Amanda Byström

PhD student at the Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh, in love with the Milky Way halo.

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

@astroakshara Amazing work!!!

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

@pavel_mancera @NWOFunding Congratulations Pavel!!!

[Paul McMillan @McMillan_Astro]

Or, as the Swedes would say, det finns ingen dålig supraledande temperatur, bara dåliga kläder.

[the finite physicist @FinitePhysicist]

"Masters degree" sounds way cooler than "PhD"

Its better to say "I mastered physics" than "I doctored physics"

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

The Galactic archaeology session at @NAM2023_Cardiff was such a blast! I'm so happy to have given my first PhD project talk to such an enthusiastic and brilliant audience with which I got to have so many insightful discussions. Cheers!

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

@Anke_NL I had such a good time!! 🥳

[Unofficial NAM @UnofficialNAM]

A quick reminder to all NAM participants tomorrow - any "more a comment than a question"s must be given in Welsh. It's in the code of conduct

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

@hetmstanton Well done!!!

[Andrew Akbashev @Andrew_Akbashev]

This is why:

1. Funding decisions for PIs must take into account recommendation letters from former PhD graduates and postdocs. Because funding is used to pay for more students and postdocs, it should be allocated only if the PI knows how to manage people correctly.

2. Universities should hire senior professors only after collecting 5-10 recomm. letters from their former graduates, randomly selected.

3. Students should get university-level (or country-level) training in how to select advisors and avoid toxic PIs.

4. Universities should create internal funds and programs for the students who need to switch groups or get financial security while they’re trying to find a new employer. It should be mandatory if the university wants to receive funding from the government (that comes from taxes).

5. Private funders should stop funding “hot research topics” as much as they do these days. Instead, if they start helping students who are already in crisis (by offering fellowships or other support), they will make A LOT bigger impact on the academic community and entire society.

6. In any department, fellow professors should HELP students who got into toxic groups and need support. Not avoid them.

7. At department meetings, the topics of toxicity and mismanagement must be discussed as often as possible. Believe me, your students don’t care about the “strategic plans for the department”, “teaching rotations”, etc that you keep discussing there. All they care about is wellbeing. Everything else comes second. Ensure you are raising awareness and making the right emphasis on what is truly important for the students.

8. Finally, reduce tenure requirements. A lot of issues stem from the load the young PIs have to withstand. Reduce the load on PIs and you will reduce the load on students and postdocs.

Don’t ignore mismanagement. Don’t ignore toxicity.

Even if it doesn’t happen in your lab.

@AcademicChatter #AcademicTwitter #phdchat

[Dr. Saavik Ford @saavikford]

Women faculty are often seen as emotionally safer to approach, which results in greater (often invisible) emotional labor falling on those faculty. I’m not complaining—I have been on both sides of this—but trying to make it visible. The only reason I didn’t drop out

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

@BaqAnna Congratulations! 🥳

[Sergey Koposov @SKoposovAstro]

I decided to ask #ChatGPT to write a poem about stellar streams.

[Dr Emma Francis @emmarubyfrancis]

‼️ NEW Student Cost of Living report from @RussellGroupSUs shows the reality faced by UK PGRs, and the lack of appropriate financial support (1/6) ‼️ Please RT.

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

@astroakshara Get well soon ⚘️

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

Having seen several cool iterations of this plot for some time I 100% agree;)

[Akshara Viswanathan @astroakshara]

Shamelessly self-promoting my favourite plot!

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

@astroakshara Very well done, I'm loving what I'm seeing!

[Amanda Byström @astrobystrom]

@Emma_L_Dodd @KapteynAstro @MartinMontelius @astroakshara @hcwoudenberg @franciscoarmar It's amazing!!

[Trent Dupuy @TrentDupuy]

All you need to know about applying for Astro PhD studentships in Edinburgh! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔭🌌🛰🪐https://t.co/wSzAY2MtoW

I see a lot of PhD application pain on this app, so I will just point out that:
1. there is no fee to apply
2. the application form is 1-page long

deadline 8 January