Huge congratulations to Callum Dunleavy (@messyecologist.bsky.social) who has passed his viva today for his #PhD thesis investigating the role of #beavers in #rewilding freshwater habitats! 🎉🦫🎓

Next in our BES intros series is @bb-phd.bsky.social, a lecturer and ultimate frisbee fan! Becky was previously a BBSRC Discovery Fellow working on FeminEvo, a project that uncovered unexpected sexual reproduction in wasps thought to be asexual. She now runs an ADHD support group in BES! 🐝

Huge congratulations to Ebenezer Essien, who has passed his #viva for his #PhD thesis on understanding physiological wear-and-tear using an #intersectionality lens! 🎉🎉🎉

Considering studying for an #MSc in Environmental Management? Join us at University of Stirling, where we take your learning beyond the classroom and into the heart of #Cairngorms National Park 🐿️ www.stir.ac.uk/courses/pg-t... Video credit: Allan Audsley

Delighted to have been named Undergraduate Academic Representative of the Year (what a mouthful!) @uofstirling-bes.bsky.social has been a most supportive department to do all of this work with. I can only recommend involving yourself in academic rep work if you’re just starting your degree!

Anna Kurop gave a lovely seminar on research into #Quaternary sea level changes in the #OuterHebrides this week! It was especially nice to see Anna's personality and enthusiasm shining through when talking about #FieldWork experiences 👏

Happy #InternationalBeaverDay! 🦫 Here's why beavers are such an important part of Britain’s landscape👇 🧵1/6

Our #PhD forum recently ran a seminar in response to feedback that members of BES would like to know more about what we do! Thanks to everyone who engaged - we had some interesting discussions about interaction through the social committee 🍻, use of the coffee room ☕ and the role of remote working 👩‍💻

This week's internal seminar was a fascinating insight into Arthur Broadbent's #research on understanding the combined effects of winter thawing and summer droughts on #soil fungal communities and carbon storage in the 🇦🇹 #Alps 🏔️

Delighted to share our review in @natrevmicro.nature.com! Here, myself and @richard-quilliam.bsky.social synthesise current knowledge on the aquatic #plastisphere, and assess the evidence for #plastics being #pathogen and #AMR reservoirs @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk @uofstirling-bes.bsky.social rdcu.be/fbm6N

Massive thanks to Guillaume Latombe from @edinburghuni.bsky.social for a thought-provoking seminar about #modelling #BiologicalInvasions scenarios and considering what kind of future we want to build to minimise #InvasiveSpecies spread alongside trade and ethical development!

New 🦫 paper out by @dralanlaw.bsky.social and @nigelwillby.bsky.social on the #biodiversity benefits of #beaver #wetlands! Read all about it: brnw.ch/21x14OW

Our most recent internal #seminar was from Esther Folorunso, who did a great job of explaining how her #research had evolved to reflect the discrepancies between theory/policy and real life scenarios of chemical #pollutants and the 'cocktail effects' produced by multiple contaminants!

Today's PhD #journal club meeting discussed an article about acoustic signalling of ants 🐜 and caterpillars 🐛 We enjoyed chatting figures, #GraphicalAbstracts and further #research 📝 nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Huge congratulations to the BES researcher @jendickie.bsky.social and colleagues in the Scottish #Research Alliance for #Energy, Homes and Livelihoods for their Scottish Knowledge Exchange Heroes 2026 award! 🏆 www.linkedin.com/posts/jendic...

Ross @ecologybarnett.bsky.social gave a fantastic seminar last week about his #research into dawn chorus #soundscapes in #woodlands with different canopy structures and noise pollution levels 🌳🐦‍⬛ His use of audience members' pets to explain AI models was such a fun way to increase engagement!

Well done Alice, your presentation design is always a delight 🦫 Enjoy your prize!

myself and the giant sampling spoon! thanks @britishecologicalsociety.org

Congratulations to Mahtab Yaghouti and colleagues for their new paper on #ClimateChange will affect #oxygen in #lakes 🎉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The BES social committee organized a sports afternoon where pickleball and badminton brought joy to all who attended! 🏸

To celebrate #internationalwomensday Stirling Uni alumni hosted a panel discussion with some women academics and let me talk about some of my favourite research (and other) topics #wasps and #TaylorSwift. Watch online here www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBRv...

Staff at @naturescot.bsky.social fed back that they enjoyed Rory's talk on sitka #spruce and how much potential they have to colonise across #Scotland 🌲🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 The increase in the species' #non-native range over the last 100 years was remarkable!

Great to get some perspective on the #WrEN project and hear about how BES #research collaborations have built up over time from @kirstyjpark.bsky.social 🌳

Cake in the coffee room today to celebrate #InternationalWomensDay thanks to @jendickie.bsky.social 😋🍰

We love some creative #presentation design! #GiantHogweed gradually invading the slides got compliments in this talk by @ruth-wright.bsky.social on using conservation culturomics to understand public interest in UK #InvasiveSpecies

Sarah's enthusiasm for her work is always inspiring and we love to hear about it! #Fungi were an under explored part of #alpine #ecosystems that stakeholders were keen to learn more about and her 4th chapter has delivered 🍄

Lindis Kipp gave a brilliant talk about CBT-inspired learning to reduce #climate despair without changing pro-environmental behaviours - incredible science and #communication skills from a BES #undergraduate!

Helen talked about statistical modelling in an impressively entertaining and accessible way, not an easy feat! Great presentation 😃

Doors are open and posters are going up at #SNSC2026 Day 1 kicks off with a warm welcome and message of hope and resilience from Professor Colin Galbraith from @naturescot.bsky.social, followed by a reflection of SNSCs past from University of Stirling’s Professor Kirsty Park (@stir.ac.uk)

We are getting ready for #SNSC2026 Scotland's Nature Student Conference - welcome and arrival tomorrow at the Pathfoot Building, University of Stirling, from 10am! View the programme on our website: scotnsconference.wixsite.com/2026 We look forward to welcoming you to our event!

Huge congratulations to Maud Siebers, who has successfully defended her #thesis on 'Improving forecasts of #phytoplankton blooms using high-frequency #satellite observations' 🎉🎉🎉

This week, introducing @jasubke.bsky.social 🇩🇪 Jens teaches on modules including The Biosphere and has presented his talk "Where has all the carbon gone?" at Stirling's Pint of Science event 🍻 He is also academic lead for carbon in the Scottish International Environment Centre Management Group.

At our most recent external seminar, we were delighted to welcome Sumil Thakrar to discuss his work as a Patience Cowie #research fellow at the University of Edinburgh, assessing the #health impacts of brick kilns in #Bangladesh 🇧🇩 www.sumil.me

This week, we were honoured to have Dr Zoë Fleming visiting to talk to us about her research on environmental #CitizenScience projects in #Chile, including water quality monitoring and perceptions of air #pollution 🇨🇱 Find out more: voluntariosporelagua.cl

Congratulations to Peter Stewart and colleagues on a new publication exploring #pest and disease occurence in UK #treescapes, identifying drivers of pest and disease burdens such as #deforestation and differences in drivers of disease between broadleaf trees and conifers 🌳🌲 doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

This week, introducing Alice Turner! Alice's interdisciplinary work sits between BES and psychology. She is also a #SEPA Project Coordinator for Forth-ERA and also Policy Rep for the @britishecologicalsociety.org #Conservation #Ecology Special Interest Group!

Fab talk this week from Ruth Helmore, based at @hutton.ac.uk in #Aberdeen, about how #Sphagnum reacts to #drought exposure when the water table is at different depths!

Congratulations to BES members Thiago Silva, Kirsty Park, Kevin Watts and Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor and colleagues for a new article in #Forest Ecology and Management on the use of #LiDAR to measure #woodland complexity! 🌳

This week, introducing @dralanlaw.bsky.social! Alan teaches on 'people and the environment's and 'field techniques' modules and is the programme director of the #OutdoorEducation degrees. He also studies beaver wetlands in Scotland and Finland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🦫🇫🇮

Thanks @josiesouth.bsky.social for coming to talk to us about #Crayfish invasions in our external seminar! Lots of important take-aways about the health and social implications of changing #freshwater #ecosystems and the importance of sharing data 🎣

The Ecology and #Conservation Science (ECoS) research group met this week for a catch up and a useful introduction to the JASMIN computational #data analysis facility from Dan Chapman 🖥️ JASMIN is available to sign up for those with NERC funding and others working in the #environmental sciences!

Next up: introducing @zarahpattison.bsky.social - a senior lecturer who teaches on biodiversity and plant ecology modules and is the staff representative of the BES social media team! Zarah also completed her PhD in Stirling 🙂

Croy Langlands and Oscar Jessup also gave a fantastic BES seminar recently, introducing their work on #RemoteSensing - they showed fantastic depth of knowledge for students early on in their #PhD #research and presented confidently 👏 Brilliant stuff!

Today's Tuesday seminar was an entertaining and insightful talk from @thisanna.bsky.social about #Amazonian #Wetlands and how to measure the biodiversity within them! 🇧🇷

Thanks @bluecarbonalex.bsky.social for coming to talk to us about #carbon sinks in #saltmarshes at today's external seminar!

In the coming weeks, we'll be introducing some of our BES members! First up is @ruth-wright.bsky.social, who is a BES tutor/demonstrator, the PhD forum part-time rep and part of the social media team!

Journal club had an entertaining discussion today about the meaning of stupidity and what it is to be stupid vs feeling stupid. Thanks to Arianna for the suggestion of this essay by M A Schwartz! journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Plant ecology student field trip to Glasgow Botanics today. Good turn out despite the cold, wet weather! @stir.ac.uk #botanicgarden #plants www.instagram.com/reel/DT0UN3B...

Last week, a group of BES #PhD students attended a @iapetusdtp.bsky.social doctoral training residential at The Sill in #Northumberland 👩‍🏫

Great work from Sarah, who is so passionate about what she does and whose paper about Montane #woodland restoration has just been published!