Speaking of Clutter – how did this project first begin and what is it exactly? Clutter is the sister blog of ErrantScience, which is a blog about life in academia and research, filled with cartoons and just a hint of sarcasm. I got to know the creator of ErrantScience, and after much scheming we decided to set up Clutter. Clutter is a blog which covers similar topics, but with a range of different voices. We have two posts a month, one from me and one from a guest. Posts are generally about academia or working in science, but authors don’t need to be scientists. It’s essentially a friendly, informal place to read and write about science!
Who is your scicomm role-model? Oo tricky. I think it would have to be Prof. Danielle George. She was the 2014 Christmas Lecturer so I worked quite closely with her. I think I’m right in saying that she’d not done any TV work before, and she took it all in her stride. Had really creative ideas, so much energy and enthusiasm, and was totally dedicated to making it a good experience for the audience. And then she gave the Lectures while 8 months pregnant! Amazing lady. She’s doing loads of science communication now, and rightly so. Also Matthew Partridge, who is the aforementioned creator of ErrantScience. He’s an active researcher, a science communicator, and I think secretly he’s created his own nuclear fusion plant - he has so much energy for every project he works on (and he has a LOT of them on the go!). It’s very inspiring. About Michelle... Michelle is the host of Clutter.errantscience.com, and a recovering spider scientist. She now does a whole bunch of science communication things, and still regularly wrangles arachnids. Find her on twitter: @michelleareeve