The always interesting @bioengineergm.bsky.social on how our use of the word technology frames it as an elemental force and elides notions of agency and moral responsibility.

"Engineering has the power and potential to transform the world for the better, and tonight’s awards will honour those who make it possible" 🏆 Congratulations to all our winners, and huge thanks to everyone who attended yesterday. Find out more about our winners: raeng.org.uk/programmes-a...

Some people say the biggest gap in research funding is at mid career level. So here is our new call for our mid career fellowship programme which provides buyout for 6 to 12 months to devote to the completion of a major piece of research. Spread the word! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/mid-...

Are you ready to lead one of the UK’s most influential organisations at a time of global change? We are seeking a visionary, values-led Chief Executive Officer to drive the delivery of our bold Strategy 2030: Engineering Better Lives. Apply by 20 July 2025: www.russellreynolds.com/en/executive...

The real AI arms race is between one another 🥰 nymag.com/intelligence...

We're happy to announce @markmiodownik.bsky.social as our new Professor for Public Engagement in Science! His mission will be to transform our understanding of how we make, use, reuse & recycle products, & explore how we can live more sustainably. Watch this space! royalsociety.org/news/2025/06...

Always exciting when research from the lab is disseminated for the public! @theguardian.com have reported on @swallacelab.bsky.social paper turning plastic into paracetamol using engineered bacteria tinyurl.com/32hxnwsd (original publication rdcu.be/esYfF)

🔁Horizon Europe looks set to continue beyond 2027 — in name as well as scope. At a Brussels event, EU research commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva said #FP10 will retain the #HorizonEurope brand. @ec.europa.eu‬ hasn’t confirmed this officially, but multiple attendees backed the comment.

Such a clever idea. You could imagine its application to all sorts of wicked problems…

I very much welcome the announcement of the Local Innovation Partnerships fund, with ~ £30m funding for industry facing, translational research in each of 7 English city-regions, + places in Wales, Scotland & NI, allocated towards locally determined priorities. www.gov.uk/government/n...

"In a geopolitically uncertain world and after more than a decade of low productivity growth, the UK needs to rethink its economic strategy." Today, we're publishing a collection of expert policy insights ahead of the multi-year Spending Review conclusion: buff.ly/DAlcNo5

Summer 1974 and the ferry from Burtonport Co. Donegal to Bran Island has made room for a “precariously perched car”. According to photographer Frank Bodson, the whole caboodle “excited no interest” among those on-board. (Observer magazine, 1/9/74.)

I’ve been baffled by Ridley Scott’s Napoleon ever since I watched it, but have just realised that if you think of it not as a historical epic, but as a reimagining of Raging Bull then it all makes perfect sense

UK must toughen regulation of facial recognition, says @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social on.ft.com/43lnQNL

I started reading the 120 page Claude 4 System Card and found myself unable to put it down. If you're in the mood for some excellent science fiction (or you miss Person of Interest on CBS) I cannot recommend it enough. I made detailed notes on my highlights here […]

Potentially great impact on hospital safety from an @raeng.org.uk Industrial Fellowship grant

The Department of Chemistry at Queen Mary University of London is looking to support applicants for the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Fellowship. For people <4 years post PhD at the deadline (17th September). #ChemSky See www.seresearch.qmul.ac.uk/ccr/news/496...

If you've finished your PhD in the last 4 years and your research could be considered as engineering, you might be interested in the RAEng research fellowship scheme which provides 5 years of funding to work in the UK. raeng.org.uk/research-fel...

Intriguing report of the thinking of the Universities Minister www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05...

Autonomous locomotion simply with tubes as limbs, and no brain? 🎈🤖 Yes, through physical synchronization! Our article is out today in Science (@science.org) Article: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Authors: @albertocomoretto.bsky.social, H.A.H. Schomaker, J.T.B. Overvelde More below 🧪 ⚛️ (1/6)

New blogpost: "Training as we know it might end". It was originally a panorama of the new methods of synthetic generation but the stakes are now much higher and I openly wonder if model training is not soon going to change forever. vintagedata.org/blog/posts/t...

Very clear overview of repositioned U.K. government S&T framework by @sciencecampaign.bsky.social

Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.

Since there's a lot of discussion about #treasuries, bonds, and yields, I'm going to give a quick thread on what they are. ##EconSky

The endless back and forth over AGI is getting stale. We need better ways to talk about what people should do when they use large AI models. @alisongopnik.bsky.social @himself.bsky.social @dsquareddigest.bsky.social offer that and more. On Beyond AGI! www.ailog.blog/p/on-beyond-...

📢ANALYSIS: UK emissions fell 3.6% in 2024 to lowest since 1872 🏭Coal lowest since 1666, when Great Fire ravaged London 🚗EVs pushed oil down despite more traffic, saving £1.7bn 🌇Gas down on "cleanest ever" power 📈📉Since 1990, CO2 -54% / GDP +84% www.carbonbrief.org/... 1/9

This is an important paper. There is a big debate on small firms and SME policy. One side think new start ups and entrepreneurs are the best thing since sliced bread. And we have more of them. The other side think there are big differences in the quality of start ups and most start ups are....

📢 Important paper: 👇 Startup Types & Macroeconomic Performance in Europe De Haas, Sterk, Van Horen K-means clustering on data from 10 EU countries finds 5 types of firms: Basic (49% of all startups); Large (4%); Capital intensive (7%); Cash-intensive (26%); High-leverage (14%) 🧵

IMPORTANT: Finland is building the world’s largest heat pump to warm homes in Helsinki. It would help decarbonize the city’s district heating system by end of 2026. “Helsinki has set the ambitious goal to become carbon neutral by 2030. Transitioning our heating system is crucial to achieving this.”

This looks like a fantastic programme- putting the May 1st evening with Marina Warner in my calendar already

Wow, the action statement is great! Thank you France for subtly focusing on what’s real. The previous AI Safety Summits were anti regulatory libertarian nonsense. This is about how we harness (intelligent) technology cooperatively to get through the present crises and flourish. #AIActionSummit #AGI

Norway’s governing coalition has broken down over energy policy - in particular, over the issue of building more electricity inter-connectors to other countries (including Britain). I think this is quite an important political issue… (Thread) www.euronews.com/my-europe/20...

The past two days we seen something interesting in the European power market: continent wide balancing that is providing security of supply at the lowest prices driven by commercial incentives…

As everyone's becoming an expert on Nvidia stock prices and moats and Jevons paradox, I've got a new Green Paper out on inclusive innovation, social capital, and technology diffusion - three things that literally no one is talking about! www.careful.industries/inclusive-in...

"The fundamental problem, as I see it, is not that social media misinforms individuals about what is true or untrue but that it creates publics with malformed collective understandings." www.programmablemutter.com/p/were-getti...

The EU’s upcoming industrial decarbonization strategy will revolve around six thematic “pillars” ranging from energy prices and workforce issues to recycling and trade.

Back in October we held the @raeng.org.uk 2nd People's AI Stewardship Summit in Glasgow in partnership with @enterprisehub.raeng.org.uk Videos and a visual summary of the day can be found here: raeng.org.uk/policy-and-r...

Come and join the fabulous research and innovation team at @universityofleeds.bsky.social as Head of Research Development. They’re a great team and if that wasn’t enough you even get to work with me 😁 jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

🎓🚀 Exciting Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunity! The RAEng UK IC Fellowships support early-career researchers in science or engineering to conduct unclassified research with up to £250k funding. 🗓 Deadline: 29 April 2025 💡 Start your application now! Visit: raeng.org.uk/ukicpostdoc

Francis Bacon on Columbo:

This is truly positive news to start the new year. 58% of energy generated from renewable sources in 2024. We now truly have the wind behind us to keep accelerating the pace and trend 😀 Looking forward to working with many of you on doing just that! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

From my perspective in the semiconductor sector, I know that Thatcher's thinking around investing in close-to-market R&D profoundly influenced the UK's trajectory. Some of the thinking here (and at the Tony Blair Insitute) resonates with my thinking about the (stalled?) semiconductor strategy.

I find this v interesting - a UK ARIA project to establish tipping point monitoring - and would like to understand the underlying theory of change, because *looks out of the window* *reads the news* one does not have to be a foresighting genius to gather that points are tipping all over the place

Reading a collection of Richard Hamming’s lectures and loved this explanation of the difference between science and engineering, a) because it’s pithy and b) because it makes ethics a fundamental element of what it means to be an engineer.

This lucid explanation of gen AI from the Financial Times is really enhanced by some stunning visual storytelling

PhD opportunity in climate & disaster risk and resilience with UCL & NERC & Lloyds Register Foundation (and me) unrisk-cdt.ac.uk/projects/

Absolutely astonished at being awarded an MBE for services to Digital Humanities. I’ve no idea who nominated me - great to see #digitalhumanities supported in this context! It will take a moment for this to sink in! Also if the King gives you an MBE for DH, does that mean it’s a real subject? 😊💃👩‍💻📜

Late to this pretty exhilarating blast from @basharnuseibeh.bsky.social calling on software engineers to live up to their responsibilities as designers and architects of the socio-technical spaces that we all inhabit

This is enticing- the library at the Institute of Making is an Aladdin’s cave and some lucky person will get the job of playing with it

I’m deeply protective of international students & of the UK HE sector, so I've written an article for @hepi-news.bsky.social to address myths & set the record straight. #weareinternational #InternationalEducation #UKHE www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/12/02/i...