Bryn Williams-Jones

Conflicting Advice / Les avis contradictoires What to do when everyone tells you something different / Que faire quand tout le monde vous dit quelque chose de différent?

Academic advice is often contradictory, shaped by discipline, culture, and personal experience. There’s no single path to success. Build a diverse mentoring network, ask for context, and trust your gut. Advice isn’t a map; it’s a toolbox. Use it to chart your own course.

What is Bioethics? / Qu'est-ce que la bioéthique? Making sense of complex issues and difficult choices / Comprendre les questions complexes et les choix difficiles

Bioethics isn’t abstract theory — it’s about navigating complexity, clarifying values, and supporting decisions when there are no perfect answers. It asks why we think something is right or wrong, and how to act responsibly amid uncertainty and competing interests. #bioethics #ethics #healthcare

The Know It All / Le Toutologue When expertise becomes entitlement / Quand l'expertise devient un droit acquis

Academia’s full of people who mistake confidence for competence. The know-it-all opines on everything, learns nothing, and still gets invited to the panel. Expertise isn’t the problem — ego is.

The Succession / La succession When stepping aside becomes the hardest part of the job / Quand se mettre en retrait devient le plus dur dans le boulot

Succession isn’t about replication. Efforts to secure continuity can slip into control and undermine fairness. True renewal means letting go, trusting colleagues to adapt, and recognizing that vibrant institutions evolve, not preserve power.

Inclusion or Tokenism? / Inclusion ou tokénisme? The problem with symbolic gestures / Le problème des gestes symboliques

When inclusion becomes ritual — land acknowledgments, token representation, ceremonial openings — it risks becoming virtue signalling. Real change demands relationships, education, structural shifts, and listening beyond performative moments. Inclusion isn’t about looking good, but doing good.

What is bioethics for in polarized times? The new issue of the CJB/RCB (cjb-rcb.ca) explores whether bioethicists should be advocates, activists, or architects of moral space amid geopolitical strain and threats to research and public health. A timely, provocative collection — open access.

Supervisor, Guide, Mentor / Directeur, guide, mentor A shared and winding journey through academic life / Un parcours commun et sinueux dans le monde universitaire

Supervision is more than deadlines and feedback, it’s trust, empathy, and adapting to each student’s rhythm. The role shifts between guide, cheerleader, and steady presence. At its best, mentoring becomes a shared journey of growth, resilience, and learning.

Self-Centred Colleagues / Collègues égocentriques Because teamwork is overrated / Parce que le travail d'équipe est surestimé

Prestige, autonomy, and strategic disengagement are often rewarded over collegiality and shared purpose. Rethinking hiring and institutional practices means valuing collaboration, emotional labour, and accountability — not just individual ambition.

Individual vs Collective Action / Action individuelle ou collective Dancing in the same storm / Danser dans la même tempête

We’re all in the same storm, even if our boats differ. Calling others “snowflakes” masks our own fragility. Resilience grows through interdependence, solidarity, and seeing diversity as strength. Snowflakes don’t just survive the storm, they transform it.

Accept Rejection to Get Published / Acceptez le rejet pour être publié Submissions, scope, and scholarly survival / Soumissions, portée et survie académique

Strong ideas aren’t enough — academic publishing demands strategy, resilience, and revision. Align with journal scope, treat peer review as collaboration, and refine your arguments. Rejection isn’t failure; it’s part of the path to publication.

Writing With Machines / Écrire avec des machines Creativity and the limits of AI / Créativité et limites de l'IA

Generative AI can support writing by enhancing structure and flow — but it demands effort, transparency, and critical engagement. It can’t replace authorship. Instead of banning it, we need AI literacy and thoughtful integration to avoid plagiarism and preserve analytic rigour.

The Web Platform from Hell / La plateforme Web infernale An infinite loop of accountability and despair / Une boucle infinie de responsabilité et de désespoir

Digital purgatory: ten tabs across, seven down, none relevant. Endless approval chains, cryptic validators, and checkboxes that scream: “You can’t be trusted.” Where research and reason go to die in triplicate. Welcome to bureaucracy’s ninth circle. #bureaucracy #university #administration

Science Fiction Ethics / Science-fiction et éthique Imagining (im)possible futures and norms / Imaginer des futurs et des normes (im)possibles

Science fiction asks the hardest questions: What if? Should we? From AI to digital afterlives, SF helps us explore ethics beyond theory — identity, justice, and the futures we’re building. It’s not prediction; it’s provocation. #Bioethics, #Futures, #Speculative

The Ascent / L'Ascension Notes from the Promotion Trail / Notes sur la piste de promotion

Academic promotion is a long climb marked by ambition, pressure, and quiet resilience. Each stage brings new challenges and growth. Success isn’t just reaching the summit, it’s knowing when to pause, reflect, and support others on their own journey.

Teaching Bioethics / Enseigner la bioéthique From concepts, to competencies, to practical application / Des concepts aux compétences, en passant par l'application pratique

Teaching bioethics means more than sharing knowledge, it’s about fostering ethical awareness, critical thinking, and the courage to face discomfort. The goal isn’t perfection, but ethical competence: acting with integrity in morally complex, emotionally charged contexts.

I Hate Writing Grant Applications / Je déteste rédiger des demandes de subventions Necessary, time-consuming, soul-draining, weirdly performative / Nécessaire, chronophage, épuisant et étrangement théâtral

Grant writing is exhausting: time-consuming, bureaucratic, and often demoralizing. Creative ideas must fit rigid templates, outdated platforms slow the process, and idealized teams are built for optics. When form trumps substance, collaboration and innovation risk getting lost.

Identity Politics and Difference / Politique identitaire et différence Being different doesn’t mean being excluded / Être différent ne signifie pas être exclu

Rigid identity categories can fragment more than unite. Human identity is messy, evolving, and overlapping. Real inclusion means rejecting simplistic labels, fostering dialogue, and building structures where everyone belongs, so “safe spaces” become unnecessary.

The CJB/RCB (cjb-rcb.ca) has just published a special issue "MAiD in Canada: A Sober Second Look", edited by Daryl Pullman & Jennifer Flynn. It brings together leading voices in bioethics, law, philosophy, and healthcare to critically examine Canada’s evolving medical assistance in dying regime.

A Jabberwockian Guide to Bad Writing / Guide Jabberwockien pour une mauvaise écriture Slashing through clichés, jargon, and footnote fog / Éliminer les clichés, le jargon et le brouillard des notes de bas de page

Welcome to the tangled thicket of academic writing, where clarity goes to die and jargon multiplies like gremlins after midnight. Fear not: armed with your vorpal pen, you can hack through the fluff, slay the Jabberwock, and rescue meaning from the clutches of sesquipedalian nonsense.

We Must be Role Models for our Students / Nous devons être des modèles pour nos étudiants Show them how to find balance, pleasure and success / Montrez-leur comment trouver l'équilibre, le plaisir et la réussite

Students learn not only through formal instruction but by observing how their professors navigate academic life. Modelling ethical conduct, resilience in the face of failure, work-life balance, and intellectual curiosity plays a crucial role in shaping how students understand professionalism.

Newspeak Revisited / La novlangue revisitée A satirical dispatch from the front lines of the language wars / Une dépêche satirique depuis le front des guerres linguistiques

The Ministry of Language Refinement has issued an updated memorandum on lexical discipline, reaffirming the Party’s commitment to semantic clarity and identity standardization. Citizens are reminded: in Newspeak, there is no ambiguity, only alignment.

Death by PowerPoint / Mort par PowerPoint How academia learned to stop worrying and love the monotone / Comment le monde universitaire a appris à ne plus s'inquiéter et à apprécier la monotonie

Academic talks too often feel like PowerPoint purgatory — 80 slides in 20 minutes, lime-green text, and speakers who mumble while taping Morse code with a pen. The issue isn’t the research, it’s the delivery. Despite being in the business of ideas, academia treats communication like an afterthought.

I see shifts happening, but it's dependent on local and institutional culture. In my department and faculty, it's clearly something that's being taken much more seriously.

Only a few days left to apply for an Assistant or Associate professor position in bioethics in the dynamic research and teaching environment that is the DMSP. Come join us in Montreal! #bioethics

When the Body Says Stop / Lorsque le corps dit « arrêt » Rethinking productivity in academic life / Repenser la productivité dans la vie universitaire

Academic life demands constant output, but our lives don’t always cooperate. Illness, caregiving and unexpected crises can derail even the best-laid plans. Real sustainability means learning to listen to our limits and adapting how and when we work.

This position if a full-time professor position, so includes research, teaching/supervision, service and outreach. And we're in a research-intensive faculty that's primarily focused on graduate teaching, so more time spent on research and supervision.

Pragmatic Bioethics / La bioéthique pragmatique When "good enough" Is the best we can do / Quand « assez bien » est le mieux qu'on puisse faire

Pragmatic bioethics asks how justice, respect, and inclusion can be advanced in the real world — not just in theory. It’s about working within flawed systems, navigating complexity, and making progress without perfection. Less dogma, more dialogue. Less purity, more practice.

Publish First, Finance Later / Publiez d'abord, financez ensuite Building an open access journal on a shoestring budget / Créer une revue en libre accès avec un budget très limité

Sustaining an open access journal means balancing innovation, collaboration, and resourcefulness. Key challenges included securing stable funding and maintaining editorial quality with limited paid staff. Partnerships and community engagement were essential to our journal’s long-term viability.

The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health at the Université de Montréal is recruiting for a position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor in Bioethics.

Deadline: October 10, 2024
www.umontreal.ca/public/www/d...

Hidden Differences / Des différences cachées Our colleagues' differences or disabilities are not always evident / Les différences ou les handicaps de nos collègues ne sont pas toujours évidents

From chronic illness to caregiving, mental health to neurodivergence, people navigate hidden struggles. Real inclusion means listening without judgment, adapting with care, and building systems that accommodate and expect difference. Sometimes the most meaningful change isn’t structural, it’s human.