Compare and contrast the funding call in Kristy's post below with the EPSRC EDI action plan: "2.15. Ensure no short deadlines to funding opportunities. Thoughtful deadlines to enable a greater diversity of people to apply." www.ukri.org/publications...

I have completed both my ResearchFish submission and also the final destruction of my soul.

Attacks on MPs have increased, especially on women and black people. This is because a part of the population has been assured over & over that its misogyny and racism should never have been suppressed by “woke”, anti-“free speech” militants. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

I'm in no way vegan, not even vegetarian. I just... don't eat very much meat. Which from an environmental point of view is better than eating lots of meat, and is also achievable for me. I'm all for this kind of approach across much of life: don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Oh dear: the talk I wrote and delivered to my group last week about how to craft a narrative and write a clear and engaging paper was apparently evil and wrong. Oh well, I think they enjoyed it anyway. Just consider me entertainment.

The trove of files released by the Department of Justice, illuminates Epstein’s deep interest and entrenchment in the scientific community. But the files also underscore how he used his power and money in ways that kept women out of places where they might succeed. https://bit.ly/4qWgPLz

Great to have some sunshine and to be back in the woods on the mountain bike: youtube.com/shorts/tcOqP...

JOSH AWARD 2026 APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN! The winner of this national award in science communication and engagement will develop and deliver a new project to run at Science Festivals, Science Discovery Centres, or other outreach events. Full details at big.uk.com/josh/ Deadline 10 April 2026.

I’m not religious but I think for Lent I’m giving up.

Just discovered this www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

The Constance Tipper Lecture Theatre is named after this pioneering engineer. In 1939 Constance (nee Elam) was one of the first female lecturers at the Department of Engineering. Her major contribution during the Second World War was investigating the causes of brittle fracture in Liberty Ships.

Ashbourne real football! Oh, I miss the Peak District!

Another day, another journal demanding I perform a review for them for free in less than two weeks. Another email explaining that I do not accede to this approach. Why do journals think this is reasonable?

Although I actually agree that students got a rough deal during the pandemic, it's very difficult to read these accounts of them taking legal action because they think what was provided was not worth the money they paid for it. The hours and hours spent recording and editing lectures in lockdown...

This is a really interesting model - I hope it's impacts are followed up and thoroughly evaluated, because if it works, it could be adopted elsewhere.

Really excited to see this paper out online! Genuinely beautiful data from focussed ion beam tomography that show not only fascinating three dimensional structures in porous semiconductors, but also reveal some suprises about how they form. 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The problem with Valentine's days is that it makes you painfully aware that even though we have been surviving February for roughly 7000 years, we are still only half way through.

Happy Women in science day. On this day I am thinking of all my women science mentors and Rita Levi-Montalcini who did experiments in her bedroom in defiance of Mussolini’s ban on Jews in academic and professional careers while WWII raged around her.

Sigh. We are still right here. After all this time.

I've been wondering for a while whether we need to start organising now to resist potential Farage-led ICE style activities. The resistance in Minnesota has built on well established organiser networks. We might need something similar in the UK in future.

Very true. There are Reasons that I spend so much time banging on about properly implementing safeguarding and harassment prevention programs in academia and in the broader science and tech community.

Update: I have received a repsonse from Sir Paul reiterating the Society's statement to the media: "“The Royal Society does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment or bullying. That is, and will continue to be, enshrined in our code of conduct.” See www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

It used to be that if you got on a train in the UK, you would eventually get where you are going. Usually late, often uncomfortable... But you got there. Recently, when I get on delayed trains, they get cancelled mid-journey, and you get turfed off to wait for a different train, which may then...

'Several universities in England which have scored a top rating in a national teaching assessment have large gaps in degree outcomes for black students and low representation of black academics, according to a report that says equity goals should form a larger part of quality metrics.' 1/2

Bottom line: We found no systematic evidence of political censorship on TikTok post-restructuring at this point. A server outage better explains the data. But the story isn't over, and platforms need to provide the public more transparency.

Excellent thread. I think we may find we are living in interesting times.

Three weeks on. Still no response.

Exciting to see programmes that support Black students in the PhD application process succeeding, and important to understand that they provide evidence for a deficit in academia not in the Black students.

Quite apart from the policy issues here, why did UKRI choose to release this important letter on a Sunday teatime???

Dear Adobe, No, I don't need the AI to summarize. No, I don't need the AI to help me search. No, I don't need the AI to help me resize the margins. No, I don't need the AI to do anything. What I need is to hit the print icon without your product crashing from all of the AI popups.

Fuming 😡 Teacher: "you can usually tell the girls that want to do physics, they look a bit tomboy-ish" #WomenInSTEM #ASPIRES3 @iop.org

Just redid my University's EDI Essentials training. It's am now more able to parse the exact legal definition of disability in edge cases. I am not sure why this is considered useful. EDI training really needs to be about something slightly more profound that legal compliance.

Raised at work, they're ditching the Give to Gain campaign, using the UNWomen's theme instead 💪 Outrageous a corporate with no apparent link to the UN International Women's Day is unilaterally deciding a theme, promoting it, creating resources for people to buy and as far as I can see cashing in.

ICE has kidnapped another Indigenous person in Minneapolis. This is the fifth member of the Očhéthi Šakówinnto be taken this month. Statement from Standing Rock:

Two weeks on - no response from Sir Paul Nurse. Contemplating whether there is any value in sending a reminder...

The Engineering Council requires professional engineering institutions to have robust codes of conduct consistent with a substantial & meaningful set of ethical principles. Apparently, the @royalsociety.org president is too important for all that boring ethics stuff. www.engc.org.uk/resources-an...

The US granted visas to Jews but only allowed 30,000 in from Germany a year. You had to wait for your number to come up. Meet Robert Smallbones. An unassuming British diplomat who 'hacked' this system so effectively (saving 48 THOUSAND Jews) the UK government kept his scheme secret for decades /1 🧵

No reply from Sir Paul Nurse or the Royal Society to this, one week after I sent it.

Writing is thinking "On the value of human-generated scientific writing in the age of large-language models." www.nature.com/articles/s44...

All being well, I'll be at Photonics West from Monday. Any Bluesky folks who around and would like to meet up, let me know!

Thanks for writing this; appalling that you have to. “Bad people can contribute to science progress too” is a foolish argument on its own terms: 1 bad person can halt the careers of many. It’s numerically improbable that the impact of one person outweighs the cumulative impact of all halted careers.

Allied health organisations such as the WFOT apply scientific evidence to advance the health and wellbeing of all people. Work preventing the ability of any minority to engage in the occupation of work (bullying/sexual harassment) contravenes... @seismatters.bsky.social @profrachelgan.bsky.social

Coverage in the Guardian of responses to Paul Nurse's comments on Musk & the Royal Soc Code of Conduct. Plenty of Nobel Prize Winners defending Nurse and Musk & Fellows seem uncomfortable to be named when they disagree. Also quotes from me & @scurry.bsky.social. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Research Professional (@resprofnews.bsky.social) are reporting on the community's discomfort at Sir Paul Nurse's suggestion that Fellows should only be expelled from the Royal Society for scientific misconduct: bsky.app/profile/resp... (includes a quote from my letter).

Chris is right to highlight this point, which speaks volumes about Sir Paul Nurse's personal attitudes, but also about the influence of the current US backlash against "DEI" on UK thinking. 😢

Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.

According to this FT article, Sir Paul Nurse says: “I’m afraid there’s many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances.” The ‘but’ in this quote says it all… So don’t blame us when we lose faith in institutions that regard integrity as irrelevant to designating scientific greatness.

I am writing to Paul Nurse about the implications of his words on the code of conduct on harassment risk at the RS. I am not planning to gather sigs as I don't want less established people to have to raise their heads above the parapet on this, but if anyone could proof read for me, let me know.