in an era when carnivore diet influencers are in charge of the american nuclear arsenal we have to admit the "annoying vegan" stereotype barely ever actually existed and the "all meat diet guy" is real, increasingly omnipresent, and way more annoying and inconvenient to actually be around

Rest / Free time / Leisure & #Disability If you know UK-based Disabled People's Organisations or other community groups / collectives that are currently interested in exploring the topics mentioned above from a 'political' perspective, please recommend! #DisabilityStudies #DisabilityRights

Participants wanted! 👥 Take part in an online survey on minority stress & neurodiversity (20–40 mins), inc. focus on burden from administrative systems! Open to neurotypical & neurodivergent adults (18+), English proficient, no location limits 🌍 🔗 durhamuniversity.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Pretty certain my referees have managed to write me letters without referring to how I look? I don't think they found it very hard?

Honestly, I think this is part why I've gone from knitting (badly) to Visual Basic, to kitting (less badly) to Python, CSS and Julia. You're still not going to get me to make anything that's not a square though.

Mandating a binary, immutable definition of sex in research is epistemic vandalism. It doesn’t just erase trans people, it wreaks havoc on the tools of knowledge production, leading to less nuanced, less accurate, and less rigorous science.

YAY! Another rejection. To be fair, this one was pretty predictable.

You don't have to dirty your soul to be a successful academic or a scientist. Have some fucking pride. Have some fucking principles. If you think you DO need to do that, all I can say is that I beg you not to go into academia or science.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to speak at the AI and Ethics conference organised at Oxford - my talk has now been put online and summarised in a written piece you can read for free! After the shenanigans at NeurIPS, scientific rigour is more important than ever www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-01...

YAY!! Another Rejection 🥳

This is a gantt chart hate account. Truly, I hate them.

In April, #PrideinSTEM turns 10! We will have a celebration for it, and we would like to recognize individuals who have had a positive impact on LGBTQIA+ People in STEM, here in the UK! Do you know someone who fits that description? Nominate them here: prideinstem.org/2026/01/27/n... 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🧪🔭

oh no. My research ideas were not supposed to start breeding like rabbits 😭😭

@drbeth.bsky.social As wise librarian human, what are folks using the access theses you'd normally find via the British Library. I'm looking for one specific thesis at the University of Edinburgh, but I don't seem to be able to access their institutional repository either...

I know I'm going to regret asking this, because y'all really opinionated about it. Best Linux distro? #Linux

Recurrent reminder that if u already have PTSD or CPTSD or trauma you are not “blackpilled” or “numb” in a way that means you can’t get more, you are in fact more likely to get PTSD from exposure to horrific/graphic things, u do not need to lay eyes on bad things to be aware of them & keep fighting

Yep. We have definitely entered the "this is not fun at all" part of a fellowship proposal.

In other news: I hate word/ page limits.

It cannot be made clearer. If you continue to support the Harry Potter franchise in any way, you are directly funding the removal of trans people's human rights in the UK.

If anyone's able to explain why my last fellowship proposal was supported by cheese and ploughman's chutney toasties, and this one's apparently soreen, that would actually be amazing.

Some more linocut experimentation yesterday evening. Still keeping stuff relatively simple while I play around – might need some better rollers based on the slight patchiness on this one!

This is bogging, and actually makes me ashamed to be an alumna of The University of Sheffield. I was incredibly poorly throughout my undergraduate degree, yet really well looked after by my department. I had amazing lecturers, some of the most passionate people I've ever met.

New research maps the campaign to erase trans people from UK data 🔢 This peer-reviewed article offers the first detailed account of how UK campaign groups have sought to define sex as strictly biological across the census, policing, healthcare and digital ID. doi.org/10.1080/0958...

Interested in environmentally sustainable research computing? Then join us for a conference taking place at CERN on May 4-8, 2026. SC4RC, the sustainability conference for responsible research computing. Website: www.sc4rc.org Registration and abstract submission currently open.

Not to get too mushy on main about it, but how lucky am I to have the co-conspirators that I do.

Not naming names, but I absolutely have pocketpals who need this.

Ultimately the crackdown on transness has never been about trans people its never been about us. Its the struggle between the firm hand of heteronormative patriarchy and the freedom of feminism, bodily autonomy, reproductive rights. We are just the border where that war is fought

Join us for a one-day symposium celebrating Trans+ students and researchers in STEM at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London on 27th February! Free to attend #trans #transstem #lgbtstem #lgbt #stem transstemuk.substack.com/p/sign-up-fo...

I think that an underreported reason for why "<insert group here> has low AI adoption" is that many people do not have the luxury to be able to trade time for accuracy. It's hard enough for women and minorities to succeed in STEM careers. We don't have the same luxury to be forgiven for mistakes

I might possibly have to walk back everything mean I said about narrative CVs. I'm still don't love it, because I'm having to write nice things about myself, but the PGCert that Strath claimed would make us massively super employable, has actually been useful here.

I am deeply honored to have been awarded Fellowship of the Institute of Physics. This is the highest level of membership awarded by the IOP, to those who have made a significant contribution to the sector. I look forward to continuing to advocate for physics, in the UK and beyond.

And that's the first rejection for 2026 🥳

I feel like I have pocket pals who would love this?

✂️ Yesterday I finally responded to @agakowalska.bsky.social’s challenge to make a collage from a single piece of packaging. I present to you a green (tea) woodpecker, made from a big Yorkshire Tea box. It was fun and I’ll be rooting through our recycling bin for more materials later on ♻️

When, at some point, the Overton window shifts left. Even slightly. What we're NOT going to do is allow all those big companies, brands etc suddenly put their rainbow flag cosplay back on. We are NOT going to allow them to pretend they didn't just drop us as they decided we weren't fashionable. 1/

And this is why I'm friends with Prof Oliver. When I grow up, I want to be half as brave.

Honestly, this is starting to feel like Research Ireland is the only funding body who outright bans it - and even then, it's not explicitly a ban on AI, but plagiarism.

Having fun dot watching @ans.bsky.social Very glad I'm not out in it - I'm here with two jumpers, my oodie and a blanket and I think I'm still cold?

DISABLED PEOPLE DON’T EXIST TO BE YOUR INSPIRATION. Disabled People Don’t Exist To Be Your Inspiration. Disabled people don’t exist to be your inspiration.

They're back! My progress pride "it's Dr actually" pins are finally back in stock 😊 canopyrobin.etsy.com/listing/1841...

I'm pretty certain all my battery pals have graduated at this point, but I'm certain this is someone's cup of tea. Evan is genuinely lovely and is someone who's nice to spend time with.

And we're back to worrying/ruminating over the fellowship proposals we've got in. 🙃 Well at least I had respite from this over Christmas I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

My niece in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, has made a snow dalek that's featured in the Aberdeen Press and Journal. #proudaunt

That's my first AoC puzzle solved in Julia. Explicitly having to end if..else and for loops is going to take some getting used to. Have discovered the concept of a ternary operator - we are never using those. Nope. Absolutely not.

Snow! Very light snow currently, but it has settled so that's an immediate 5/10 imho. DN32 #UKSnow

A wonderful way to start the year, with a new publication. We examine ethnic representation across UK bioscience by exploring the structural factors shaping career progression, and proposing recommendations for meaningful change. Full article: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41474708/

THIS!! Your not-covid will still make me so ill I can't regulate my blood pressure well enough to let me sit up upright for any real length of time.

It's taken me three hours, but I've finally made my way through ~5k unread emails...

Just in case anyone's decided to do Veganuary. Hi. *waves in vegan 🌱*

Also we have now run the "if we throw trans people under the bus will it protect the cis people" experiment (SADLY) and the answer is NO IT DOES NOT WORK AND ALSO YOU'RE A GENOCIDAL ASSHOLE So in 2026 PROTECT TRANS PEOPLE TRANS LIVES ARE PRECIOUS Hill you should be willing to die on