Sabbatical Diary: Weeks 33—34

A quiet couple of weeks, as I more or less anticipated.

Caught up with some reading for various committees. I’m on sabbatical so am not allowed to attend any of them except University Council. However I still get the papers so it seems sensible to read through them from time-to-time so there’s less to catch up on.

Attended a couple of seminars the Department.

Prepared for some external work next week.

Finally made a proper start writing my talk for WOWMOM’26. Had to cancel the practice seminar I was due to give on Thursday due to last-minute half-term childcare shenanigans. But the slides are now actually underway so it’s only postponed really, to 11 June.

And had a very interesting site visit connected with the building efficiency work we’re trying to get off the ground. A colleague owns and operates a small block of flats in Cambridge, which he had refurbished with a keen eye to energy efficiency. The net of which is that the heating system is now very much more efficient. After augmenting it to support cooling and after increasing the floor plan of the block by 25% (my estimate), the monthly heating bills come in 90% lower than they were before the work was done. Carbon footprint is significantly reduced too. I think that’s a pretty convincing number—it will be exciting to see what can be achieved in the College and across the University estate!