"The real threat is a slow, comfortable drift toward not understanding what you're doing. Not a dramatic collapse. Not Skynet. Just a generation of researchers who can produce results but can't produce understanding."

Fantastic that our paper using @ukbms.bsky.social data led by @robboyd.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social has been shortlisted for the best paper of the year prize! @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Robin Boyd: Using causal diagrams and superpopulation models to correct geographic biases in biodiversity monitoring data Throughout March, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2025 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in E…

🏅 Shortlisted for the 2025 Robert May prize! 🏅

In his blog post, @robboyd.bsky.social talks about his paper 'Using causal diagrams and superpopulation models to correct geographic biases in biodiversity monitoring data' 🌍 🧪 Read the blog and find the full article 👇

buff.ly/a7UROJJ

🏅 Shortlisted for the 2025 Robert May prize! 🏅

In his paper, @jsmartin.bsky.social proposes a statistical model for detecting how complex, continuously varying environments shape the expression of and association among multiple organismal traits 🌍

Read more here 👇

Thinking like a mountain in the age of AI Click on the article title to read more.

In a sea of opinions about the role of LLMs in academics I offer my own.

Apart from being harmful, exploitive plagiarism machines, LLMs rob us of the opportunity to experience the gift of friction in writing, which changes how we think.

We must not give away that gift.

doi.org/10.1002/fee....

We're pleased to announce the shortlist for this year's Robert May prize! 🌟

Each year, we award the Robert May prize to the best paper in the journal by an early career author 🧪 🌏

See the full list below 👇
buff.ly/SosksZF

Published 📖

Generalized graphical mixed models connect ecological theory with widely used statistical models

GGMMs connect ecological theory with statistical models that are applied for inference, prediction, and causal analysis throughout ecology 🖥️ 🌍

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As well as the FIT Count survey, we run a more systematic survey using insect traps in a set of 1 km squares across the UK. If you live near one of the red squares on the map and are interested in taking part please contact us for more details ukpoms.org.uk/one-km-squar...

Hear hear

Topics Please see below for a non-exhaustive list of suggested topics; we particularly welcome contributions that make contact with this year's conference theme: Ground Truth and Validity. While the notion of measurement validity is comparatively familiar, ground truth may need more of an introduction. The concept of ground truth has origins in remote sensing, where it is used to contrast the outcomes of a near or ground level measurement with outcomes of a remotely sensed measurement. From these origins, the concept has now moved to a wider use, particularly in machine learning contexts, where it denotes data assumed to be true, which can then be used to calibrate and validate machine learning data. The time seems ripe for a more careful investigation from a measurement perspective of the concept of ground truth-both in its original understanding and in its more metaphorical use. Measurement and Simulation • Connections between measuring and simulating • Can simulation substitute for measurement? Measurement and Data Science

Measurement and Data Science • Measurement and data quality • Measurement and data analysis • Measurement and Al Models in Measurement • The role of models in measurement • The role of models in justifying measurement results • Models, intersubjectivity, objectivity, validation Models of Measurement • The general structure of the measurement process • The structure of measurement in social and human sciences • Transduction and calibration in measurement • History of the conception of the structure of measurement History, Philosophy and Sociology of Measurement

The structure of measurement in social and human sciences • Transduction and calibration in measurement • History of the conception of the structure of measurement History, Philosophy and Sociology of Measurement • Exploration across sciences with diverse philosophical perspectives • New quantification and measurement approaches • Epistemological and metaphysical approaches to measurement Measurement Applications and their conceptual foundations in any area of science • Life & Health Sciences

CFP: Society for the Study of Measurement will be held at the University of Edinburgh
June 22-25, 2026. Submit proposals for papers, symposia, & poster on any topics in the theory, history, philosophy, & application of measurement by January 15, 2026 app.oxfordabstracts.com/stages/80364...
#HPS

New paper on adaptive sampling for ecological monitoring published in @oikosjournal.bsky.social nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/.... Premise is to aim for proportional allocation across strata. Success depends on choice of stratifying variables. Oli Pescott’s brainchild

Science-integrity project will root out bad medical papers ‘and tell everyone’ Group behind Retraction Watch aims to pinpoint the most influential flawed health data.

Science-integrity project will root out bad medical papers ‘and tell everyone’

Thrilled to announce this new $900,000 project headed by @jamesheathers.bsky.social

Ecologists’ endless quest for automatic inference
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/05/28/e...

Identifying hotspots and risk factors for tick-borne encephalitis virus emergence at its range margins to guide interventions, Great Britain Background Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is expanding its range in Europe, with increasing human cases reported. Since the first detection of TBEV in ticks in the United Kingdom in 2019, one po...

Our new paper combines wildlife surveillance data and spatial risk modelling to map suitability for TBEV in GB. We identified key drivers linked to TBEV exposure in deer and produced risk maps, which can guide future surveillance and interventions. www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...

Using causal diagrams and superpopulation models to correct geographic biases in biodiversity monitoring data Biodiversity monitoring schemes periodically measure species' abundances and distributions at a sample of sites to understand how they have changed over time. Often, the aim is to infer change in ...

DAGs are nice way to think about sample selection biases, Ecology edition. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

It is only by understanding what causes sampling bias that we can correct it...

Check out our new Blog post by @robboyd.bsky.social here! 👇

https://buff.ly/3PVHA30

This paper just out using data from the UKBMS to demonstrate different ways to think about bias in datasets.

📖Published📖

Our new research article demonstrates how you might combine expert knowledge with causal diagrams and superpopulation models to mitigate geographic biases in biodiversity monitoring data 🌎 🧪 Read it here 👇

https://buff.ly/3C2ZKws

What have causal diagrams got to do with sampling bias? Find out here! Great team @richardfoxbc.bsky.social @davidroybrc.bsky.social + oli Pescott, Colin harrower, Emily Dennis, Ian middlebrook and Marc Botham. @ukceh.bsky.social @ukbms.bsky.social

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Real-Time Early-Warnings of Human-Wildlife Conflict at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Real-Time Early-Warnings of Human-Wildlife Conflict at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD.com

🚨 Interested in using #AI to help develop real-time early warnings of human-wildlife conflict?

Apply for a fully-funded #PhD supervised by Vicky Boult (University of Reading) and our own @robboyd.bsky.social

Part of the AI-INTERVENE programme. Deadline 27 Jan: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Advancing Volunteer-Led Biodiversity Monitoring with Generative AI and Data Science at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Advancing Volunteer-Led Biodiversity Monitoring with Generative AI and Data Science at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD.com

💡 Can we use data science and AI to make citizen science more engaging for participants and improve biodiversity data quality?

🧪 Apply now for a competition-funded #PhD opportunity to explore - deadline 27 Jan.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Still a couple of weeks left to apply for this #PhD. How are pollinating #insects changing in the UK? This project will develop indicators for #pollinators using #citizenscience data. A collaboration between @ukceh.bsky.social, University of Reading and JNCC. tinyurl.com/3ve5szrh