Unsolicited writing advice, no.976: Read. Read for pleasure. Read out of curiosity. Read both in and outside your comfort zone. Read in order to a get a thorough understanding of the industry you’re getting into. No time? Find time. Writing without reading is like cooking without food.

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“Listening is a tool for health equity, not just a soft skill” Had a wonderful experience writing this piece that was commissioned for The Student BMJ by editor @georgeawebster.bsky.social! www.bmj.com/content/390/...

‼️HOT OFF THE PRESS‼️ ⭐Updated Responsible AI use in Evidence Synthesis (RAISE) 3-paper collection on OSF: osf.io/fwaud/files/... ⭐ Now includes: 1️⃣Recommendations for practice for the main roles in the ecosystem 2️⃣ Guidance on building & evaluating AI tools 3️⃣Guidance on selecting & using AI tools

Navigating research on the performance of generative LLM-based tools in health and social care? The freshly updated Living Map of Generative LLM-Based Tools for Health and Social Care Applications by @eppicentre.bsky.social is your compass. #AIHealth

Check out this summary of a Campbell evidence and gap map on interventions for improving informal support for victim-survivors of domestic abuse: a small but useful evidence base. Funded by the UK Economic Social Research Council tinyurl.com/ytf9enb8 @sriucl.bsky.social @eppicentre.bsky.social

Check out this exciting master's degree option offered by our department!

This is such important work - and great fun!

The JLA is looking for independent consultants to train and work as Advisers! You’ll support partnerships that bring together patients, carers, and clinicians to shape research priorities. ➡️Apply here: buff.ly/B9ba05R 🔁Please share this opportunity with your networks

Midwives make a difference! 💙 When women receive care from trusted midwives, they’re more likely to have a positive birth experience—choosing their birth position, moving freely during labour, and having their companion by their side. NEW guidance: bit.ly/4kShgEQ

Sigh. LLMs don't lie, because they don't know anything. What all LLMs do, including the latest models, is produce statistically plausible outputs that sometimes resemble the truth and sometimes resemble falsehoods. That's all the tech *can* do www.ft.com/content/2b3c...

I bought a hard copy - and couldn’t put it down. Definitely a ‘must read’. 👇🏻

Many of our students already have an established career in research or policy. So there’s learning for teachers as well as for students during our discussions about evidence for decision-making. If this sounds interesting, see our MSc Social Policy (Evidence Synthesis) www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...

An absolute bargain. This is so worth reading!

📚 Can schools help bridge ethnic divides? This week’s #DEPStudyOfTheWeek from Turkey tested a classroom-based empathy program—and found big social impacts. Less peer violence, more trust, better integration. 🔗 developmentevidence.3ieimpact.org/search-resul...

So sorry to be missing Michael Klintman @hayfestival.bsky.social but I bought his very readable book anyway.

Thread. I have read what resulted, and so should you.

I’m really looking forward to this too! 📑📝💻

Editors to underrepresented researchers: Put your country in the title. Global North authors: Don't bother. Everyone else: Cites the US/UK/Australia... study because it *sounds* universal and more generalizable. Result: Underrepresented voices stay invisible. #AcademicSky

Peer Support and Community Interventions Targeting Breastfeeding in the UK: Systematic Review of Qualitative Evidence to Identify Inequities in Participants' Experiences Rhiannon Evans, Caitlyn Donaldson, @ruthgarside.bsky.social et al onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Delighted that @natureportfolio.nature.com (Nature Protocols) have generously agreed to allow six months free open access to our paper describing the work of @independentsage.bsky.social 🙏🙏🙏, led by @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our Social Policy (Evidence Synthesis) MSc graduates have taken up exciting careers in academic & policy organisations, within the public, private & non-profit sectors, nationally & internationally. Study on campus or on-line. If this sounds appealing, get in touch. www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...

This!! ⬇️ Don't tell me "they don't integrate."

It’s a public access to (life and death) scientific evidence issue!

“Parents should be empowered to access information that is independent of the firearm industry … They have the right to be informed that having homes & communities free of firearms is the only effective way to prevent firearm injuries among all children and young people.”

Now more than ever we need to support the use of evidence in everyday life. We hope that #ThePeoplesReview might help this a little. Thanks to @evidencecomm.bsky.social for their work to date in this area, during the global pandemic and during the current polycrisis.

I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.

Young people thinking critically is even more important in this era of fake news and conspiracy theories

This is well worth reading. I’m glad I didn’t wait for the paperback, but also glad this will attract many more readers

"Trump’s team, often accused of spreading misinformation, slashes misinformation research. Hundreds of grants axed in a field where the United States was a global leader" www.science.org/cont...

Looking for a new role related to research, civic tech, data analytics, or policy? Visit this curated list of open positions Tobin Center built along w/ @stanfordimpactlabs.bsky.social @j-palna.bsky.social & many others. Browse jobs or submit a job listing here www.publicsolutionsjobs.org

📣 Just published in Campbell Systematic Reviews, an Evidence and Gap Map of interventions that create or enhance support from friends, family, neighbours or colleagues for victim‐survivors of domestic violence and abuse: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

This is a terrible terrible destructive decision. These sorts of long running research programmes take decades to build and their insights accumulate over decades too - the longer they run, the more valuable they become. This is knowledge vandalism. Nothing new and shiny can replace it.

Oh dear, I should have taught my students this…

#CitizenScienceMonth – 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞’𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 Based in Ireland, the project is a 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐧𝐬, designed to learn together and build more relevant and inclusive evidence. 🔗 Involve: www.thepeoplesreview.ie #CitSciMonth #onemillionactsofscience @scistarter.bsky.social #CitizenScienceMonth

Illustrating the importance of public engagement with science.

🌍 Want to help shape health research? Join #ThePeoplesReview – a systematic review, powered by the public ✅Open to people worldwide ✅Everything takes place online ✅Make a difference in health research ✅Learn about systematic reviews Join now👉 www.thepeoplesreview.ie/join-now

hermeneutical injustice – "when someone is unable to understand or express an important aspect of their own experience because there is a gap in the shared tools of social interpretation" #LongCovid #ME

Fascinating conversation today with colleagues about which topics and skills in our MSc suit students looking for a career in public policy, academia or the third/ voluntary sector? www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...

We need medical research funding for long covid and ME. We need NHS services that can manage symptoms and prescribe experimental medications. We need care, understanding and health professionals to be trained in ME. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I had the pleasure today of writing a reference for one of my past masters students. I'm so impressed by the exciting careers our graduates take up after studying here - in government, NGOs and academia www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...

This looks pretty important.

Why am I so pleased to be leading UCL’s MSc Social Policy (Evidence Synthesis)? www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...

Are you interested in Strengthening Health Policy through Institutionalising Evidence-Informed Decision-Making? If so, you might like to join our discussion in Geneva at a side event of the World Health Assembly eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default....

Vital #CitizenScience in action 👏👏👏👏

In an effort to build/rebuild online networks I've set up 3 starter kits in my main areas of research interest: Links in the posts which follow - reply to be added. And if you're in the intersecting areas, especially the middle bit, and we don't know each other already - do say hello 😊

We've also now officially shuttered our X account 😌, so from now on you'll find us here, on LinkedIn and also our website (which we are gradually re-developing so bear with us): eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/

What are the aims, roles + intended impacts of knowledge brokering? @chriscvitanovic.bsky.social & @paulcairney.bsky.social share new research exploring this "invisible work" 🔗 transforming-evidence.org/blog/the-inv...

Excited to be here on bluesky #evidencesynthesis

Boosting confidence and building new skills - this is community participatory research at its best. journals.uclpress.co.uk/r4a/article/...