Introduction

Sometimes in the life of a researcher there is a moment that takes their breath away. This is very rare, for research is mostly a long-drawn-out, slow procedure filled with administration and tedium, hours of planning, budgeting, analysing figures and words, and writing, editing, and rewriting. For me, the moment came when I least expected it. In September 2000 my office at work was being refurbished and I had nowhere to go so I was at home one day, working on some administrative document of the type that dogs all academic managers in that particular month. The telephone rang: it was the college office ... ‘Can you call the FA? They want to talk to you.’