SEFARI Gateway would like to extend a huge congratulations to our Knowledge Broker for the Environment, Professor Lorna Dawson has been appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours List. 🎉 🔗 SEFARI Gateway Blog - tinyurl.com/LornaDawson

I wrote this brief talk on why “augmenting diversity” with LLMs is empirically unsubstantiable, conceptually flawed, and epistemically harmful and a nice surprise to see the organisers have made it public synthetic-data-workshop.github.io/papers/13.pdf

Just overheard my son, on the computer with his mates, using ‘you absolute AI’ as an insult.

Artificial intelligence research has a slop problem, academics say: ‘It’s a mess’ AI research in question as author claims to have written over 100 papers on AI that one expert calls a ‘disaster’ @aishadown.bsky.social for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Earlier this week, we came together in Edinburgh for our BioSS Rob Kempton Lecture & Annual General Meeting 2025. These two days were an excellent celebration of the diverse, impactful work BioSS continues to deliver for an ever-increasing range of stakeholders. Read more about it on our website:

Our colleagues Esther Jones and @kateywhyte.bsky.social contributed to delivering a multi-generational workshop, bringing together young people, educators, academics, and industry leaders. 🌍 Read more about the project here: www.bioss.ac.uk/case-studies... Funded by @sefariscot.bsky.social.

Say what you want, but these companies’ commitment to releasing half baked, insecure, or just plain dangerous products is something to behold.

Our colleagues @spcatterall.bsky.social & Martin Knight attended the ModStatSAP network UK - France Workshop 2025 in Paris last week and presented work on “Modelling disease spread when the populations at risk are poorly mapped” & “Disease risk-based trading in the Scottish cattle trading system”

This year’s SEFARI Science for Life Lecture, hosted by @bioss.bsky.social, was delivered by David G. Farquhar FRGS - a talk that championed throwing out the rule book and finding your niche. As he put it, ‘Science is a chance to be daring.’

We tried to tell y'all to stop calling everything "AI" many years ago and you just wouldn't listen and now the poor machine learners must also suffer alongside the statisticians 😜

Check out this new publication from our Dave Ewing, on tracking the spread of #AvianInfluenza inside a #seabird colony. 📰 Read the summary: www.bioss.ac.uk/case-studies... 📕 Read the full paper: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @daveewing.bsky.social @animalecology.bsky.social

Kind reminder that the registration deadline for the SEFARI Science for Life Lecture 2025 is today! tinyurl.com/mv3smw57 "Giving life to your science so it impacts the transformation of agriculture, environment and society" by David G Farquhar FRGS 🗓️Friday Oct 24th ⏰12:30 - 3:30pm 📍Edinburgh

🎉 A HUGE congratulations to the winners of the ENRA conference poster session 🥇Oana Petre @rowettinstitute.bsky.social 🥈Amanpreet Kaur @hutton.ac.uk 🥉Gillian Mitchell @moredunfoundation.bsky.social The early career researcher prize went to Grant Henderson @bioss.bsky.social

📢 Last chance for the 2025 SEFARI Science for Life Lecture organised by @bioss.bsky.social! How can we better deploy science to create impact? - David G Farquhar FRGS 🗓️Friday Oct 24th ⌛12:30 - 3:30pm 📍Edinburgh Training and Conference Venue Register by tomorrow! 17th Oct: tinyurl.com/mv3smw57

🔗 Read the full piece www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

A nice thread highlighting key findings from our new paper estimating parameters of #HPAI in subsequent outbreaks in common terns. We developed a Bayesian inference approach to infer parameters from just carcass counts. #seabirds #statisticalecology #diseaseecology doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Research impact? #highered #university

One path to a successful career as a columnist is to be repeatedly wrong. Not to have unique takes on matters of opinion, but confident declarations proven wrong by events. If you can condescend to people proven right no matter how often you are wrong, the most prominent media would like to pay you.

Join us at the SEFARI Science for Life Lecture 2025! Giving life to your science so it impacts the transformation of agriculture, environment and society by David G Farquhar FRGS 🗓️Friday Oct 24th ⏰12:30 - 3:30pm 📍Edinburgh Training and Conference Venue Register by 17th Oct: tinyurl.com/mv3smw57

Wikipedia: ▫️Free ▫️Sources at the bottom ▫️Full edit history ▫️Discussion page to check controversies ▫️Openly stated editing policies Academia: "This isn't trustworthy!!" AI: ▫️Literally none of the above and, usually, the complete opposite Academia: "I guess we have to embrace this!"

960+ people. 4 days. 1 unforgettable conference. Thanks to everyone who made #RSS2025 such a standout event! Our president John Aston shares some reflections, including a timely reminder that transparency is key to trust in official stats 👉 rss.org.uk/news-publica...

We're heading to the @royalstatsoc.bsky.social International Conference this week in Edinburgh! 📊 Our team are contributing to the exciting programme by leading 11 sessions, giving 11 talks, and presenting 2 posters.🎤🗣️ Hopefully see you there! #RSS2025Conf #RSS2025 #Statistics

BioSS researcher Dr Ana Couto worked with a team of international scientists who tracked over 100 marine species of large vertebrates to identify the most critical locations for conservation in the global ocean. 🌍🌊 Read more here: www.bioss.ac.uk/case-studies... #conservation #marinebiology

I really dislike how science has started calling almost any fancy computational technique AI. 🧪 The framing of this entire article makes it sound like a benevolent AI independently made these drugs. That is *pure fantasy*. Instead: a team of scientists made a machine learning model for a study.

Registration is now open to attend the one-day workshop on “Statistical Challenges in the Agri-Environment Sector” organised jointly by the BIR (British and Irish Region of the International Biometric Society) and NABES (UK Network of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statisticians).

I'm not saying you can't generate a hypothesis from data. I'm just saying that generating a hypothesis from the entirety of human knowledge that preceded your data is a much safer bet.

Our Iain McKendrick is at the Royal Highland Show 2025 to launch a new public information film. It warns about the risks from bringing animal and plant products into Scotland. 🧀🥩✈️ 🎦Watch here: www.epicscotland.org/resources/an... @epicscotland.bsky.social @planthealthscot.bsky.social @hutton.ac.uk

The latest Household Costs Indices (HCIs) are out: www.ons.gov.uk/economy/infl... March HCI inflation: 2.6% (same as CPI) But the detail matters: Non-retired: 2.8% Retired: 2.1% Renters: 3.6% Owners: 1.8% 📑Read more in our policy briefing rss.org.uk/RSS/media/Fi...

Ecologists’ endless quest for automatic inference statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/05/28/e...

Congratulations to joint @srucnews.bsky.social / @bioss.bsky.social PhD student Claire Stainfield and senior statistician Dr. Thomas Cornulier who both delivered amazing talks at last week's 2025 Pint of Science UK festival in Aberdeen! #pint25 #scicomm #pintofscience #bioss #sruc

Scotland's National LIDAR scan underway! @RESAS funded

🚨WEBINAR🚨 The #PrePAREDProject will host a webinar on 21st May from 12-12:30pm. This webinar summarises the findings from Report 006: ‘Similarity assessment of offshore wind farms within UK marine habitats’ and will host a live Q&A. Register here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/eae7d8...

Check out this exciting new BioSS paper! 📣🐑 #animalhealth #parasitology #sheep #newpaper

Welcome to BioSS, Grant, we're delighted to see you here too!

I've never experienced anything like this in my life, where people keep telling me that "we have to use AI or else we'll be left behind" but they don't actually tell me exactly what problem they are hoping to solve with the "AI" or how we would know it was useful. But we must use it! Apparently.

Finding a problem for your data is just like finding data for your methodology. All parts of the scientific process - problem formulation, data design and collection, analysis and inference, conclusions and dissemination - should be done by a collaborative team, working together from the outset.

Yet ANOTHER right-wing populist finds themselves on the wrong side of the law. Contrarian grifters: "The global system is conspiring to prevent these people from taking up their rightful place as the leaders of nations. Everyone else: No, far-right populism just tends to attract criminals.

News of a meeting free for members of the International Biometric Society: Probabilistic risk analysis and Bayesian decision theory, for an overview of the theory of Bayesian risk-based decision theory with application in epidemiology and environmental sciences (e.g. forestry). (1/2)

València International Bayesian Summer School (VIBASS 8) 7-10 July 2025 vabar.es/events/vibas... Includes a basic course on Bayesian learning (12 hours) and the special topic is on Bayesian modelling with brms.

As I said -- only a matter of time before news orgs lashed out at Apple's lackluster (and evidently dangerously wrong) AI summaries of their work. This is shambolic and the BBC has every right to be furious about it.

Another exciting trip into London today for the International Biometric Society British and Irish Region AGM which will be the start of my two-year term as President!

Fascinating insights from our @kateywhyte.bsky.social & Esther Jones on their SEFARI nnovative Knowledge Exchange funded project “Careers and skills for a future climate”, joint work with @jameshuttoninst.bsky.social @skillsdevscot.bsky.social #ClimateXChange #BerthaPH #CREW_waters #rowett_abdn

We're delighted to welcome everyone to our annual meeting in Edinburgh today. Our Helen Kettle introduced us all to a themed session on "Mathematical Modelling".

Very grateful that our Head of Consultancy Professor Iain McKendrick was given the chance to tell our #BayesCentre partners more about the work of BioSS yesterday as part of ⚡#BayesLightningTalks⚡

Join us for an afternoon celebrating Statistical Consultancy - after all, statistical methods are meant to be applied! And application is not always easy... This event is also the AGM of the British and Irish Region of the International Biometric Society: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/statistica...

🚨#PhD opportunity!🚨 We are looking for a PhD student to work on modelling West Nile Virus in the UK, working with our @daveewing.bsky.social, and supervisors at @ukceh.bsky.social & Lancaster Uni. 📆Deadline: 6th January Info: www.bioss.ac.uk/vacancies/hi... To apply: www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Our own @altealorenzo.bsky.social will be talking about the work of the "Celebrating Diversity" RSS group that she chairs as part of the @royalstatsoc.bsky.social #MembersWeek Showcase: Statistics for the Public Good. 📅Tomorrow 15th November 2024 ⏰1.00- 2.30PM Register: ⬇ rss.org.uk/news-publica...

Our David Ewing and @altealorenzo.bsky.social have been working hard at the ICMS follow-up #RewildingMaths workshop at the London Mathematical Society. Great discussions and paper writing! ✍️

That's a lot of logistic regressions.

📢Less than 1 week to go until the closing date for this opportunity to join our animal and plant health teams! This is a permanent position based in Edinburgh. Apply now! ✍️ www.bioss.ac.uk/vacancies/st... #StatsJobs #MathsJobs #ResearchJobs #AcademicJobs