Latest Alumni Publications
Here you’ll find the latest round-up of publications written by Catz alumni. If you’ve recently published a book, or have any other news, please share it with us.
Annette Bramley (1990, Metallurgy)
Research Collaboration: A step-by-step guide to success (IOP, 2021)
Collaboration is a defining feature of 21st-century research, with more and more people routinely traversing formal disciplinary boundaries in the quest for fundamental and applied scientific discovery – even when it takes them beyond their core domain knowledge and expertise.
This book takes a practical approach to support researchers in their collaborative practice. It will help readers to overcome common barriers to research collaboration, preparing them to form high-quality collaborations within a supportive organisational culture. Suitable for researchers at all levels, this book serves a global audience.
It is as relevant for PhD students and postdoctoral scientists as it is to senior research managers working across academia, government agencies and industry. It also provides an invaluable reference for key stakeholders in the wider ecosystem supporting and facilitating research and innovation.
Rob Donovan (1967, Modern History)
Dying to Know (Troubador, 2022)
I am a runner with a special local circuit. One and three-quarter miles up to the top of the hill at Little Trevalgan, within the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall – and then back down again. 3.5 miles for the free flow of thoughts.
You, the reader, are my companion as I run. Privy to the thoughts that bubble up from my subconscious, what you read is, in part, autobiographical. You also delve into the bole in my magic tree to access the fruits of research into matters that need further investigation. A touch of magical realism does not come amiss at the best of times – but this run of mine is being completed in the worst of times.
I am running in a pandemic. How has the world become gripped by a virus that is proving so deadly? Why are so many dying before their time? You share my journey of discovery in the realms of history, politics, economics and science over the first year of this pandemic
Thomas Mogford (1996, Modern Languages)
The Plant Hunter (Welbeck, 2022)
London, 1867, and the King’s Road, Chelsea, is lined with exotic plant nurseries, catering to the Victorian obsession with rare and valuable flora. But with the thirst for exotics reaching fever pitch, so too does the market for planthunters – daring adventurers sent into uncharted lands in search of wonders to grace England’s finest gardens.
Harry Compton’s life is a long way from that of a swashbuckling planthunter. Having trained as a humble undergardener, his good looks see him plucked from obscurity to work as a nursery salesman, selling fashionable plants to the well-heeled ladies of Chelsea.
But one small act of kindness leads Harry to inherit a precious gift – a specimen of a fabled plant last heard of in The Travels of Marco Polo. And, along with the specimen, comes a map.
Seizing his chance, Harry strikes out alone for fame and fortune. But where there is wealth there is wickedness, and soon Harry is fleeing England, rounding the Cape of Good Hope and sailing up the Yangtze alongside a prickly young widow – in pursuit of the plant that will transform both their lives forever.