Munehiro Asally
What is your current role and what does a typical week look like?
I am a Reader. I have been at Warwick since 2014 – the longest I've ever been in one place. A typical week of mine goes by supervision, research, reading papers, writing manuscripts, writing grants, reviewing paper/grants, teaching, tutorials, marking and so on. I suspect it is quite similar to that of my academic colleagues.
Nationality: I am from Japan. I didn’t even travel abroad until I was 24, and I never imagined that one day I’d be living in the UK.
Which part of your role do you enjoy the most, and what are the biggest challenges?
Discussing science with my lab members. I especially enjoy dealing with puzzling data –for good or bad, we have no shortage of puzzling data! Big challenges for me are time management, paperwork, and balancing different tasks that I have to deal with.
Who would you say is your role model in your personal and/or professional life?
I’ve been influenced by many people –family, friends, mentors, mentees, colleagues, historical figures, zen monks, and so on, but I don’t want to name names. I know, if I do, I will be thinking: “Oops, I forget to mention XXX and YYY...”
Which skills help you most in being able to perform your role?
To be comfortable with uncertainties and always try to find silver lining. Things don’t go as expected –often in disappointing ways but sometimes positive surprises. Many things are beyond my control. But how I see or feel about things is under (to some extent) my control when I can see silver lining.
What is your favourite place on campus and why?
The most special place to me is my lab. I sometimes discuss data with my students and postdocs there, and I have many fond memories with my current and previous lab members. I also occasionally enjoy wondering around the Tocil Woods.
Can you give an example of something that has made you feel part of the community while in Life Sciences, and what could be improved to enable this?
when the finance team help me with finding solutions; when I come to my office and find it cleaned; when the estate team fixes building issue; when colleagues randomly knock my office door for a chat; when our reception welcomes people with smile and help visitors; when senior tutor team goes extra miles to support students; when HoS write me supporting letter for my grant application; when RSS team prepares budget plan; when teaching lab team prepare everything for UG students; when the workshop fixed the lab freezer; when colleagues give up their Saturdays for free for open days;… and so on. It is great when I can focus on research and teaching rather than being restricted or spending time for filling forms or box-ticking exercises…
What are your main interests or passions, outside of work?
Outside of work, I enjoy playing games and solving math puzzles (usually geometry) with my sons. I have two smart boys.
When I was young, I trained Karate. Several months ago, I started teaching Karate to kids once a week in Kenilworth. Let me know if you are interested to join :p
Interview date July 2026