Why apples? Why now? For playtime why not try an apple bobbing game – perhaps a forgotten seasonal tradition. The aim is for each person to bite an apple from a large bowl of water using only their mouths. I remember playing this as a child. However, historically it had romantic meanings, particularly linked to Halloween and a Celtic festival at the end of Autumn. Original versions involved guessing a person’s romantic future. But it’s just for fun!

On a romantic note, it was this time of year that I first met my husband-to-be in 1978. It was a Halloween party at the Christie Hospital Staff Club. I was a PhD student at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research (known as the Paterson Labs in those days). I was swept off my feet by a dashing young lawyer (well something like that 😉😂).

On a well-being note, I think I really should eat more apples.

Let’s hear it for the apples 🍎📣.

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 30/10/2025

Further comment: Nowadays there are pumpkins galore and they are lovely🎃. So when did pumpkins become the tradition in the UK? That’s another story. I remember as a child we used large turnips – how hard they were to carve! [A nod there to some Irish heritage and like many a few of my ancestors.]

What a great time to be involved in research and communications! I am thinking particularly of Life Sciences, Clinical and Health Research. These areas are important, exciting, and sometimes surprising. But what kind of research interests you?

BASIC RESEARCH focusing on fundamental knowledge delving into areas where we want to know more or understand better.
APPLIED RESEARCH using knowledge and understanding to develop practical applications, technologies, or interventions.
FRONTIER RESEARCH pursuing new knowledge and discoveries that challenge the boundaries of what is known.

Frontier research is particularly exciting, and it is often in the news these days. However, with new capabilities and potential applications can come questions of ethics. Put simply: Just because we can – doesn’t mean should! There again new knowledge and understanding can lead directly or indirectly to important breakthroughs beneficial to humankind.

I am grateful for the experiences of doing research, studying or communicating in all these subject areas and also the different types of research.

Speaking from experience there are many interesting career options. Life sciences are fascinating per se, and the Life Sciences sector is receiving a lot of attention from different governments.

I am noticing an increase in research opportunities advertised in academia or research institutes. I am also sure that many new opportunities will evolve in future.

It’s a great time to be considering a course, a career or an area of interest.
What an important and exciting time this is for undergrads, postgrads, and postdocs! How the world and humankind need you!

Let’s also remember that science is for everyone. Communication about research is very important!

In these rapidly changing times LIFE SCIENCES, clinical research, and health research contribute to our knowledge and understanding; find solutions and give hope.

There is much meaningful work still to be done and deserving of support.

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 20/10/2025

Is October starting to buzz?

Yesss!

It seems a good time to encourage COMMUNICATORS – those we know who have good messages and are doing good things. Otherwise, by staying silent we might inadvertently allow a handful of people to hog the limelight with poor communication and even misinformation or disinformation.

Indeed, let’s talk about the communicators. Professional speakers, medical writers, science communicators, journalists, authors etc.

Specialists and generalists. Academics, researchers, regulators, policy makers, influencers. The well-known and the unsung heroes. Those with other hidden or not so hidden talents. Singers, dancers, poets, humourists, and magicians. There are many ways to share a message and work with purpose.

A message doesn’t need to be loud-voiced to resonate. Better to have messages spoken or written with purpose, meaning, and authenticity.

Here’s to the people who convey or exchange information, news, or ideas, especially those who are eloquent or skilled. Here’s to those aspiring to be great or just better communicators. Those who advocate, demonstrate, and practice continuous learning.

Let’s encourage communicators!

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 16/10/2025

Earlier this week and very early one morning I woke up, walked over to the window and gazed to the hills to be greeted by this stunning spectacle!

I captured the moment with this snapshot. Only later that day did I realise its significance when my husband started playing the track Harvest Moon (see below). He can be a romantic at times which is much appreciated.

Life is hard and I think we are all feeling weighed down and weary by the woes of the world. In such times we can sometimes say harsh things without giving our words much thought. Sometimes, however, lovely moments come out of the blue and are worth sharing.

Thought for the weekend. My message serves as a reminder to pause, observe, and appreciate real things and natural phenomena. It is also a reminder to be kind, say something nice about someone, and share a smile on a seemingly ordinary day which may turn out to be not so ordinary after all 😊.

It’s the real thing caught on camera (no AI needed).

More pictures and comments may follow below.

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 09/10/2025

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[‘Harvest Moon’ by Neil Young. A song that celebrates a lasting relationship]

Could September be the time for reconnection, connection, and resurgence?
This is a message to all the amazing people I am proud to know and who work in many different fields. The very visible people and the quieter people all ‘doing their bit’ in troubling times in a complex world.

As an aside, I do not necessarily agree with all their views or even all your views, but I think that is healthy. It is important to keep an open mind sometimes, and from time to time check our own views and opinions in the light of new evidence or other perspectives.

Let’s remember there can still be many points of agreement and mutual interest with people who have very different perspectives.

SEPTEMBER IS ALREADY LOOKING LIKE A MONTH OF RESURGENCE, INCREASED ACTIVITY, AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES.

For the Younger Generations (and their parents):

‘Back to school’

‘Off to Uni’

Freshers’ week

For Everyone: It’s a good time to think about connections and reconnections.

I ALSO SEE MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE IN SCIENCE, and I try to highlight some on these in my LinkedIn ‘likes’

More to come here on science and naturally LIFE SCIENCES, CLINICAL AND HEALTH RESEARCH. Watch this space …

Are you ready?

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 15/09/2025

‘The future is everything.’ Stories of animals overcoming challenges communicated through scientific study, observation, and superb filming. ‘Parenthood’ – a superb new natural history series narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

(Available now to watch on the BBC/ BBC iPlayer.) Thanks also to the BBC for sharing the trailer.

I am finding this series fascinating.

Makes you think. Sometimes relatable to human experiences but in some cases thankfully not.

Highly recommended.

It’s something worth watching over the summer holidays.

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 18/8/25

Sometimes it’s not what you say – it’s how you say it. Here’s how to talk posh:

TALKING POSH ©

Take a deep breath now
You can breathe the AIR
Let the breeze blow gently through your HAIR
Don’t hide away come out of your LAIR

Speak up and all together now say:
AIR HAIR LAIR

Wow that sounds posh!

And hello to you too 😉

© Julie Charlesworth 2025

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See – you can do it and there’s nothing to it – if you like that sort of thing 😊.

[A poem I wrote inspired by a joke I’d heard somewhere, some time back.]

On arrival at University, my Yorkshire accent was quite broad and I sometimes had to adapt it a bit to be even understood. Never to this extreme 😂.

I like different accents. They’re easy to pick up again ‘tha nos’. 😉

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 11/8/25

I do declare that I am proud of my very smart Yorkshire working class roots.

And as I have said before:

Manchester made me, l’d have to say.
But I was once a Yorkshire lass.
Born and bred there some time past.
Thankful to have some Northern grit.
And what the world needs now is some Northern wit!

A little bit of Yorkshire lives on in my garden in leafy Cheshire.

My husband had the presence of mind to bring a rhubarb root from my dad’s rhubarb patch to plant in our garden at home in Cheshire. My dad’s Yorkshire rhubarb is still flourishing year after year even today, 30 years after my dad died.

The legacy of my Yorkshire parents lives on in many different ways.

Watch out for some much needed Northern wit …

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 1/8/25

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As it is holiday time, for a change you might like to try travelling with this unusual airline 😉✈️
See Yorkshire Airlines sketch by Hale and Pace.

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Hopeful futures and Joyful Celebrations 🎉.

University graduation ceremonies, interviews with graduates and postgraduates have been uplifting! Proud parent posts are heart-warming!

And to come – there are exam results days looming for many teenagers. There will be much joy again 😊.

Whether receiving good news or initial disappointments all young adults will face uncertainties and choices to be made now or further along. Us ‘Oldies’ remember our own experiences in our teens and twenties and our experiences second time round as parents.

The ‘what would you have told your younger self?’ question is often posed.

Around this time 5 years ago with plenty of time for reflection I wrote a verse about perspectives in life. I had been thinking about my ‘own journey’. I was also becoming concerned about how young adults’ lives were being affected by the covid pandemic, associated restrictions, and lockdowns. Life might not be going to plan for many of them. I sent my verse to post-grad and undergrads I had been a mentor to. They liked it and said it was helpful! I published the verse back then on my website.

‘CHANCE, CHOICE AND DEFINING MOMENTS ©’ It seems a good time to share it again (click here)

I am thinking of all those embarking on courses or just starting their careers, also their families.

I hope you can spare a minute to read the verse and that you like it.

It’s about keeping life in perspective, taking things seriously but not worrying too much.

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 24/7/25

I thought ‘This is serious stuff! I needed to know about it.’  It left me ‘gobsmacked’ and feeling compelled to do something.
What could I do?
 
BACKGROUND💡.  It was a Lecture 9th June 2015 The Cockcroft Rutherford Lecture 2015: Dame Sally Davies. The University of Manchester.
Title ‘The Drugs don’t work
A Global threat.’
The subject: Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).
 
WHAT COULD I DO?
Speak up and communicate to raise awareness and hopefully inspire others. Initially, by writing and publishing my first LinkedIn Article – entitled ’Spread the Words, not Infectious Diseases’. At the same time, I wrote and published the first of several blogs on this subject here on my company website.
 
I also focused on some of my immediate spheres of influence and activity at that time (2015 to 2017) MedComms and Medical Writing groups. A good way to spread the messages through other communicators.
 
Over the past 10 years I have continued to ‘spread the word’ ad hoc sharing information, the science and other good work I came across.
In doing so I continued to learn about and appreciate the values of trans-disciplinary approaches and specialities including basic science, drug development, frontier research with new approaches, and also the importance of public health and policy. You can learn a lot from looking beyond your own specialisms.
 
IMPACT:  It is difficult to say whether I had much (if any) significant impact, but I am hoping so.
 
WHY DO ANYTHING? It was simply about ‘doing the right thing’ or what I thought was the best way I could contribute.
 
10 YEARS ON – SOME KEY MESSAGES:
 
AMR continues to be a major concern!
There have been advances and progress; great work has been done by many people in different spheres – this needs to continue.
 
The important role of universities in informing and inspiring action (beyond undergraduate and post graduate teaching).
 
‘Doing the right thing’ is valid and important.
 
Think ‘what can I do?’

by Dr Julie Charlesworth 21/7/25

 
 
[Here is the link to my first blog on this subject published 10 years ago in the summer of 2015]