📢You have until this Sunday evening to register for the Black in Plant Science Conference 2025! Join us for an unforgettable day of connection and celebration and hear from some of the leading plant enthusiasts from the UK and beyond. Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1362997455...

I'm at #VitaeCon2025 in person today and tomorrow - looking forward to catching up with lots of lovely researcher developers and learning about new developments

Fascinating talk from Sarah Campbell at Bristol about their Working Well Together resource: workingwelltogether.co.uk The self-serve resource supports groups and teams working to enable research to create and celebrate positive research practices and environments at local levels #IRCC25

Grace Mulcahy from University College Dublin talked about funding they gave for small projects on research culture in the uni. One was to enable technical staff to have a conference allowance, like researchers did already, led by the technicians themselves. #IRCC25

First plenary talk at #IRCC25 was from Steven Hill from Research England. In the Q&A he was asked how we get the message across that these research culture metrics are actually generating positive impact and making people's lives better.

I'm attending this conference today #IRCC25, hoping to learn more about how research institutions can improve their research culture. I may post a few things about it, but to learn more, follow @exchangesjournal.bsky.social

Great post by Independent Researcher Dr Alice Gibson: "The Hidden Curriculum in publishing: a creative and participatory zine" - a great way to bring early career researchers together to help each other with advice on publishing drhiddencurriculum.wordpress.com/2025/09/11/t...

Bluesky is dying, science edition... [Narrator: Bluesky is not dying.]

Check out the graphical abstract for a paper recently published in Ecological Modelling. I have papers published in Ecological Modelling. Never again, I guess.

BBC News - OpenAI claims GPT-5 model boosts ChatGPT to 'PhD level' PhD level is such a meaningless term. I have a PhD, and outside my very niche area of expertise I'm just as capable of being a fucking idiot as everyone else. Probably just a marketing phrase designed to play well with focus […]

There's this trope that you have to be so into your PhD topic that you live and breathe it and can't possibly stop thinking about it, so here's your regular reminder that passion is good, but burnout isn't. It's okay and recommended to take breaks, enjoy the weekend, and treat a PhD like a job.

What do you find when you sequence 7,000 fungi? We’re starting to find out… 🍄🔬 At this year’s British Mycological Society conference - a key meeting point for the UK’s fungal research community - we shared some of the first discoveries from our Fungarium Sequencing Project.

You can read about the details of the experiment in a paper on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social . The results , which were presented at last week's Board Meeting, were stunning 6/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I was initially skeptical but they did a highly successful pilot. The key is a set of pre-contracted reviewers who only get paid if they deliver a high quality review in 5 days. The Editors also commit to very fast turnaround with reviews in hand 5/n

Interesting pilot - pay a selected pool of reviewers to review papers quickly and fairly

"Even if still marginal, a troubling landscape is emerging. Software is now writing scientific papers that are reviewed and evaluated by other machines, which in turn attempt to outwit those designed to detect them." Story in Le Monde on AI in scientific publishing. Archive link: archive.ph/ldxM0

And here's my post on postdoc/ecr fellowships and the advantages on changing institutions. Also, how to make the case for not moving. socialscienceresearchfunding.co.uk?p=1348

Great thread. My understanding is that LT also consider potential contribution of the ECG to their host's research environment. Arguably greater potential to contribute outside the Russell Group.

My annual reminder to people thinking about applying for these or @leverhulme.ac.uk ECFs: you do NOT have to go to Oxbridge or Russell Gp unis to make a successful application. I went to Edge Hill with my Leverhulme and moved it to Staffordshire when I was offered a permanent job. 1/?

Many forms of “AI” fit fine with our policy. Grammar checking. Sorting a table of numbers. Maybe ML codes to do optimal data regression fits. Debugging code. Etc. But we just don’t think using GenAI to do writing, analysis, research, creative work, etc., fits our ethical standards.

We have decided to ban the use of GenAI for research, writing & creative work at our organization. In fact, we make people sign an agreement saying that their research, analysis, writing, and creative work are *theirs* and not done by GenAI.

#GoWildForHedgehogs and pledge your wild patch today👇 www.hedgehogstreet.org/go-wild-for-hedgehogs Hedgehog Street is a joint campaign run by us and the @hedgehogsociety.bsky.social

Sometimes impact is equated with routes to impact like public engagement, communications or knowledge exchange. For Chris Pahlow impact = relationships. Because without those relationships you are just shouting into the void.

I'll be there!

My Scholarly Kitchen post today: scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/07/14/p...

"... academics who are neurodivergent sometimes fear to disclose that identity due to the risk of being misunderstood and mistreated by the organisations where they work." This work by and for neurodivergent researchers seems important.

Agree. Taking on a Head of Research Department role, I had two types of people offering me advice. A) You should do it because you can make positive changes B) You should let someone else do it and focus on things you want to do 🫠

The article focusses on Women doing more tasks than men - culturally we are conditioned to say yes and be "good". This is then further worsened with requests due to "representation" requirements in a system where there isn't enough people of the categories needed for representation 🫠

Academia is a meritocracy. Discuss.

I saw this exhibit a couple of weeks ago and the photos are stunning

NHM London is looking for a Director of Research as part of our leadership team. Guide a world-class research community, set a strong vision for collections-based research, and ensure research excellence across NHM activities. plusportal.perrettlaver.com/VacancyDetai...

📰 67 technicians shortlisted for national award 🏆 The shortlist has been revealed for the 2025 #PapinPrizes out of an incredible 328 nominations. ➡️ Find out whose been shortlisted here: lnkd.in/eVQCNKhz

Did you see? A loveliness of ladybirds briefly stopped play at Lord's yesterday 🐞🏏 Ladybird expert Prof Helen Roy says that many aphid-feeding species such as the 7-spot ladybird are being seen in v high numbers this year due to high aphid numbers and warm weather. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

We’re co-developing a Good Practice Exchange (GPEx) for research and innovation culture with the community – and we want your input! Have your say in our survey👉 www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/GPExConsul... ⏰Closes 10 August 2025

New Independent Fellowship position in Microbiology to launch your lab in our department @johninnescentre.bsky.social (UK). We are conducting a broad search in the area of plant-associated microbial interactions. Message me if you have any questions. Apply here: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/in...

There are some databases where the “Mrs.” disappears and women are literally indexed as their husbands. (I’m looking at you Gerritsen Collection.)

infuriating this still happens - so often I'm at meetings/training relating to teaching admin, engagement/outreach, or just routine departmental meetings and sometimes it is all women, sometimes 1 or 2 token men bother to participate. it's so glaringly obvious! But when I point it out...

If only there'd been some way to predict this... Sigh. On a slightly less sarcastic note, this is why many editors ask if AI has been used in writing – because a lot of editing is taking LONGER if it's AI text rather than human text. Not always, obviously – but often.

Useful post

📣Have your say! We would love to hear from those working in research services roles for our Research Offices of the Future study. The anonymous survey takes under 10 minutes. We’d be grateful if you could share your views: proquest.iad1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Louder for those at the back, whenever I hear an academic say "I used copilot/chatGPT to [insert routine bit of our job] to save time" I hear "I lack the most fundamental core skills required to do my job".

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-...

Help us build a UK-wide picture of where Swifts are nesting, so that we can better target our conservation efforts, by logging your Swift nest sightings on Swift Mapper 👉brnw.ch/21wTMyw Full guidance on what to look for and how you can help👉 brnw.ch/21wTMyv

Excited to see our LGBTQ+ inclusive fieldwork resources being shared again 🏳️‍🌈 Full videos and written info at inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk

Thanks to Rebecca Wade (Leeds), Jonathan Bush & Jie Xu (Durham), and Ailie O’Hagan (QUB) for joining #RLUKICIL to discuss the role that collections & archives play in helping their institutions meet EDI goals. Chaired by @wendysotonlib.bsky.social 📺 Watch a recording of this event @ bit.ly/ICILOND

A few months ago, Nature published how-to guide for using ChatGPT to write your peer reviews in 30 minutes. This is, of course, a horrible idea. Here’s my response with @jbakcoleman.bsky.social .

📢Speaker Announcement We are thrilled to announce our plenary speakers for the Black in Plant Science Conference 2025. Nicola Patron and Kevin Cox, learn about them here: buff.ly/LY7t2AH Registration is now open, for you to hear from our inspirational speakers! Register here: buff.ly/FaqOp7n

In true sci-fi style, scientists have found insects preserved in amber with fungi growing out of their bodies. 🍄 This 99-million-year-old discovery is among the oldest evidence of fungi infecting insects. Read more about this remarkable discovery. 👇 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

Organising an event? Build in adequate breaks and PROTECT THE BREAKS. #1000SmallThings for a more inclusive HE

Amazing: MIT researchers revealed how ChatGPT etc are destroying our brains and booby-trapped the report to expose those who want to use AI to ostensibly summarize the results. t.co/JXeTALBPds