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melaniesmallman.bsky.social
Professor of Science & Technology Studies and Director of Scicom @stsucl.bsky.social Author Governance Democracy & Ethics, ex-Chair SERA Labour Environment Campaign. Science & society, tech, inequality & populism, climate change & tech ethics. EASST.
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Posts 47 Comments 3

This is excellent

submitted 4 days ago • 7 comments

Royal Society must choose between Musk and its integrity. When science itself is under attack, neutrality becomes complicity, says Kit Yates. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

An example here for all institutions that claim to speak for the values of the scientific community.

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

Today's extract from Serving the Reich. What makes it worse is that I don't even need to add any explanatory comment, do I?

submitted 4 days ago • 4 comments

Yes!! Meanwhile, most scientific institutions are 🤐

submitted 5 days ago • 4 comments

Well said!

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

I’m being strongly reminded of the story about the American ‘libertarians’ who took over a town and ended-up covered in bears. newrepublic.com/article/1596...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Nope. The issue at hand is a society, its fellowship & code of conduct, not science and politics, though, of course, both science & the Royal Society cannot avoid being political. Pretending they can is itself a political stance. Retaining a fellow who's broken the code of conduct is very political!

submitted 9 days ago • 12 comments

Better than expelling him would be to see him quit because @royalsociety.org went hard on EDI policies. For instance, the Fellowship could easily decide to only appoint female new fellows until there is gender balance.

submitted 12 days ago • 3 comments

From the conversations I've had within politics recently, this isn't surprising, but still troubling. You can buy the tech bros' fantasy, but AI driven inequality is coming to an advice surgery near you very soon. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

We're looking forward to working with Declan Fahy and other guest editors on this special edition of JCOM focused on "Transitions in Science Communication" #scicomm

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

“The scientific community needs to speak up – not just for the sake of science, but of human decency, dignity and morality.” Well said Philip Ball.

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

A question for fellow sociologists who use digital methods - now that social media has become so fragmented/Twitter has jumped the shark, which digital sources are you finding worthwhile studying? Specifically if you want to see general trends rather than special interest discussions?

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Thrilled to announce our next JBS Haldane Lecture on 24 March 2025 with Charlotte Bigg (CNRS), entitled "Imaging the universe. A scientific, technical and cultural history". For more information and to book your place, please visit: www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/ev... @uclmaps

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

✉️ Our first newsletter is out! Subscribe now to keep up to date with everything exciting happening in STS! www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/st...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

The stories I am hearing from US academia are absolute madness. I hope that at least some of the institutional responses I am hearing are deliberately stringent so that the absurdity and authoritarian nature of the orders are made clear. Any other explanation is too hard to contemplate.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

If you are in danger unless you comply with a regime, you are in danger whether you comply or not

submitted 26 days ago • 49 comments

Not a surprise. You rarely have to pull the AI thread for very long to get to weapons. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 29 days ago • 2 comments

If 1000 job losses were announced in one day for another industry, it would make the top headlines. This one is going to take people by surprise with huge impacts on other sectors, cities, regions, life plans...

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

Sorry to hear this about @cardiffuni.bsky.social Losing 400 faculty means Cardiff Uni is now mostly employing administrators (they currently have 3660 admin to 3410) academics according to their website). At what point do you stop being an academic institution? www.theguardian.com/education/20...

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Is this really "what AI was meant to be?" Mundane, pointless and offering a slightly worse service than humans can but at lower cost to business?

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Just been sent a photo of our COVID-19 book @manchesterup.bsky.social on display in Oxford - with rather august company and lovely accompanying artifacts. Thank you to those responsible! Free OA ebook: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526180049/

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

My best/only advice for getting through These Times is to join a choir - an evening singing 'Defying Gravity' in 6 part harmony with 100 others last night at least gave an hour's respite from the horrors.

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

Day 1 - turn the heat up and lock the doors. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

Late to report back, but I was delighted to be elected to the EASST Council a little while ago. I've just attended my first meeting with lots of excellent people and things in the pipeline. So thanks to everyone who voted for me and do get in touch with any ideas or suggestions!

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

This is going to be a lovely job for someone in history/philosophy/STS of medicine related topics. It's a significant hire for us @stsucl.bsky.social as it's permanent, so happy to speak to anyone interested.

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

I hope no-one @stsucl.bsky.social encounters revolting snobbery like this, but if you do, Simon Werrett and I are here for you. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

submitted 61 days ago • 0 comments

New EASST Review online. Interesting reflections on the July #EASST#4S conference & other #STS events. Winners of #creative writing competition are there to read at your leisure, organised with Michela Cozza & Nina Klimburg-Witjes. Thanks to editors @drfuturity.bsky.social @stefanlaser.bsky.social

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

Looking forward to convening a discussion panel on future horizons for science communication research - with an international panel of speakers. Signup to join us in Aberdeen in May 2025 here www.abdn.ac.uk/events/confe...

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

I remember that this was one of the paintings we discussed on our @stsucl.bsky.social away day earlier this year - in case anyone was left wanting to know more ...

submitted 70 days ago • 0 comments

@bridgendcbc.bsky.social

submitted 74 days ago • 0 comments

I hope my Bridgend neighbours will be asking big questions about the job implications of this proposal - Ford employed 2000 people on this site, data centres run with no more that 20. Just one of the ways digital tech is driving inequality. www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...

submitted 74 days ago • 0 comments

For the opportunity to present at this celebration and have Professors Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer respond to their work in conversation with Professor John Tresch, early career scholars are invited to send abstracts of max. 200 words. For more details go to: www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/news/202...

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

Our MSc Science Communication alumnus Callum Jack was part of the UCL team who won their round on University Challenge with an impressive score of 255! You can watch the episode here: https://bit.ly/4g9ldCz

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

Amazing opportunity for ECR in History of Science/STS to present their work at the anniversary of Leviathan and the Airpump anniversary symposium - with the authors! @stsucl.bsky.social @sciencemuseumldn.bsky.social www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/news/202...

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

10th Day!!🎄 MSc student Natalia Jordan Valenzuela is reading History of Information Graphics: "Infographics are everywhere and it's hard to imagine how they started and evolved. This massive compendium shows the rich history of data graphics. It's comprehensive, but above all really beautiful"

submitted 78 days ago • 0 comments

Student work: AI-generated. Teacher feedback AI-generated. And we're done.

submitted 79 days ago • 0 comments

It should say I am "still' reading this - it has been and will be on the go for a while. Worth it though.

submitted 79 days ago • 0 comments

Day 8 🎄 Frank James is writing a paper on the Gaz engine designed to replace the steam engine and is reading Stephen Brindle's Brunel: The Man who Built the World. "Like all other Brunel biographies this spends little time on the Gaz engine in favour of the Thames tunnel, Great Western Railway etc.”

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

Day 7 🎄🎄🎄 Visiting PhD Manuel is reading The Children Act by Ian McEwan: "It is a great novel for the tube – it tells the story of a judge who must make a life-and-death decision involving a seriously ill minor, weighing the right to refuse medical treatment, beliefs, and the welfare of the child".

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

Day 6! 🎁🎁🎁 @simonjlock.bsky.social is reading Systems Ultra by @gsvoss.bsky.social which "brings a multidisciplinary eye to the importance of large-scale technological systems from industrial ports to air traffic control to car crash testing, unpicking and challenging how power flows through them".

submitted 82 days ago • 0 comments

Top marks go to Michel for figuring out how to pose intelligently with an online book.

submitted 83 days ago • 0 comments

Day 4 of our nerd’s Advent Calendar!!! 🎄🎄🎄 PhD student, Molly Urquhart, has been reading Observing the Volcano World (ed. by @carinafearnley.bsky.social & others) “which explores how science, culture, and communities come together to understand and manage volcanic risks and crises around the world”.

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

Lovely new brochure that puts into words what Science and Technology Studies is and why you need to study it if you want to make sense of the world in the 21st Century...

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

STS Bookshelf advent calendar Day 3! 🎄🎄🎄 @stephenhues.bsky.social is reading Technics and Time, 1 by Bernard Stiegler. Stephen says “the book is good when Stiegler is not making me burn through my entire week’s supply of dopamine reading a single paragraph about Heidegger”.

submitted 85 days ago • 0 comments

Day 2 of our Advent Calendar! 🎁🎁🎁 Prof Phyllis Illari is reading Invasion Biology: Hypotheses and Evidence which proposes a method for seeing how different research hypotheses in Invasion Biology relate to each other, so that we can understand how evidence leads to more general understanding.

submitted 86 days ago • 0 comments