: wrapping up the 22/23 academic year, making provisions for the 23/24 year and delegating all the teaching/module management, organising the lab as we moved into a new space, purchasing some necessary bits and pieces for the work to carry on in my absence, meeting colleagues and mentors to discuss some ideas and future steps (mainly for after the leave), etc, etc. Ah! And getting the June issue of the Newsletter ready and out by the end of the month! Inevitably something always slips through the cracks, and this time it was the Newsletter. However, I would not be honest if I didn’t say it was a conscious decision, a realisation that among all, probably this was the least urgent, and people would get by with an issue coming out only in September or December.
This leads me to the reason for this reflection: how do we “cover” for people in teams where everyone is a volunteer and already giving up a lot of their time? How do we prepare better for these occasions, so that an interim leadership can take place, generating a smooth transition that provides everyone with the necessary peace of mind? I felt bad for leaving the Newsletter behind, and did not want to put pressure on anyone to temporarily cover for me, but if we truly want to build a more equitable, diverse and inclusive society, these small things also matter. Let us at least think about it!
This special issue is filled with interesting pieces: the ever-useful patent review (Feb-May 2023), a reflection on previous CRS meetings with Ruth Schmid, a “Tech Update” with Ana Jaklenec and her team, and a “CRS Labs Around the World” piece from Clare Hoskins and her team. I hope these make an interesting read for your end-of-year, and I look forward to coming back with our “Spotlight Chats” in March 2024! Wishing everyone a lovely holiday season, and an excellent start of the new year.
Best wishes,
Sara Cordeiro
PS: the writing of this piece has been occasionally interrupted by a mum-requiring task, whatever that has been… Obviously!
