New blog post, inspired by the excellent recent qualitative paper by Makel and colleagues: On the reliability and reproducibility of qualitative research. I reflect on how I will incorporate realist ontologies in my own qualitative research. daniellakens.blogspot.com/2026/02/on-r...

reached the point where I unironically listen to the minecraft soundtrack to relax or work 😳

Navigating complex teaching situations and helping students build skills for their future? Happening today. Excited!

ScholarOne, I am tired of playing this game. You know, I know, we all know that I don’t know my password. Just take me directly to my ORCiD.

What it feels like returning to coding and data after doing conceptual work 🖤

We are facing a transformative phenomenon in digital space: AI chatbots. Are they perceived as social beings...or just machines? How does that shape how we chat—and whether we end up bonding with them? We tackle these questions with the AI Relationship Process Framework: arxiv.org/abs/2601.17351

Amazed how after all these years, people still surprise me by coming up with new ways to express “association between X and Y, except slightly more causal, but not in the causal-effect-of-X-on-Y way.”

As someone who recently obtained endorsement thanks to a network of supportive colleagues, I can’t help but think this may be a real hurdle for early-career researchers or those branching into new subfields. That said, if it helps curb AI submissions, I’m not sure there’s a better alternative. 🤔

How chatting with a companion chatbot leaves you:

Crafting a lil multi-panel plot and suddenly its lunch time, ooop 😳 Also taking word of advice from @scientificdiscovery.dev super helpful blog post about data viz!

The social illusionists

Beautiful snowfall in Zurich ❄️

to be a master you must first be a fool.

First time seeing someone with a Skullet in the wild (local gym) and it looks even cooler in RL than online, dang!

The Media Psychology & Methods Team wishes you a good end to 2025! The year was special for us: We started as a team, had our first retreat, conferences, teaching, and christmas party (together with the sci comm team). Off to new adventures! (But until then: Winter break ❄️☕️🦦)

Marco is one of my biggest inspirations. Cooking and doing science are surprisingly similar imo.

To reduce plastic waste, our department replaced single-use PET water bottles at internal talks with reusable metal bottles for all members. A small but meaningful example of how feedback is taken seriously and implemented with care. Thank you! 🌱

sleep 5/5 stars no notes

🍌🍞

since it’s christmas break i wanna read something 💫 i loved the storytelling and emotional pull of Hesse’s Narziss und Goldmund. The medieval, visceral, soul-searching energy really transported me. does anyone have recs in that territory? #booksky

Your last saved meme is your moral philosophy

Whenever I mention my research topic (even at the doctor’s lol), people start sharing their own experiences using AI chatbots with me. Always personal. Always fascinating to listen to. 🥹

14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.

Dear Santa, a GRC travel grant is *exactly* what I wished for this Christmas. It’s so amazing that UZH & the Graduate Campus support early-career researchers. Can’t wait to visit VU Amsterdam and collaborate with @thvu.bsky.social this upcoming spring!

Life is what happens when you’re busy trying to get your paper published

What’s just as cringe as listening to your own voice recording? Seeing yourself in a magazine 🙂 All jokes aside, I was interviewed about chatbot companionship and loneliness by a lovely journalist—so much fun (and yes, they even mailed a copy to zurich!!). 🔗 wienerin.at/lifestyle/de...

1,000,000%

All bundled up during an individual session I held on parasocial encounters in @nicolebizzotto.bsky.social’s Health Communication seminar 🧣 Thanks so much for the invitation (and great pic!) 💫

balance 🧑‍💻

I introduced #openscience practices in my undergrad BA thesis seminar and offered bonus points for applying them (inspired by @tobiasdienlin.com) So happy to see that students find it useful. Some are already running a priori power analyses. Makes me genuinely happy 😊

How it feels to do the final edits on a manuscript #academicsky

Hello Bluesky👋 This is our first post as the IKMZ Media Psychology & Methods division. Since it’s Spotify Wrapped season, we thought we’d start with a game: Can you guess the age Spotify gave to our members? 🎧🤔 Our Team will reply in the comments ⬇️ P.S. That’s us at our traditional team-fondue 🫕�

*Parasocial* is Cambridge’s Word of the Year 2025! A perfect moment for a field that keeps getting more fascinating---especially as parasociality moves into new territory with AI chatbot companions (at least imo). #academicsky #parasocial #ai #relationships

Nothing better after a long day than treating myself to a stuffed bunny the long way!

Exactly. And it’s this very norm that we’re against. Complexity for complexities sake. The “nuance is always good”. No it’s not. The incremental insights need to outweigh the added complexity. And often the reported complexity is just empirical noise.

AI summary word of the day:

Nobody is taking away my em dash www.wsj.com/tech/ai/dont...

First snow in Zürich + Last Christmas on full volume at the office = peak vibesss. @mepsyme.bsky.social

Today I have the pleasure of participating in „The Impact of Your Voice” — a workshop on voice training for talks, lectures, and all things public speaking. How cool 🗣️✨

Choosing peace is choosing well-being

It’s simple, really

Fascinating NYT story on AI chatbot companions. The three stories show how deeply they can shape people’s lives. I’ve come across similar accounts in my own research; for some, the connection can be truly life-changing. If you’re curious, worth the read: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Just stumbled upon a super interesting preprint about chatbot usage and loneliness 👀 osf.io/preprints/ps... Thread below 👇 (1-6)

Pergaminium is what you go dig for in the paper mines.

When researchers bring up confounders without ever having declared the actual analysis goal

Finishing up ICA prep feels like clutching a 1v5 B-rush with a deagle, 23 HP and no armor atm 😃👍 #ica26 #academicsky #csgo #cs2

what you guys make in a year i make in 16-18 months

Ever since I was a kid, one of my special interests has been making something beautiful in the kitchen (or at least giving it my best shot). #cooking #food

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)

Wondering if you can outsource your data viz work to ChatGPT? 📊 I tested out a few different generative AI tools, giving them prompts to visualise two different data sets. If you're interested in the results, you can read them here: nrennie.rbind.io/blog/gen-ai-... #RStats #Python #DataViz #GenAI