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October 2016

Influencing NHS decision making: modelling for urgent and emergency care

I’m on a journey to influence NHS decision making using mathematical modelling at a strategic level. My aim is to support local policymakers on what services to provide, where and with what capacity, particularly regarding the provision of urgent and emergency care. The obstacles I’ve encountered on this journey have been numerous but overcoming them has led to new relationships, a better understanding of the structures within the NHS (see the diagram below). Continue reading →

What women don’t want: how many countries still ‘mummy track’ women

Helen Kowalewska argues that although many women with caring responsibilities want to work full-time, policies across industrialised countries are still channelling many into more poorly paid and part-time ‘mummy track’ careers. The problem with mummy track careers Women earn 33% less than men on average by the time their first child is 12 years old, according to a recent report on the UK. Continue reading →

Black holes, theoretical physics and Ada Lovelace…

It has been an exciting twelve months for those of us working on Einstein’s theory of gravity, general relativity. In November 2015 we celebrated the centenary of the publication of Einstein’s general relativity paper. Just a few months later, we learnt that one of the great predictions of his theory, gravitational waves, had been discovered by the LIGO experiment. Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime. Continue reading →