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Dr Beth

@drbeth.bsky.social

4.3K followers 1.6K following 2.2K posts

The librarian formerly known (on twitter) as @Phdgeek. Into nerdy stuff, open research, EDI campaigning, powerlifting and climbing. 🏳️‍🌈

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · Nov 19

So I did a bit of a search around and these are the past and present Francis Crick Institute folks that I could find.

I can't guarantee they're talking about science, but if they are, you know it's going to be cool science 😉

FYI - @thecrick.bsky.social

go.bsky.app/2tMmrSY

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Reposted by Dr Beth

Biology LGBTQ+ Journal Club @oxfordbiologylgbtq.bsky.social · 18h

Hello bluesky! We are an LGBTQ+ Biology Journal Club at Uni of Oxford 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️. We are interested in topics relevant to queer ecology and amplifying queer voices in academia 🪲🌱.

For those in Oxford, we meet every 2 weeks - get in touch for more details! 🥳

A cartoon of 2 rhinocerous beetles clashing. One beetle is saying "I'm just trying to kiss you!" and the other beetle is saying "I'm just trying to kiss you too!". Above them is text reading LGBTQ+ Journal Club in the colours of the progress pride flag.

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Kate O’Neill @katefoneill.bsky.social · 22h

Uk library peoples! Concerned about inter library loans and copyright in the light of potential journal cancellations? Well m’colleague and all round delightful chap, Andrew Johnson, has written all about it here so hopefully you can stop your panics doi.org/10.1629/uksg...

Interlibrary loans, subscriptions and copyright in the UK academic library sector | Insights

doi.org

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Reposted by Dr Beth

will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 1d

one of the astonishing things about working in a UK uni in the last decade is complete DISCONNECT between (on one hand) hostile media stories, ill informed govt policy, end of unis as we know them

and (on the other) the joyful work of actually talking w/students and discovering new things together

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 2d

Congratulations!

Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 3d

Similar for me. I wouldn't be where I am without twitter. I built my career on it, but it just stopped being useful and was instead filled with things that weren't worth my time.

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 3d

This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky.

No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.

Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.

Reposted by Dr Beth

Paul Clammer @paulclammer.bsky.social · 4d

Unsolicited Crick pic.

Francis Crick and James Watson with a model showing the structure of DNA.

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 7d

As I move further into my working life I discover that every question I want answered is a sociology question.

As ever, politicians would just like it if everyday folks stopped learning to ask questions and just did what the ruling classes told them to do.

Tim Worthington @outonbluesix.bsky.social · 7d

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

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St Nicholas Church, Leicester @stnicholasleics.bsky.social · 7d

Join us for a little walk around our urban parish with ornithologist @thelabandfield.bsky.social. The last time we did this we found over 20 different species!

Find out more here: stnicholasleicester.com/whats-on/urb...

Urban bird watch with Dr Alex Bond senior curator in charge of birds at the natural history museum, London.

18/10/25 @ 12:00

Meet at St Nicholas church from 11:30

A short 2km walk starting and ending at St Nicholas church, following the parish boundary along the canal and through the city of Leicester

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 7d

Some of them do happen, but if they do, they're not good. I found this really interesting blogs.bmj.com/spcare/2021/...

Learn from my mistakes! What I learned when I spoke at a predatory conference – BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care

blogs.bmj.com

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MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.bsky.social · 7d

John Gurdon, former Group Leader and Head of @cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social has died.
Despite calling himself a "total non-intellectual” his work to reprogramme somatic cells to pluripotent stem cells transformed the field of developmental biology.
More: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/john-gurdon-...
#LMBNews

Black and white portrait of John Gurdon, 1971

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Reposted by Dr Beth

The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 7d

Misleading content can be both hard to spot and dangerous. But how can we identify and debunk it? Join Professor Iryna Gurevych for the free Milner Prize Lecture on 17 November as she explores:
https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2025/11/how-to-spot-and-debunk-misleading-content/

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 7d

Well, socks are hard 🧦

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 8d

If you're someone with experience of organising events or Sci Comm stuff, I can't think of a better job!

crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...

Events & Conference Manager

Salary for this Role: From £65,000 with benefits subject to skills and experience Job Title: Events & Conference Manager Reports to: Georgie Bevan Closing Date: 20/Oct/2025 23.59 GMT Job Descripti...

crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com

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Elizabeth Gadd @lizziegadd.bsky.social · 8d

Adding my voice to the chorus battling to retain an increased focus on people, culture, and environment in the next REF... wonkhe.com/blogs/the-ba...

The battle for people, culture and environment

Lizzie Gadd makes the case for embracing People, Culture and Environment and sets out why reverting to REF 2021 would be a mistake

wonkhe.com

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 8d

Did you miss the LIS Research seminar on "Obstacles to Open Access publishing for researchers with weak institutional ties"?

If so, never fear, the recording is now out! I'd really recommend giving it a listen.

doi.org/10.52843/cas...

#Library #openaccess #LISResearch #Librarian

A banner image for a seminar entitled "Obstacles to Open Access publishing for researchers with weak institutional ties - epistemic injustice in academic publishing" The seminar is by Nataliia Kaliuzhna and Zeynep Aydin. In the background is a faded out image of academic library bookshelves.

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Bergis Jules 🇱🇨 @bergisjules.bsky.social · 8d

Applications open soon for the second Web Archiving School co-hort. Our fellowship aims to create a new generation of web archiving practitioners dedicated to documenting the Black experience. Sign up today to receive reminders and updates on the application: bit.ly/warc-2026-si...

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 8d

Good luck!

Reposted by Dr Beth

European University Association (EUA) @eua.eu · 9d

The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) has released “A Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Performing Organizations”, designed to help research performing organizations.
ℹ️ Learn more at https://bit.ly/4gSzFA6

@dorassessment.bsky.social

A person holding a publication titled "A Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Performing Organizations" by DORA, in front of a bookshelf.

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 9d

Ah that would have been great but we're not going that far north. Sydney - Tas - Melbourne trip.

Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 9d

After saying I was going 'soon' for the last 25 years, we've finally booked a trip to Australia.

Getting to see the country that shaped my family is both exciting and kind of terrifying!

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 9d

But most of my energy has always been tied to the community rather than a specific job, and if you can make change there then I think that can last (for a while anyway).

Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 9d

Yeah, Ive had this previously when I was doing so much extra stuff to support researchers and then when I left they just stopped doing it and ... no-one really cared.

NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 9d

happy sunday, remember that you are completely expendable to your employer and that when you die they will forget you ever existed within weeks and easily replace you

Work really hard and one day this can be you (followed by graffiti of a headstone that says “RIP worked really hard” on it

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 11d

It's a really difficult talk to do in the current EDI climate, and I'm not sure I hit the nail on the head this time but hopefully it was interesting and useful for people.

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 11d

Very sad to see that Patricia Routledge has died. A big hit in our house in the 90s because of Keeping up appearances.

But more importantly for me she became a really good personal friend to my Grandmother in later life.

RIP Patricia, our family loved you very much.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Dame Patricia Routledge obituary: The life of TV's magnificently snobby 'Hyacinth Bucket'

A much-loved actress who became famous in the role of Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 11d

Things like going around the room and allowing each person to speak without being interrupted before discussion.

Monitoring the chat for people putting ideas in there when they don't want to speak up.

Returning to people who've just been talked over.

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