Celebrating the non-academic outputs!

A celebration of non-academic lockdown outputs

 

We are always highlighting the academic achievements of our Lab members, but in light of the current circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to take a step back and also celebrate our non-academic activities (however seemingly big or small) from during the lockdown period and beyond. Productivity is not the main focus right now – we should be supporting ourselves and our community first and foremost. We understand that thoughts of non-academic activities may not be possible for everyone at the moment, but there really is no output too small to be celebrated! With that in mind, please enjoy a rare glimpse of some of the non-academic activities our Lab members have been engaging in throughout lockdown and the new normal.

 
Susana has been baking lots of bread throughout lockdown as well as making many delicious dishes from scratch! Susana’s son, Andrés, has also started to bake!
Susana's baking outputs with the help of son Andrés
One of Elodie Freymann's quarentine outputs - this beautifully crafted design represents the Carboniferous Period of the Paleozonic Era
Over quarentine, Elodie has been working on designing and creating a book that documents the evolution of life across geologic time. Each design is cut out of black paper using an X-acto blade and documents some of the major evolutionary changes or disappearances during each specific age. Elodie is currently up to the Paleogene and hopes to hand-bind the book when she is finished to be used as an accessible teaching tool for anyone interested in learning more about life on earth.

Thomas has been hard at work in his allotment during lockdown!

Thomas watering his plants inside a greenhouse at his allotment

 
Kat's non-academic activities: an image of Kat wearing an apron whilst busy in the kitchen rolling out dough, alongside two close-ups of the finished Momos
Kat has been exploring her love for cooking and trying out recipes from the countries she has visited. For Easter weekend she made Momos for the very first time from a recipe she picked up in Nepal almost 10 years ago.
Whilst at home, Megan's Dad has been introducing her to his new hobby: acrylic pour painting. She decided to have a go for herself and is pleased to report that her work has been accepted with minor revisions and will be published on the wall soon.
Megan Beardmore-Herd sat in front of a painted board, brush in hand, paint on face, contemplating the next brush stroke
Philippa's running buddy: Charlie the dog, pictured here happily laying down outside with her tongue out
Philippa has been running with her dog Charlie in the mornings (or rather, Philippa reports, Charlie has been dragging her around and improving her speed!) and she is also trying out new dinner recipes in the evening.
Lucy has been baking, going on socially distanced walks, drawing and FaceTiming with her family (and cat!).
Lucy's non-academic activities - images showing a river flanked by trees and greenery taken from a bridge, a drawing of flowers, homebaked sponge cake, and Lucy on FaceTime to her cat
Jana's non-academic activities - three images of Jana's allotment, one showing new shoots sprouting from tended soil, another showing the empty plot before cultivation on "16 April", and another showing vegetable beds and the progress made by "10 May"
Since lockdown started, Jana has taken up allotment gardening as a way to get outside more and enjoy the sunshine. She says it has been really rewarding to watch the plants start to grow and provides a very tangible (and yummy) reward when successful! She is looking forward to sharing her fruit and veg with local labmates once it's ready.
Sophie is in lockdown with her Mum (a keen knitter) who has been teaching her how to knit. With her new skill, Sophie has been making scarves for friends. She has also been reading fiction for the first time in years (currently Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Berniè res).
Sophie's non-academic activities - Sophie knitting a scarf and then showing the finished product
João recording a song in his home studio

João co-manages Meurónios Bosque (an independent collective of artists), and produces all the videos for the songs released. During the quarentine, João and his group released one videoalbum of acoustic-ambient ORLA - Espiral Medusa (where João raps in a track) and one EP of electronic-ambient music Momentum II - Karin, plus multiple tracks/singles ranging in genres from blues/jazz-fusion to psychedelic rap.
René has been learning how to bake bread during lockdown, and has also picked up the guitar for the first time in years!
René's non-academic activities - one image of René kneading dough in order to make bread and another of him playing the guitar