Year in Review: 2023

So, the blogging dropped off a bit in the end. Largely, teaching hit: October to December is my heaviest teaching period, but it has been compounded this year by a trip to Sweden, an excellent "Design Beyond Vision" workshop care of Simon Dogger and Boey Wang, and a big grant deadline all in November; and a week's sick leave in December. Blogging is always the thing that has to slide under these circumstances.

Anyway, I am now drawing a line under the year, and downing tools til the New Year, so this seemed like a good to reflect on the year gone by.

Mostly, it has been the year where "things got back to normal". I mean, I guess I travelled internationally for work twice in 2022, compared with three times this year, so it wasn't a big jump, but still, there was also:

1) submitted my first non-review paper since the pandemic;

2) submitted my first two grant applications since the pandemic;

3) took on my first PhD student since the pandemic;

4) attended my first in-person Immersive Cognition Lab meetings since the pandemic;

5) attended my first graduation since the pandemic.

It may not seem like much, but psychologically it's a pretty big deal.

My final two PhD students successfully completed. I finished my Michael Beverley innovation fellowship. We had the second ever in-person itDf meeting (and the first one I had attended), which was great. 

Highlights of the year were World Haptics; a trip to Frinton-on-Sea to brainstorm with Russ Palmer and Riitta Lahtinen; the Tracking People book being published; and the Haptics for Inclusion event in Sweden. We've managed to start interviews on the Touching the Past/Feel the Physics projects, which is exciting, and with a new research fellow in place on itDf I hope we can make a lot of progress in its final year.

I'm hoping to get at least two grant proposals and two papers submitted next year. That's my aim.

We're looking at dusting off the old grip modelling work that got dropped when the pandemic hit. I'd like to get some fundamental haptics studies done. 

I'd also like to do more blog posts that aren't just updates. That would be good.

So I'll leave it there, for now. Merry Christmas, and all the best for the New Year! Here's to 2024!