Ireland has launched a digital strategy to increase access to mental health services through technology and improve digital health literacy. www.digitalhealth.net/2026/02/irel...

I’m very pleased to share this article and to translate our research insights into a blog that is more accessible to the public. When universities began deploying AI detection tools, I knew it might give rise to yet another commercial empire.

Open Access UCL Research: Using Statistical Process Control through the Making Data Count approach to visualise data in NHS Trusts: a mixed-methods study discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10...

📢 Statistical process control has become popular in healthcare, but is the NHS using it well? Yes! The Making Data Count programme is 👍 + SPC use mostly appropriate, but tendency for Trust boards to still claim metrics have improved without adequate support. bmjleader.bmj.com/content/earl...

It was lovely to be interviewed for this article in Curie, the Swedish Research Council's magazine, on the funding crisis in UK universities: www.tidningencurie.se/nyheter/skar...

My 18yo's group Pop Ltd are supporting @dominiehooper.bsky.social at her gig in Morecambe tonight. Still tickets left if you're free: moremusic.org.uk/whats-on/dom...

🥳 We are thrilled to celebrate Jack Elkes, who has successfully defended his PhD on, Improving the evaluation of digital mental health interventions in randomised controlled trials by understanding and incorporating user engagement. Congratulations Jack! 🥳

I think a lot about Parmy Olson's observation that AI companies actively push everyone to talk about existential risk, because it distracts from more prosaic current day concerns like copyright theft, conditions for data workers, energy & water use, and their financial situation

There are too many special issues. Publishers encourage them (I say this based on my own experience as an editor-in-chief). When we looked at the data, we found that special issue articles get fewer views, fewer downloads, and fewer citations than normal articles.

As the world hurtles towards geopolitical crisis, my marine biologist son sends photo of an underwater leaf slug from Fiji to wish us calm.

One of the projects you can support on Smelt is a new sitcom by me. It's called The Least Bad Of All Possible Worlds and it's about refugees from parallel universes trying to integrate into society in Morecambe. You can pledge to fund it here: if you fund it, we make it! mirlo.space/leadmojo/rel...

Does the House of Commons need to change to reflect a more fragmented politics? In three hours, join @elliechowns.bsky.social, @courtenayilbert.bsky.social and @louisevthompson.bsky.social to discuss smaller parties in the Commons at our free, online event. Sign up 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....

Videos that appear to show doctors, including some from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, using patches to lose significant amounts of weight aren’t real. They were made with AI. The trust said these videos are “completely fraudulent”.

📢 New preprint! "Association of Oral Contraceptives with Depression Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment in Healthy Women: A Meta-Analysis" papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

📢 New paper! "An App-Based Behavioral Support Intervention Promoting Physical Activity (APPROACH) in Patients Diagnosed With Breast, Prostate, or Colorectal Cancer: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial" www.researchprotocols.org/2026/1/e77096

Phil Manzanera has spent five decades shifting between genres, scenes, and roles as a guitarist, composer and producer. His work with Roxy Music and output across a diverse solo career reflect natural curiosity and fierce ambition. Watch and read my new interview: www.innerviews.org/inner/phil-m...

JOB ALERT! 3-year postdoc at @girtoncollege.bsky.social - research anything you like in History, Archaeology or Anthropology in a wonderful, welcoming scholarly community. PLEASE SHARE! Closes 12 January www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...

Worth noting this for other Tidal users -- while they pay most artists better royalties than Spotify, they don't pay people on that "uploads" thing they're pushing at all. So if you see some band in the uploads section you want to check out, go to their bandcamp instead.

“Where are the findings? You only provide quotes.” New article considers qualitative researchers’ experiences of methodologically incongruent peer review feedback Open Access: dx.doi.org/10.1037/qup0... Few quotes follow 🧵

New paper by my PhD student Maria Xenou, and many others! samajournals.co.za/index.php/sa...

Continuing the fine tradition of declining to review for Nature Publishing Group, in my case @natmentalhealth.nature.com for all the fine reasons Alex descibed in this letter. The APC for this journal is £9190.00/$12690.00/€10690.00. Join us!

📢 Deadline extended! You now have until 7 January to submit abstracts & workshop proposals for the 2026 Behaviour Change Conference. A huge thank you to everyone who’s already submitted. We look forward to your submissions & to welcoming you to Lisbon for #BCConf2026! 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/behaviour-ch...

Did you know that this government has been defeated over 100 times in the House of Lords? The new edition of our constitutional review suggests that it is surprising to see the Lords challenging manifesto commitments to the extent that it has. Read more 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....

Was in the kitchen when something beeped several times. Flatmate & I were confused. Was it the robot vacuum? No. The washing machine? No. The fridge maybe? No. It was the bread machine. #firstworldproblems

Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández—pardoned by Trump while the counting in Honduras’ current presidential election is still in progress—-was accused not only of drug trafficking, but also of election fraud during the 2013 and 2017 Honduran presidential elections. 1/

“Thousands of very competitive projects in areas like cancer, diabetes, aging, neurological disorders and public health improvements most like went unfunded in 2025. Similarly, at the National Science Foundation, the roughly 3,000 fewer new grants encompassed reductions to every area of science”

North Korean-style. A Potemkin village of fake journalists.

🧵1/ Romania has the highest cervical cancer incidence & mortality in Europe. Yet screening coverage is under 30%. Why? Our new study explores the emotional & practical barriers faced by vulnerable women. @cbigscreen.bsky.social @horizoneu.bsky.social

"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se

Important new paper by my colleagues, Youssof Oskrochi et al., showing very poor digital health technology compliance with clinical safety standards in NHS England: www.jmir.org/2025/1/e80076

New research: Do fitness apps do more harm than good?📱 Analysis of 58k+ posts on X about the 5 most profitable fitness apps found almost 1 in 4 had negative sentiment. 📘 Paper co-authored by Dr Lucy Porter: bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @uclbrainscience.bsky.social

Emotional strain of fitness and calorie counting apps revealed www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/oc... Research by my colleague Paulina Bondaronek et al.

New from @harrymlewis.bsky.social @hannaeldarwish.bsky.social & team: 'Social Cure and Savouring: Attending Live Music Events Is Associated With Wellbeing and Behaviour Changes to Maintain Wellbeing' Please share. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Genesis of the Daleks

had some stuff to get off my chest about strategies ~ gilest.org/notes/strate...

Does the elections white paper go far enough? On 24 October, join @catsmithmp.bsky.social, @rosewhiff.bsky.social, Tom Hawthorn and David Howarth at our free, online event to consider if the government's plans are sufficient to ensure electoral integrity. Sign up 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....

🎵 They did the Monster Slash 😭 @ellecordova.bsky.social

Happy Friday! Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay with the theme of access to services - mental health in catastrophes and emergencies. An appropriate paper from our team is one on digital problem-solving intervention in Ukrainian children displaced by war -

📢 New: "Behavioural perspectives on personal health data sharing and app design: an international survey study" www.cambridge.org/core/journal... by Veronica Li @carlawashbourne.bsky.social me et al. We looked at the factors influencing personal health data sharing by users in London and Hong Kong

🔊 Exciting research role available if you're interested in applying evidence synthesis to food policy and public health. Part of a @nihr.bsky.social study evaluating supermarket policies restricting the use of price promotions. Closes 8th October. Further details 👇 www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Did the universe come about because an Egyptian god knocked one out? Asking all the big questions in my new (old) book

Pet parrots which typically live alone (whilst those in the wild live in large flocks) were given the technology to call each other. They would use it for up to three hours a day, and developed favourite friends 💔 on.ft.com/3K05vhS

New paper by my colleague Paulina Bondaronek & more, "Using machine-assisted topic analysis to expedite thematic analysis of free-text data: Exemplar investigation of factors influencing health behaviours and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic" bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

My colleagues at the MHRA and Brunel University London are exploring the use of AI in clinical decision making. They have developed a survey that takes about 10 minutes to complete. If you are a clinician, please help out by filling it in... yoskrochiucl.github.io/mhra_questio...

Feels about right www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

🧑‍🔬💰 PhD Scholarship open for a September start at #SussexUni Great opportunity if you're interested in sleep, biological rhythms and signals, physical & mental performance, or elite sports. Application deadline: 25th July Details at: realitybending.github.io/jobs/phd/ #Psychology #PhD

Stroke survivors with depression or anxiety who attend talking therapy sessions are more likely to recover from their psychological symptoms, finds a new study by @uclpals.bsky.social researchers.

Quick #DoctorWho #TargetBookClub update: We've only 20 tickets left, which feels weird. Tickets: bit.ly/escape2danger

We've published a new paper with @sciencecampaign.bsky.social reviewing the UK’s innovation ecosystem looking across 10 technologies. Innovation is not a linear process from idea to market & so Govt intervention should not take a one-size-fits-all approach www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...