*Job alert* We’re looking for a network coordinator for our Helminth Eco-Health Hub. Based at QUB with Geoff Gobert.

Apply here: hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

@cmillins.bsky.social (tagging you as can’t message you)

Thank you!

Now we know when we have the best chance of collecting nymph #ticks for demo - at night, in November, when it's damp! Wonderful study - big thanks to the persisting researchers. @hannahvineer.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/bior... Night hunting #cats need continued tick protection.

Russ Morphew (@russmorphew.bsky.social) If you are interested in a taster of the new Helminth Eco-Health Hub Uk have a look at this infographic... #TeamWorm

Our @ukri.org Helminth Eco-Health Hub kicks off in January, but is already receiving a lot of media attention. The Hub will bring together helminth researchers across various themes and includes opportunities for ECRs to network and access seed funding. Keep your 👀 out for further info to join us

All eyes on the flotilla.

Our beloved lab technician + tick ID expert, Alice (in the back), is leaving us this week to pursue her dream PhD in shark metagenomics. We managed to take her on a "goodbye" safari (and took lots of pictures of ticks on wildlife 🤣). Bittersweet, but I'm so happy for her!

Kgofa meeting - 11th September 2025 - Gaborone, Botswana Presentations from the "Kgofa: tackling ticks and tick-borne pathogens in Botswana" held at the Botswana National Veterinary Laboratory, Gaborone, Botswana, ...

We recently shared Kgofa (tick) project interim findings at a meeting at the Botswana National Vet Labs. >160 attended (roughly 50:50 online/in person)!
If you missed it, you can watch it back here, incl. talks from our team members, @fao.org and the CLAWS conservancy: youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Tick ecology and host-finding efficiency interact to determine disease risk: a model of heartwater dynamics | Parasitology | Cambridge Core Tick ecology and host-finding efficiency interact to determine disease risk: a model of heartwater dynamics

Why do we model ticks/tick-borne disease? What insights can we get from modelling?

Postdoc Adam Fisher breaks down his recent heartwater model, recorded for the Kgofa (tick) project meeting.

Watch here: youtu.be/8JvwTFUAIoA?...
Paper here: doi.org/10.1017/S003...
Funding @ukri.org

I couldn't get us all in one room, but I managed to catch up with most of what we're lovingly calling "Team Tick" in Botswana and South Africa recently. Such a lovely group of people to work with!

When the Met Office shared that this summer was the hottest in UK records, the comment section was sadly all too familiar

Over on Instagram, we took the opportunity to reshare a Reel debunking a common bit of misinformation about climate change, using the superb Climate Stripes graphic.

Yes! Alison is writing is up. We hoped to relate patterns in PPR profiles to reported covariables, but there’s a lot of uncertainty in the systems e.g. nutrition rarely reported in detail, which confounds the analyses. We do have a “database” of PPR profiles now though, which is useful.

Nice work, Adam! Tagging @neilhobbs.bsky.social as this is useful insight for our PPR project.

We were incredibly honoured to have the Botswana Minister for Lands and Agriculture open our @ukri.org Kgofa (tick) project meeting 2 weeks ago. It's a great feeling to be welcomed and receive genuine support from industry and policy-makers. Link to his speech below

www.facebook.com/share/v/17Eq...

I've neglected Bluesky, so apologies for a flurry of posts to come! First up, sharing Miguel's **beautiful** infographic from our review of 'green' ruminant parasite control. Despite a huge network of colleagues working in this area (e.g. @envirant.bsky.social), there's still plenty more to do!

New article by Livio Martins Costa Junior and I. Writing for the press makes a nice change from scientific publications :)

Next up we learn about the new Defra-UKRI one health VBD hub project, enhancing links between data collection, analysis and policy #UKVBD2024

*development TEAM*

The VBD Hub development representing at the @ukvbd.bsky.social 👏🏼

Introducing the newly launched #UK #VBD Hub at @ukvbd.bsky.social
#ukvbd2024 @ukri.org
vbdhub.org

Lovely to see faces old and new at our VBDhub.org workshop yesterday. Had a sleep, now on to the @ukvbd.bsky.social meeting!

Thanks to everyone who participated in our UK #VDB Hub meeting today. It was really great to have a whole day discussing issues around data. Special thanks to Lauren Cator for leading our team.

First meeting of the UK Vector-Borne Disease Hub! Lauren Cator, @drstevenmwhite.bsky.social , @hannahvineer.bsky.social (and others not on bluesky) figuring out how to share data to support disease modelling and forecasting and make the UK healthier! www.imperial.ac.uk/news/250073/...

Really enjoyed discussing data needs and availability for tackling #vectorbornedisease at the UK VBD Hub meeting today. Learn more about the project at vbdhub.org #vbd

Great workshop on the new UK #Vector-Borne Diseases Hub (VBD Hub) in the run up to tomorrow's @ukvbd.bsky.social conference in Liverpool. Please check out their new website: vbdhub.org 🦟🪰🕷️

great #PhD opportunity in #disease #ecology - which species are key for #tick-borne disease transmission in the UK? Combining genetics, community ecology, mathematical modelling





@uofgsbohvm.bsky.social & @ukceh.bsky.social

International applicants - contact me by 9th Dec

tinyurl.com/wfuak5se

What is driving changes in tick-borne disease dynamics?

***Join our team as a PhD student*** investigating environmental drivers associated with exposure of wild ungulates to tick-borne pathogens in Northern Botswana.

Apply here:
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...