Sebastian R.vH

First preprint from my PhD is out!
If molluscan developmental biology and genetics, gene-editing methodology in non-traditional model systems, or the function and conservation of pax6 interests you, please give it a read! 🐚🎉

QUARTILES DLA CASE: Trait-based drivers of the ornamental plant trade at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - QUARTILES DLA CASE: Trait-based drivers of the ornamental plant trade at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com

Like big trait databases? Think biology should think about humans more? Fascinated by house plants?

My fantastic colleagues and I are advertising a PhD project based at the University of Aberdeen on the ornamental plant trade. Come join us!

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

QUARTILES DLA: Bottlenose dolphin responses to shipping traffic: sociality, behaviour and welfare outcomes at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - QUARTILES DLA: Bottlenose dolphin responses to shipping traffic: sociality, behaviour and welfare outcomes at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com

Also, if instead of plants 🪴 you want to work on dolphins 🐬, my colleague David Fisher is offering the coolest-sounding project on dolphin behaviour: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

An absolutely EYE catching project, with a great group & and an even greater supervisor!

A seminar slide in a lecture theatre which reads: population and community effects of global change revealed by butterflies

Looking forward to this week's department seminar with Rob Wilson @robwilsonmncn.bsky.social from the #science museum in Madrid, invited by @camilarocabado.bsky.social

Five steps towards being a trans ally - BES Five steps towards being a trans ally - BES is the largest scientific society for ecologists in Europe. We're working towards a world in which nature and people thrive.

Last year I wrote this for Transgender Awareness Week because of the challenges I've faced in my institution. Sharing it again as this week we celebrate trans identities and remember those who have been targeted for being themselves
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/five-steps-t...

The problem is it happens after midnight! That's when I'm sleeping!

Top left; UEA broad just after sunrise; top right meeting welcome sign; lower left reflections of a bridge; lower right my poster and me.

Reflecting on #BESMove2025, nice couple days chatting all things #MovementEcology and meeting friends old & new. Thank you @besmovesig.bsky.social and the meeting organisers for your hard work to deliver a stacked and smooth running schedule and fun socials. Looking forward to the next one!

Here are all the talks I attended and sketched at #ESEB2025 ! Only a fraction of the 642 speakers at the conference 😮

I had an absolutely amazing week chatting about lots of fascinating science

#sciart #eseb #esebcongress @eseb2025.bsky.social

Collage of photos from the European Ornithological Union (EOU) conference 2025. Clockwise from top left: an amazing plenary about robust avian science by Antica Culina with a slide on FAIR data; a tiny solar GPS transmitter, the Menai bridge at sunrise; me and my poster; Welsh flag with bonus Welsh jackdaw; Vogelwarte research group; first Guinness after 2.5 months in Switzerland; cool hummingbird mural on a house; and in the centre: Vogelwarte research group - Team Alpine Swift-Barn Owl-Dipper et al!

It’s already been a week since #EOU2025! Fun week meeting and chatting cool bird science & geeking out at the cool tech! Presented another poster made from my tent in Bulgaria. 😅 Even got work done on the 14hr train journey, 🌱 but France took my Leatherman; rookie error not checking my field pack! 🥲

A picture of a presentation slide which reads "The path to freedom, surviving as a trans academic". To the left is also a banner displaying the logo of the ESEB conference and in front are a few chairs facing the stage.

Another presentation slide which contains some Qr code links to resources and some steps which academics could take to make space for trans academics. These steps are as follows: - apply for DEI grants - support LGBTQ+ scholarship funds - learn about local medical/legal systems to offer newly-arrived colleagues guidance - Avoid harmful rhetoric and behaviours

Very moving presentation from one of the recipients of the EUEA award from @eseb.bsky.social . As a trans academic myself, seeing effort being put into inclusivity has been refreshing. Thank you for platforming this topic and supporting people like this speaker 🏳️‍⚧️

I'm excited for my @eseb2025.bsky.social presentation later today. I'm part of the symposium on the Genomic Basis of Evolutionary Innovations! I will have stickers to give out too (if bribery is required for attendance) 😁

#eseb2025 #sciart #eseb

I've had a wonderful 1st day at @eseb2025.bsky.social Here are the sketches from some of the talks I attended today. My highlights include Tristan on the adaptive genomics of colour spots on owls, Vicky on pearl mussel's response to climate change & Rebekah on firefly TEs & TE-induced mutations

A person standing in front of a scientific poster and smiling

Looking forward to presenting my poster later at ESEB 2025 🐸 board 166 come find me if you're here

I have been trying to make time for pottery alongside my PhD. I did my first official market last weekend at the Bowhouse. I was very nervous before but it was so lovely to speak to so many people about my work! I have added a few leftover pieces to my new website the-puffins-burrow.sumupstore.com 🐧

ohhh, drop the folklore!!

the big butterfly count starts this friday! all you have to do is spend 15 mins outside and log your butterfly/day-flying moth sightings. it's super easy to log your sessions on the website or app (click the link in the below post) and they have id guides to help too! 🦋

Thank you! That makes sense. Doing a trial test will be difficult as I've never used these filters before, and I won't know if it's not working because of the expiration date or because it's not suitable for my experiment. Contacting the manufacturer is a good, shout, though!

The man nearly died in a whirlpool and then wrote 1984. I don't see the connection in the themes of the book and the whirlpool, but I'm sure it's there

A picture of a large white spiralling whirlpool in the sea. The spiral shape is very distinct. In the background are hills that meet the sea.

It's called the Strait of Corryvreckan, between the islands of Jura and Scarba. George Orwell lived on Jura for three years until he got tuberculosis and had to leave, but you can still stay in the house he rented! Also, look at that whirlpool!!

why did nobody tell me that there is a small strait between two small islands off the westcoast of Scotland that has the worlds THIRD largest whirlpool, which also caused George Orwell (YES THAT ORWELL) to shipwreck with his 3-year old son

I’m so sorry to see you had to delete the account! I hope you can make a new one, and continue with what you love to do! 💙

A modified primer-pair designed for the molecular sex identification of black-legged Kittiwake (Laridae: Rissa tridactyla) - Conservation Genetics Resources In studies of avian populations accurate sex identification facilitates the study of sex-linked behaviour, ecology, social structure, decision-making, and life histories. To improve molecular sex iden...

Using #genetics to sex #Seabirds? 👉 New #openaccess #Methods note published today (optimize don't reinvent👍). No PhD student is an island: huge thanks to co-authors, collaborators and funders. #ornithology @ukri.org @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social doi.org/10.1007/s126... @springernature.com

#Question! For the #eDNA crowd.

My lab has polyethersulfone membrane filters, but the expiration date is December 2023. Does anybody know if I can still use these filters? They're still sealed etc.

#PhDSky #AcademicSky #environmentalDNA 🧪🧬

I think I got told it’s the Indohyus. New archnemesis

A light pink background with a digital drawing of several seabkrds standing together in a group: the bird in the front center is a fulmar, which has the colours of the non-binary flag (yellow, white, purple, black); the birds behind it are seabirds (gulls, auklets, penguins, terns, and a guillemot) in their normal colours

At the end of #Pride every year I post this because I would not be where I am without the friends, mentors, and Allies who have gotten me through the hardest years of my life at Aberdeen. Happy Pride to those who provide me with support, safety, and hope so I can do what I love, study seabirds 💙

I never did zoology in undergrad so this hit me like a sack of bricks 😭

“Just because you lost the condition the clade is named for doesn’t mean you don’t belong” is somehow profoundly poetic

Thanks for explanation! My colleagues wouldn’t say more than “but they are”

Whales don’t ruminate. They don’t have hooves. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY ARE UNGULATES