Dear Blog,

I’m writing this today before I go off on holiday again for a final week in the North Yorkshire moors. I’ve not been up that way before but am looking forward to seeing Whitby with its Dracula connections. I’m sure it will rain but hopefully not all of the time.

It’s been a quiet time with lots of colleague on holiday though those who are here are gearing up for the new academic year. I’ve been updating modules on Blackboard, our virtual learning environment where we keep lecture notes and much more besides for the students. The university has upgraded to Blackboard 9.1 so I’ve been trying to learn how to use this new system.

Professor Simon Bainbridge and I have come up with our long shortlist of essays entered for the Keats-Shelley Prize (http://www.keats-shelley.co.uk/). We managed to whittle the essays down to six, which the judge for the essay and poetry prize will now select from. It’s always really interesting to read these essays. They give a kind of snapshot of the kind of work being done in universities both in terms of subject matter and approach. We also have a good number from people who don’t seem to be students; the subject of the essay is not limited and we get a wide range of responses. As ever, the essays that went through on our shortlist were of a very high quality.

I’ve peer reviewed a very good article for a journal that I will not name since the whole thing is supposed to be anonymous. I enjoyed reading this a great deal and had only a few suggestions for making the essay even better than it already was. I’ve also been asked to write something for The Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com/), which is very exciting. This journal was published in the Romantic period in 1823 by Thomas Wakley as part of his effort to rid the profession of corruption.

Other than this, I’ve been marking resit essays and exams, and when I get back from holiday I really need to get down to some research. I’ll be officially on research leave when I get back!

Best,

Sharon