Ecology is not a dirty word
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Ecology is not a dirty word is a collection of stories, opinions and ideas showing how relevant Ecology is to all of us. I also write about research, academia and science communication.
Ecology is not a dirty word
1M ago
There are many reasons that academics may unexpectedly find themselves at a research career crossroads. This is different to the ‘other’ academic career crossroads, i.e. whether to stay or leave academia generally, which we all reach at some point in ..read more
Ecology is not a dirty word
2M ago
AI is here (and has been for a while). It provides hope and potential solutions to many scientific problems, but also raises many ethical problems that can’t be ignored. For insect biodiversity and conservation research, AI tools can support ID ..read more
Ecology is not a dirty word
3M ago
At the end of 2022, we all thought Twitter (now called X) was about to break. In my broader twitter network of mostly academia and ecology/enviro interested folks, I started losing connections by the day as many people deleted or ..read more
Ecology is not a dirty word
3M ago
In a fitting end to the ridiculous year of misinformation that it was, this fake news story on spiders being attracted to a particular brand of body butter caught my eye. It’s clickbait, it’s misinformation, it’s disinformation…and it’s a great ..read more
Ecology is not a dirty word
5M ago
It’s grant rejection time again for far too many Australian researchers. Many will have to jump straight on the application treadmill again, only to find out in 12 months’ time that it too was unsuccessful. The problems with the ARC ..read more
Ecology is not a dirty word
7M ago
There’s been a lot of background talk about why academics should reduce their travel for lots of reasons. But the last few years of rapid climate breakdown and ongoing pandemic has made this discussion all the more urgent. Academics travel ..read more
Ecology is not a dirty word
10M ago
Anyone who has worked in climate and biodiversity sciences over the last few decades has experienced the deep grief, frustration and helplessness that comes from watching leaders (political, corporate and cultural) ignore the science and intensify the crises we face ..read more
Ecology is not a dirty word
10M ago
There’s been a lot about quiet quitting and great resignations lately. We’re all tired and burned out from the never-ending pandemic and the gaslighting associated with it, compounded with the toxic productivity culture of academia that just seems to continually ..read more
Ecology is not a dirty word
1y ago
We don’t talk enough about thinking about quitting academia. We tend to focus on the two extremes, the success stories in academia vs the reasons many people quit. But what about the more common middle ground? Most of us think ..read more
Ecology is not a dirty word
1y ago
A few recent conversations got me thinking about whether the way we teach undergraduate ecology is doing enough to attract students into research pathways relevant to insect conservation. I’m not talking about entomology, the specialised science of insects, which ..read more