While I'm at it: this report claims 'our priorities are closely aligned with those identified by iwi and Māori organisations (Appendix 3)' but those priorities are in Appendix 4 and are almost exclusively in research areas this report recommends cutting heavily.

Comments by @lcsnz.bsky.social : “If the government wants to invest in technology it should do so. Asserting that the only way to do this is to underfund other research areas to an even greater degree than they already are

1/ GSIDD Transmission Digest: March 2026 ℹ️ The GSIDD Transmission Digest keeps you in the loop on what is happening with GSIDD, from upcoming events to the latest announcements. 🔗: hustling-producer-1761.kit.com/posts/gsidd-... #IDsky #EpiSky #PublicHealth #OneHealth 🧪

This report is terrible for the environment. NZ massively under-monitors environmental change and this is an issue in a changing climate because we will miss impacts of climate and other global change processes until it's too late to do anything about them. www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/repor...

I limit myself to one doompost a month but OK we are utterly screwed www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/mor...

A high-risk bird flu strain is circling the globe. How prepared is NZ? theconversation.com/a-high-risk-...

Should I get a COVID booster? – Expert Q&A

Oh hey, the PMSITAC report is out and the short version is 'let's take money from literally every other area of research in AoNZ to put into tech'. That's the plan. Underfund everything else *even more than it already is* over the next three years. 🧪

this whole deal is some shameful shit, just throwing NZ scientists and NZ universities right in the toilet and of course our universities' lapdog leaders will pretend it's good news while it gets harder to do science here, harder to attract students & faculty, and harder to justify sticking around

it's difficult to overstate how dramatically the scientific climate has changed in new zealand in the last 3-4 years I've previously referred publicly to our science policy as 'batshit' and to our prime minister as 'an idiot' for overseeing it this report is solid evidence for that word choice

"We are curious to see what happens if we cut all basic science funding"

new zealand's 47-page govt report on science, out today, uses the terms "basic science", "discovery science", and "fundamental science" zero times "curiosity-driven research" appears only in regard to cutting it a foolish report released on April Fool's Day www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/repor...

Helen Petousis-Harris with a fabulous update on the latest evidence on Covid 19 booster vaccination. I've been persuaded to get the latest. diplomaticimmunity.blog/covid-booste...

Not now Aedes aegypti www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Not sure what to make of the recent news of a new human case of bird flu in Europe? I wrote a quick piece for @theconversation.com explaining what we currently know, and why it's not time to worry - yet theconversation.com/first-europe...

It's almost as if sustained policymaking with this aim could have steadily reduced our reliance on fossil fuels over the past couple of decades www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

New Preprint! "Bayesian Inference for Epidemic Final Size Datasets with Hidden Underlying Household Structure" - with @joebhilton.bsky.social, @joebr22.bsky.social and Lorenzo Pellis. arxiv.org/abs/2603.25235

Two ministers rejected WHO changes – but can't agree why newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/26/t...

Why send one LLM-generated email enquiring about a research position when you can send two with completely different sets of research interests?

🚨 New preprint from our lab! How much does the design of “simple” baseline models matter for forecast hubs? We show that small design choices in baseline models can substantially change model performance, and thus the relative rankings of the other models www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

‼️ New preprint: By solving a paradox in graph theory, we show that specialist symbionts constrain ecosystem structure, drive biodiversity, and face high extinction risk. With @jbyoder.org and @ctrlalttim.com: 🎉 Specialists drive biodiversity scaling in symbiotic relationships

📄 From @ukhsa.bsky.social working with UK academics: "Invasive Meningococcal Disease outbreak 2026: technical briefing 1" 🧪 Follows an outbreak of meningococcal disease in Kent, England. 🗓️ Data reported as of 23 Mar 2026. ⚠️ Includes early evidence & prelim analyses that may be subject to change.

Can human social interactions predict chikungunya transmission? And what does it mean for future risk? In new paper, we show social contacts within and between age groups can explain variation in chikungunya risk – and can lead to much earlier epidemic re-emergence vs random mixing assumptions.

This is a good thread on much of what we know about the BA.3.2 covid variant and where it's going. But I will point out that the expectation below (BA.3.2 has high escape & low fitness) is strongly supported by the virology... ...BUT is completely at odds with epidemiological observations! 1/

Good article on meningitis and the UK outbreak that has caused 2 deaths Meningitis cases have recently been confirmed on campuses in NZ too Reminder that in NZ U25s in "close living situations" like halls of residence can get MenB and MenACY vaccines FREE. Most uni health services can provide this

Good article on meningitis and the UK outbreak that has caused 2 deaths Meningitis cases have recently been confirmed on campuses in NZ too Reminder that in NZ U25s in "close living situations" like halls of residence can get MenB and MenACY vaccines FREE. Most uni health services can provide this

My new post looking at the meningococcal outbreak in south east England What is meningococcus? What’s happened in this outbreak? What’s the deal with the vaccination program?

Kent’s meningitis outbreak was years in the making – here’s why theconversation.com/kents-mening...

The arXiv is splitting from Cornell to be an independent nonprofit, in an effort to ensure its long-term stability This sounds wonky but is a big deal and reflects a problem that many crucial scientific services face: how to keep the lights on without charging acacemics fees

1/ Announcing the IDD Connect Series! #IDsky #EpiSky 🧪 ❓Interested in hearing from infectious disease dynamics organizations from different regions? 📣 IDD Connect is a monthly initiative to bring together the infectious disease dynamics global community 📧 Join GSIDD mailing list for event links👇

A great write-up on brand-new research I was involved in. We used a really different approach from the ones that we & many others have used previously to estimate how many Covid deaths there *really* were--almost 20% more than known. Our results broadly accord w others but add new demographic detail

A national embarrassment

Paywall now lifted: NZ has rejected post-pandemic changes to the WHO's global health rules without providing a reason, making it one of just five countries to do so. "This is reputation-wrecking. People will think that we’ve lost our mind," says former PM Helen Clark. newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/18/n...

Here is where the oil goes.

Not very active here but wanted to advertise this exciting position in my group, to characterise nosocomial transmission pathways of respiratory viruses: bit.ly/4759vGx. Applications close 12th April.

We are very excited to have launched the establishment process for a global professional society for infectious disease dynamics. Join us!

1/ 👋 Hi all, we are the Global Society for Infectious Disease Dynamics (GSIDD). #GSIDD #IDsky #EpiSky 🧪 🗺️ GSIDD serves the global community of researchers, practitioners and educators in infectious disease dynamics. ➕ Follow us for updates on our activities! 🔗: www.gsidd.org

4. As Jevin West and I have been saying for several years now, because a seemingly credible message no longer implies a human sender, LLMs will push us toward more emphasis on reputation and status — and as such serve as an anti-egalitarian force in all aspects of society, science included.

If you want to join a team making pathogen sequencing and analysis for public health, surveillance, and research more accessible, more equitable and more ✨awesome✨ - look no further - come join us on this mission at ARTIC! #openscience #opendata #opensource

The whole situation is crazy. As Bill McKibben said this week, "Sunlight travels 93 million miles to reach the earth. None of them through the Strait of Hormuz." Denmark gets it:

University of Western Australia are advertising for an Associate Professor in Infectious Diseases Modelling external.jobs.uwa.edu.au/en/job/52276...

Excellent analysis from @marcdaalder.bsky.social on the Covid Inquiry. "If the health minister believes the pandemic response was so poor, it’s now his job to lay the groundwork to do better next time" newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/11/n...

<< How do we evaluate infectious disease modelling work, and what does that imply for modelling responsibly? >> If that sounds interesting, you're very welcome to join us! * Workshop: Evaluation & Responsible Modelling * 24 March 2026 | LSHTM, London More @ epiforecasts.io/responsible-...

100%. And that thus far it appears to be a minority (not zero; there's some good solid reporting out there) who can is quite depressing. & an indictment of those in the majority. Facts from an expert body. Spin from politicians. If their job isn't holding one up to the other for us what is it?

We don't need, and crucially cannot trust, politicians to summarise RC reports and tell us what the findings were. If we could we wouldn't need RCs We have the report itself and journalists for that summary role. The news value of pol reaction is simply how honest those reactions are

And the covid reporting dashboard has been updated from 19 deaths reported in the (as of now) week before last, to 5 reported last week. But, to keep shouting at the void, this tells us nothing about the progression of the current wave, as the reporting is now but the events were July last year.

NZ released the COVID inquiry (phase two), with four main lessons and recommendations calling for better integration of disease surveillance systems, expansion of epidemiological modelling capability, and more structured decision-making frameworks during a crisis theconversation.com/covid-inquir...

Nice summary by David Murdoch COVID inquiry phase two: 4 main lessons to improve NZ’s future pandemic resilience theconversation.com/covid-inquir...

Excellent summary of the inquiry findings here from Emma Ricketts at Stuff as well.

Covid inquiry phase two – Expert Reaction