Sure, there was a roadtrip and talks and a play, but most of my time I spent sitting in front of my two computer screens, searching for, cleaning, structuring and visualizing data on demographics, education, household economics and agricultural production in Burkina Faso and Ghana. Visualizing data into maps is a pretty simple thing ifContinue reading “glimpses of a fall: … but I’m feeling 22”
Tag Archives: life as a research assistant
late, as always
I was walking down the stairs from my office the other day, the center was quiet, the sun was shining outside, and it suddenly hit me. I have a master’s degree. I don’t think it has fully sunk in. That first week in June, with thesis deadline, graduation party, presentation and then me diving straightContinue reading “late, as always”
the diary of a bicyclist
Waking up to a world covered in crystals and mist. The air first turning my lungs into frost, before my heart has had the chance to get properly started. And then going home under a sky that turns from orange to purple, through the smells of brackish sea, yellow leaves and decaying apples under oldContinue reading “the diary of a bicyclist”
appreciating the ordinary
September has been heavy. There was the whole climate crisis thing that I’ve been able to keep at a distance since I started studying geography, look rationally upon without getting emotionally pulled down. For some reason, now, though, it’s come back to me and I’ve felt quite out of balance. At the same time, there’sContinue reading “appreciating the ordinary”
to start a career in research
Work got properly started. I got an office. My GIS computer arrived. And I sat there, hidden away in my little nook on the fourth floor, getting more and more confused. I made the realization that research is a disconcerting endeavor, at least in the beginning of a project, and that made me feel nonplussed.Continue reading “to start a career in research”
stones and sheep and gray skies
I returned to work. The center, that had been almost empty all summer, slowly started to fill up with academics again, and in the beginning of September the entire staff relocated to the island Stora Karlsö off Gotland for three days, to plan, strategize and bond. I had never been there before. This small island inContinue reading “stones and sheep and gray skies”
in search of a new title
Since I last wrote anything here, I’ve returned from California. I jumped right back into work, where my new role as a research assistant gave me access to new forums. New places to find inspiration, especially the workshops and speed talks about science communication and the Sustainable Development Goals. I really want to get this newContinue reading “in search of a new title”
into the hamster wheel (June and July)
I’ve written about it already, but I’ll mention it again, just to not create a gap in the chronology: after Midsummer, I started working. I biked to work, to an almost empty office, and read the statistical reports that Kate and I got when we visited the statistics bureau in Ouagadougou, and went home again.Continue reading “into the hamster wheel (June and July)”
my colleagues (June 2015)
We were sitting out by the empty hotel pool in the warm evening, planning the last day of the workshop, when I realized: The number of nationalities here is incredible. There had been so much going on since I arrived, with the meetings and the drive to Ghana and the workshop, that I hadn’t hadContinue reading “my colleagues (June 2015)”
diving into the deep end of development research (June 2015)
I graduated on June 4th. I did not get any time to enjoy the feeling of having a master’s of sustainability science, though. My contract as a research assistant started the same day I graduated, and three days later, I left Sweden for project meeting/workshop/study site scoping trip to Burkina Faso and Ghana. Charles deContinue reading “diving into the deep end of development research (June 2015)”
Katja Malmborg 