That Was The Year That Was.
And what a year it was! A year when the world was besieged by a scary new virus – SARS-CoV-2, more commonly known as COVID-19. As we plunged into the uncertainties of the pandemic response, it became clear that as nations we would need to employ a strategy of isolation, and that as researchers a new paradigm for continuing to work was required.
Enter the almighty Zoom application! Most, if not all of us have become accustomed to our collegial environment suddenly looking like this…
… but in the beginning, there were some burning questions: What should I wear? Do I really look like that? Should I let people see the state of my home office or use a background? Which background?
Luckily our lockdown did not linger for too long, and we were soon able to reinhabit our more usual workspaces, but the experience demonstrated a number of positives – that we were adaptable, and that (mostly) we could be productive. Lockdown revealed ways that we could work together, to connect, that will no doubt be useful in the future.
And so… bring on 2021…