Months in review: March and April 2020

Last time I wrote a month in review post I had just got back to work after maternity leave. At that point I was hoping that I would take control of my time, but it didn’t happen quite that way. In 2019 I invested A LOT in conferences, workshops, and collaborations. Some extremely valuable and fruitful, others not so much. One of my main goals for 2020 is to learn how to better focus on the most important things and make wiser choices.

2020 saw a lot of changes already. In January we moved from beautiful tropical Cairns to the Sunshine Coast, also in Australia and not less of a paradise. Mid-February we found a new home and late March – the last day before lockdown – I started a new job as a lecturer in Urban Design and Town Planning at the University of the Sunshine Coast, a position I am extremely proud of.

As I have previously written, ‘month in reviews’ have helped me realise where my time is going to, besides helping to keep me motivated. This time this post is a summary of the last two months.

Research

I have been analysing data collected in 2018 and preparing that research for publication.

I am honoured to be starting new collaborations, one with my Alma Mater UFPel in Brazil and another one – still very early days – with a diverse group of researchers from Australia and China. More on these to come.

I have also concluded a research about teaching pedagogies I had in Cairns.

Writing

I have been working on several publications about international perceptions of urban climate – with researchers from many different countries – another one about heatwaves in Queensland and also about biodiversity offsets.

I am also finalising an article for The Conversation to be published soon.

Presentations

Even though there were no seminars or conference presentations these past months, I have been interviewed twice by ABC. One for Brisbane (20th April) and another one for the ABC Sunshine Coast (22nd April). The topic was urban planning and design post-COVID. The same topic I am writing for The Conversation.

Teaching

This was a bit strange. I started teaching at USC in lockdown. The week I started was the week that everyone went home and classes were suspended so we could move all the content for online delivery. I started delivering ENP101 (Urban Design and Town Planning principles and practice) on week 5.

I am also supervising two (exciting) honours projects at USC and one gratuate certificate at JCU.

Learning

All those things we have to learn when starting in a new institution…

Also dedicating some time to practive watercolour and sketching.

I had plans to teach at ENSAM in La Réunion, but the plans had to be cancelled due to COVID-19.

Now things seem to be starting to get a bit more under control here in Australia, but we are getting to the end of the semester. Let’s see what semester 2 reserves.

* * *

Heading photo: Our new home