Guri Sogn Andersen
PhD wannabe, Marine biologist & scientist.
Drawer, writer, blogger,
mover, sleeper, jogger,
bicycle & recycle,
play the tuba & all that do-dah
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Posts
- Mar 28, 12Quick update on my progress with the project funds and the department of Biology at UiO. I'm basically stuck. Although, my case has been poorly handled by the department, the legal advisor from the union doubted that legal action would get me anywhere. Overhead cost can be a high maintenance bitch that leaves you with - nothing. (Yes, I'm a girl too.)
My advise to other PhD-students: Take control of project funds, bitch about it if your supervisor either forgets to or won't let you in on your projects economy - and be sure to spend it all while you still can.
I'm going to have a talk with somebody on the department board about how PhD students are treated in cases like mine. Still angry, but too busy to let it consume much of my energy right now.
(For comments (I appreciate it): "Feeders", please visit my blog. If you're already visiting, click the "view comments" link below.) - Mar 08, 12
The present post is a follow-up on this post dated February 17th. In short, the department of Biology at my University drained and closed my PhD project account without noticing me or the project leader.
I contacted the economics office and the head of the department, asking what the f*** is going on with our project account...
The head of the department kindly told me that this was normal for projects exceeding their "deadline", and that I could rest assured that my status as "PhD student" would not be evoked in another couple of years... Yeah, well...
The economics office, on the other hand, answered by spewing out a lot of terms and figures. At the very end, finally telling me that we could have applied for keeping the account (and the means left) for another year... Now, I'm pretty sure the department has an obligation to inform all parties of this fact. To my knowledge, we have received no such notice.
I've replied to the office with cc to my supervisor (who maybe should have known this!!?) and the head of the department, asking them if notice is not required by law before project accounts are drained and closed. I sent the first e-mail February 24th, the second was sent last Thursday, and the third today. I have still not received an answer.
Law is really not my territory, but the lack of response makes me feel like I'm asking the right questions. If I do not receive an answer within a week I WILL take this to the union and ask for legal advice.
What do you think I should do?
(For comments (I appreciate it): "Feeders", please visit my blog. If you're already visiting, click the "view comments" link below.) - Mar 08, 12Yesterday I heard from a colleague that all the money on my PhD project account (ca. 10 000 USD) had been withdrawn. I sent an e-mail to my supervisor and was told that "Yeah, it's true. That's the way things are now. "Old" projects are drained to pay for overhead." Overhead?!! I do not use any of the F***** University facilities and I am not employed there anymore! Can anyone explain how this is right, because I sure as hell do not understand it!?
(Read about overhead costs here)
Ok, I'll write through this in a hurry and leave moderations for later. I am just so very very angry right now, and the few reactions I've gotten from other PhD students leaves me to believe that I'm not alone in this mess.
What's happened:
A while back I applied for a personal grant from a fund that supports young scientists studying Arctic marine botany. I spent some time doing research and developing a solid plan for both field and laboratory work. My application was approved and I was granted 60.000 NOK (close to 10 500 USD). YAY!!
I was out of the country when I received the message, and my supervisor handled the communication with our department at the University. My supervisor and the head of the economics office discussed whether the grant should be placed at my personal account or at our project account at the University. They arrived at the conclusion that the personal account was best avoided, largely because of personal taxes. Fuelling the account at the University and spending some on salary would mean that a certain amount had do be paid to the Biology department (30% I think?) as "overhead", but it would still leave more money than if I had to pay taxes. And, it would be easier to use the money on the facilities at the University... So far so good.
Now, we had a hard time with field and mesocosm studies going out of wack (- which sometimes, well, it just happens...), and trying to do most of the labour myself got really hard. I asked my supervisor if we could spend some of our project money to hire some students to help out with the routine work but was told that "we would be better off saving it".
Shortly after I got sick - go figure, and was on leave for three months. In addition to that, the problems on our project grew, leading to a serious delay. In short, I was scheduled to finish my PhD about a year ago, but I'm still pounding a way...
Had we spent the money on labour OR had I put the fund money into my personal account one year ago there would have been nothing left to drain... I can't help but feel like PhD students are getting screwed by their own departments. From my point of view it looks pretty damn ugly.
I'm currently employed at a national research institute, where I am luckily able to continue my work at least some of the time. Not everybody has got that opportunity!
As I said - I wrote this in a rant and will probably do a couple of follow-ups as I learn more of what this mess is really all about. - Jan 30, 12
Hot PhD-tip:Mixed Effects Models and Extensions in Ecology with R
Thank you, Zuur and guys for this awesome PhD-saver!
Struggling with ecological datasets that do not seem suited for any of the frekkin statistical methods you learned from you worn out supervisor or at the basic statistics course at your department?
Well, I've got a hot tip for you: Read this cookbook and feel the load fly away from your burdened shoulders.
I'm not saying that it's a downright miracle cure for poor experimental designs and mishaps, but I assure you it feels pretty damn close.
You'll find it here: - Jun 07, 11
Tomorrow is the international World Oceans Day. Marinbiologene published this spotify playlist celebrating the day. Wear blue and tell all your friends why. Stop by marinbiobloggen for more info :)
- May 19, 11
I do love vegetables and sizzling hot shots when they come wrapped up in great ideas. Barton Seaver wants to restore our relationship with the ocean, the land, and with each other through dinner. In his first book, For Cod and Country, Seaver introduces an entirely new kind of casual cooking featuring seafood that hasn’t been overfished or harvested using destructive methods. I became aware of this guy through the TED network a while ago:
Watch and get inspired! - Dec 03, 10
It's been a while since my last post now. I've been quite busy at work trying to squeeze out a PhD... Man, its hard! Got some nasty feedback from a moody editor that put me off a bit, but now I'm back in the saddle and ready to go at it again. Feeling quite confident... at least some of the time... :)
Aside from my attempts(!) to write manuscripts for scientific papers, I've been engaged in blogging at marinbiobloggen (in Norwegian). Lots of exciting material. I've come to worry a great deal about the Norwegian management of marine resources. Therefore, my next posts will deal with some of these issues. Hopefully, I'll be able to present them in a more global perspective than is done at marinbiobloggen. - Oct 05, 10
Yesterday a historical event of great importance not only to marine scientists, but to the global community, took place in London. 2700 scientists from 80 countries met to discuss knowledge that has accumulated through a decade of marine research. The project was initiated 10 years ago and is called Census of Marine Life. This is probably one of the most extensive projects undertaken in the history of science. Check it out on http://www.coml.org/
Be sure to drop by the picture and video galleries! - Aug 15, 10
This footage is just amazing.
Check out John Delaneys' talk about building an underwater network of high-def cameras and sensors that will turn our ocean into a global interactive lab -- at TED.com. I get goose bumps thinking about the vast possibilities in monitoring the world below the ocean surface. - Jul 01, 10ShareThis
Currently on-board a ship heading for Oslo leaving Copenhagen and Roskilde for a while.
I do feel kind of sad leaving Roskilde this time. Everything hasn't exactly turned out as planned, but we got some quite interesting results I think. I'll feed some of these into the Roskilde Science page in due time. Right now I'm just enjoying sailing home spending time with my new friend Hoptimist. Morten got him for me as a farewell present. I suspect he knows that I'm going to need some cheering up while processing all our data and trying to get together something resembling a PhD-thesis ;) Morten has been tremendous!!! What a supervisor!!! :)Hoptimist leaving Copenhagen
Guri & Hoptimist engaging in meaningful bar conversation whilst enjoying the sun set. - Jun 28, 10
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ShareThis
I would like to share this important work by Brian Skerry with you. This kind of documentation of what is going on under the surface is extremely powerful. Both beautiful and horrific situations and stories are told by breathtaking pictures. Please watch it and think about what you can do to protect the oceans. I would suggest a visit to WWF online and checking out the sustainable seafood guide ;) - Jun 24, 10ShareThis
Project expanded! We decided (that is Morten did - and for that I am grateful) to run PI-curves at 5 and 25C as well. That means we've got results from five temperatures. The kelps grown at 20 C for three weeks are still alive, but the general impression is that they are more perforated and fragile than the rest.
Read more HERE - Jun 08, 10
- May 29, 10ShareThis
I've gotten some feedback telling me that the comment form on my blog didn't work properly... well, that's finally dealt with. Feel free to once again participate at KelpRmy! I look forward to hearing from YOU ;) - May 26, 10
I actually wrote this while finishing my master thesis the summer of 2007. Being stuck in the lab trying to get some results at the end of my fellowship as a PhD student at UiO, it reappeared quite vividly in my mind.
Before reading this, you've got to know a couple of things. First, I'm a nerdy marine botanist. Second, when my mind starts to wander it quite often does so in verses
- for some reason. You should also know that quite a few Norwegians struggles attempting to pronounce LOW correctly. It usually comes out as LOVE. At least coming from the mouth of the lecturer at the course Light Climate and Primary production in Arctic environments - incredibly amusing when you're hyped on coffee and to little sleep due to Arctic midnight sun and attending a master/graduate course spanning four intense and exciting weeks at Svalbard... And especially with the backdrop of your lecturer explaining the reaction centres of the photosynthetic apparatus (RCs) by referring to Monty Pythons sketch on "the machine that goes BING"... Oh, man... priceless. If you want to know more about light and marine "compensation" levels (E~1%**), THIS is a great place to start. Anyhows and anyways... here it goes:Photonblues revisited
by: kelpRmy
I'm staring out the window
where I see the mocking sun.
Throwing all those photons at me,
but hitting me with none.
There is this wall between us,
this fucking drag of a thing.
It's called a shitload of work
and keeps my machine from going "BING"!
My RCs are all open, you know
they're ready for some love...
But these love-light conditions, man
are really way below (E 1% **)
Well, as you can tell from hearing this,
i'm doing rather swell.
Excuse me while I ask my ambitious self,
to go take a vacatin - IN HELL!!
Tomorrow I'm taking the night off to go see a movie. Obviously needed :) - May 26, 10
Woah, these algae really puzzles me. The PI-curves run at different temperatures (10, 15 and 20 C) before acclimatisation (10 C kelp) are incredibly similar - huge surprise! The first thorough analyses and views of the data with proper calibrations performed on them shows almost no difference in respiratory rates!! What the fuck!? One would think...
Read more HERE... - May 17, 10
I've been posting quite a few TED talks lately... I will try to spread it out more evenly in the future. This time though, I just HAD to post two in a row. The reason is that this brilliant talk by Enric Sala follows up on Jeremy Jacksons kind of pessimistic attitude with a more hopeful approach. He shares quite new insight, which I am sure applies to our northern systems as well. This is a path and a way of thinking we really need to explore more extensively in the future.
If you are interested in the research, I suggest you read this: Baselines and Degradation of Coral Reefs in the Northern Line Islands. - May 09, 10
I've heard this talk before. What came across as the most important message to me is how we need to realise the synergistic effects created by our fuckups and that we have to face these issues right now! - May 03, 10This past week has been slow and easy. I suppose I should be more stressed out by the fact that I'm at the end of my fellowship. But there is no help in worrying, -certainly not at this point. I'm going at it at a steady pace and plan to put in some extra effort when I return to RUC. These past days I've been doing the things that I missed the most. Hugging Lars, walking Birk and fucking up my computers. I've been through a traumatic upgrading of Ubuntu both at work and at home. At work it led to difficulties connecting to internet. At home I managed to fuck up GRUB, but got rescued by the Ubuntu Live CD. NOTE TO SELF: I should NOT mess around with computer stuff I know absolutely nothing about...
My netbook works great though :) - upgraded without any hickups! Ubuntu 10.4 seems great!
By the way... I use Zotero reference manager and Open Office. With the new Firefox 3.6 I banged my head against the screen for a couple of hours (-especially since I've been confident [stupid] enough to install 64-bits system) before I found THIS and got the sun java plugin to work again. This is a life saver.
Best HOWTO ever!!
Want to know more about Ubuntu? Visit Ubuntu Homepage - Apr 26, 10These are the two chambers we use. The oxygen electrodes are the rods you see coming out on the right side of the chambers... The temperature in the surrounding water is kept stable by a heater with a thermostat (the grey box), and a cooler (not visible). We regulate light intensities by shadowing with decreasing layers of black nets (above the chambers) until full light.
These past days have been really hectic. We've had our share of problems. Yesterday, one of the thermostats supposed to govern one of the 10 C batches started whining - really high pitched tone. I turned both the cooler and the thermostat off and went home, being as the culture room itself holds about 10 C. I spent the night in agony, really wondering why the fuck I bother doing this. On top of that frustration the lighting in the culture room was off today, and we discovered even more problems...
Read more HERE - Apr 22, 10
The grain of salt rule applies here as well... You can tell he's not a scientist, but... scientists should learn from him and his high pitched voice. This is a journalist that knows how to get the message through. I LIKE him!
Read more HERE - Apr 22, 10
Edith Widder: Glowing life in an underwater world | Video on TED.com
This is kind of slow at first, but really picks up... Watch it! You will not regret it. Sit back and enjoy the wonderful pictures, the excitement and one hell of an explorer :) Kudos, Edith Widder!
Read more HERE - Apr 17, 10
Had a break through frustration today. Discovered the Life in Science Equation! Verification is a work in slow progress, but it looks very promising so far. Read more about this HERE
- Apr 14, 10
Updated my page on ongoing experiments at RUC. Happy birthday to me :D
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Publications
Guri Sogn Andersen is a member of Biological Sciences on Mendeley.
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Tweets
- Julia - gå hjem og vogg. Lukta av rødvin kl ni om morran var ikke så feil likevel... http://t.co/PLMdYSNk
- Boob sagging and pregnancy enhancing dresses? Reality check! - Please… http://t.co/EIJZG7Xy #fashion #fashiontweeks #MANGO
- Boob sagging and pregnancy enhancing dresses? Reality check! - Please… http://t.co/GSIT8eoC
- Photo: Unexpected guest for coffee:-) Why I love living at Nesodden! (Taken with instagram) http://t.co/Wtq7uAov
- @Mulle RT @music2work2: Chocolate smelling earphones - really! --->5 Must-Have Devices for Music Lovers | http://t.co/Hhg81WF8
- Decent, perhaps a little too quirkless? Not sure yet. New Year tickles me, though. Def worth a listen. http://t.co/9yz6pnwC #Spotify
- @NathanFillion Awsm!! May I use this in a graphic story mashup? As 1)Sin City-ish evil eye (cropped) & 2)Man catching moon. B/W lithography
- EXACTLY! http://t.co/pHru9iqx
- Photo: Weekends new arrivals :-) (Taken with instagram) http://t.co/tcAej1BK
- Photo: Dagen derpå… (Taken with instagram) http://t.co/Oy97L7X0
- Gratulerer med dagen da, folkens! Ta godt vare på hverandre. Og fra en tidligere korpstubaist: Ha respekt for de stakkars korpssmåjævlene;-)
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Posts
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Photos
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Posts
- Jun 22, 11
Here's a treat in the hot Norwegian summer. It can happen, sometimes we actually have days above 20 degrees! This soup is Guri's invention. Blue mussels with muscles. The recipe is simple, and the ingredients are sustainable. You can eat as much blue mussels as you wish. Just be aware of the algae toxins if you collect the mussels by your self. Blue mussels with muscles - 1 kg blue mussels - a
- Oct 04, 10
As you've probably figured out, there are two ingredients we love above most - namely, cream and butter. There is nothing like the smell of butter sissling away in a hot pan or the the feel of luscious creamed stuff on the tongue. A couple of days ago we went hunting in the local forest. We went hunting for mushrooms. Not far from the tracks we found great spots where chanterelles,
- Oct 04, 10
1/2 dl raisins Salad - mix whatever sorts you can get your hands on 1 dl bean sprouts 1 dl pumpkin seeds cherry tomatoes juice from 1/2 lime 1 tbls good quality balsamico Chop it and mix it. Enjoy! Works great as a side dish to lamb roast and Hellbay Forest Creamed Mushrooms
- May 01, 10
So... here is the backdrop for the menu tonight. We bought a bottle of quite expensive barolo red wine. Oh, joy... what a feast we were going to have! Back home, all snuggled up in the sofa with pillows and blankets, a movie and what not it turned out to be a BIG disappointment! The wine had turned on us. Acid. Yiack! Turning the disappointment to our advantage, we went trough our fridge in
- Apr 03, 10
Yesterdays lamb was waaay too much for two people to consume for dinner. Fortunately, roast leftovers are one of my absolute favourite dishes. At least when served as we did tonight. Although we both love cooking, it's nice to get a great tasting meal with minimum effort. All we had to do was; heat the oven to about 200 C,slice three medium sized potatoes (...we're talking really thin slices!)
- Apr 04, 10
Aaahh... Easter dinner as it should be. Lamb is normally stretching our budget a bit, but come Easter and soon to come birthday (when I'll be in Denmark, away from Lars and our dog :( ... ) today we decided to jump into our fancy pants and get crazy. Lamb roast is on the menu. Side dishes will be celery root purée and baked vegetables. - Dig it! Here is what you'll need:LAMB:1 - 1 1/2 kg lamb (we
- Apr 02, 10
I'll be having dinner alone today. I'll use today to make a very healthy dish that most people don't like, or more correct, think they don't like. You should give it a try! It has been a belief among people that the oceans are so large that we are unable to empty them, but later management and science has proven this conviction to be wrong. Many resources are depleted, and marine fisheries also
- Apr 02, 10
Most people eat to live, but some of us, at least some days, live to eat. Today is one of the days. Dinner today is served in two dishes. First comes the Full-bodied hellbay forest onion soup. This is a full dish for two persons. As a starter, you better halve the recipe. One red onionOne regular onionFour Shallots1/2 liter water1/2 cube bullion1 laurel leaf1 ts dried estragon2 tbls white wine
- Apr 02, 10
For a second dish of today's dinner we made a Mackerel salad. It's really simple in composition, but tastes great after the sweet and heavy taste of onions. Here's what you'll need: Whole grain pasta (about four handfuls) 1 smoked mackerel with pepper 1/4 yellow pepper2 tomatoes (try to get some sweet, ripe ones)1 avocado1 shallot pine nuts3 cloves of garlic1 limereally good olive oilsalt Cook
- Mar 30, 10
We are both quite into coarse bread. This is a recipe that I have experimented with a bit. It is very simple, perhaps the coarsest bread I've ever made successfully. It must be made in two operations, because it is a sourdough.First day you simply blend 1 liter of coarse ground whole rye flour...Read all...
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Posts
Some snapshots with echoes from ancient and recent pasts. Read the “2000 year old echoes” post to get the story in words :-)
~Guri
- 2000 year old Echoes
Taking a stroll in the ruins of Pompeii was… I don’t know… using a little bit of imagination, it felt kind of like taking a time travel about 2000 years back in time. We walked the streets, checked out local brothels and bakeries and enjoyed the sun shine on marble stones embedded in the streets. The bright white stones also reflect the moonlight, making it easy to follow the main roads in night-time. It must still be a beautiful sight, like watching the reflection of a sparkly night sky.
As we walked through the city, we noticed that wheels from horse carriages that used to fill the streets had left permanent marks in them. We were taken away by mosaic floors with the warning “be aware of the dog” (in latin) and amazingly well preserved frescos depicting sexual activity. The guide told us that 32 bakeries and 24 brothels were discovered in the excavations of Pompeii (roughly 35% of the city is still covered, though). Lars comment was: “Jaha, så det var tydeligvis såvidt litt viktigere med brød enn med morrabrød…” I won’t even try to translate that one…
After the eruption of a volcano close by the Vesuvius (Vesuvius was evidently formed during this eruption), the city of Pompeii was completely covered by volcanic stone and ashes. Along with the buildings, about 2000 of the 20-30 000 people residing there, cats, dogs and other animals were buried alive. They all had roughly three days to get out, but for some reason they didn’t. The cavities and the bones left after the decay of the bodies were so well preserved, that complete plaster casts were made at the discovery. Seeing the shape of humans, like 2000 year old echoes of their dying moments, made a profound impression somewhere in me.The echo of a teenage boy:
The site was discovered by accident in 1749 (read more here) and is really well worth the three hour drive from Rome. I’ll add a picture gallery in a short while…
~Guri
Today we passed Pantheon again. A walk around the Pantheon is also a nice experience. I have tried to capture some of the details here.
~Lars
Some of the local inhabitants waiting for their salvation at Piazza San Pietro. Or maybe they just wants some breadcrumbs.
~Lars
(2/2) The visit to Pantheon was downright magnificent. Be sure to drop by if you visit Rome. In need of unwinding after a full day of grandeur, we relaxed at a café called Bar del Fico, where old men were playing chess beneath a tall fig tree. Nice :-)
~ Guri
(1/2) To get to the Pantheon we walked a route leading us by the Castel Sant’ Angelo which originally was built to hold the remains of the emperor Hadrian in 139 AD. It now appears as a fortified bastion which among other things served as the popes retreat site way back when (the mid-16th century I think)… We went through a bunch of charming alleys to get to the Piazza Navona and shortly thereafter, the Pantheon…
~ Guri
- The Pantheon
Headed down to the Pantheon which was amazing. The dome is the largest arched construction of its kind, concrete that is, in the world. With a diameter of 43.3 m it’s even bigger than the dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica. In other words… it’s pretty frekkin impressive! The structure as seen today was completed between 118 and 125 A.D., during the reign of Hadrian.
We relaxed at several cafés and did some window shopping in the sun. Got my eyes set on two pairs of Italian shoes, a belt and a purse. Probably not going to be able to leave them behind ;-) A perfect day. Booked a guided tour in the Vatican city for tomorrow. Really looking forward to that!~ Guri
Our second day in Rome is a Monday. Sleeping a while, and a later breakfast than usual. This is the whole point with this trip. Take it easy, but still discover the eternal city. After all, the city is eternal, and I guess it will still be around for the next ten days.
Today we have had cappuccino, some foccachia/pannini thing for lunch, and chestnuts and beer for second lunch. Guri and I were crazy, and enjoyed a Peroni beer each in the Piazza San Pietro. We had dinner in a restaurant that gave a poor first impression. Luckily, the food totally outclassed our expectations. Even the service was good, in a nice and clumsy Italian way (as compared to the Norwegian stiff service style). A nice day.
~ Lars
We spent the daylight hours walking to the St Peters Square and relaxing in the sun. A lot of impressions and enjoying Berninis work (read about him here if you want) resulted in a heap-load of pictures… I won’t be boring you with too many - google will give you plenty that are better than mine if you are interested - and I bet Lars will post some too ;-)
Had to include the one showing of the saints in an arch… During Johannes Paulus II (or Karol Wojtyla) more people were given status as saints than during the 17 popes that went before him - IN ALL! Now, there’s one guy that knew his PR…!
~ Guri
That does it, we’re gonna stay… ;-) We’re gonna drive around in a little yellow fiat and drink a lot of wine in our scruffy castle! Wanna come?
- A rough start to falling in love
Well, I choose to look at it this way. We are improving… Dead tired, uncaffeinated, scruffy and smelly we managed to get to the gate just in time for the final call… gahh.
Now, we are settled in a nice contemporary hotel close to the heart of the ancient city Rome.After a good two hour sleep we had pizza and beer at a pizzeria in the neighborhood. Pictures from Fellinis La Dolce Vita hanging on maroon brick walls and tables covered by those red and white cloths we all know from the movies may be cheap tricks to set the mood… I don’t know and I don’t care - It works and I just love it
Finally, we felt fit to explore the first chunks of the eternal city. We took a night stroll towards the Piazza del Popolo, headed down the Via del Babuino to Piazza di Spagna, before stopping by the mausoleum of emperor Augustus and heading home to the Twentyone Hotel at via Cola di Rienzo. I’m pretty sure I could do the same stroll every single of the ten remaining days we’re going to spend here and still get excited.~ Guri
At the pizzeria I was smitten, but now I find myself irretrievably falling in love.
The pictures below are sampled from this album. Feel free to visit :-)
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