Raf De Bont 🟥

just a reminder - job opening in STS @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social, deadline February 8

Wearing a unicorn suit, I hope?

we're hiring in STS @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social!

deadline coming up soon (February 8). focus is the social science-y corners of STS preferably w/ some interest in sustainability & environment - but interpreted broadly.

vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...

Auch.

I do think however that AI could easily produce hallucinations similar to those of Microsoft researchers!

A report by 'Microsoft researchers' indicates that historians are the professional group whose work is one of the easiest to replace by AI. The article below shows what's wrong with the report.

Vacancies:

Post-doc in Disinformation & European Democracy: vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...

Ass. Prof European Political History since 1900: vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...

Ass. Prof Political and Social Philosophy: www.academictransfer.com/nl/jobs/3566...

All this in the slightly intimidating decor of the royal palace.

And what an acceptance speech!

You can probably blame the Dutch royals for lots of things, but not for their choice in Erasmus Prize winners. Hooray for Donna Haraway!

4 hours and counting.

In a moving train now. Overhearing a group of 17-year olds with migration background discussing what to study next year. History sounds cool, I hear them say. Particularly doing research and writing a thesis. So far, I really like this strike travel!

20 minutes in. 0 km so far.

Seeking adventure! Trying to get to Amsterdam from Leuven. By train. During a national railway strike.

With great contributions by @nancyjjacobs.bsky.social, Vincent Bijman, @monicavasile.bsky.social, @greggmitman.bsky.social, @georgeiorda.bsky.social, @julesskotnesbrown.bsky.social, @moneschleper.bsky.social, @reginahorta.bsky.social, Christina Dunbar-Hester, Nitin D. Rai, Ajit Menon and Jim Webb.

Globalizing Wildlife Humans have always incorporated wildlife into processes of work, capture, and exchange. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, globalization became t...

*Globalizing Wildlife*, a book edited by @vbateman.bsky.social, Tom Quick, and myself, is now available for pre-order with @uncpress.bsky.social!
Using code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout, you can save 30%
www.uncpress.org/book/9781469...

Pre-discussing the Dutch elections @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social

Today IUCN has officially declared the Slender-billed Curlew extinct, marking the first known global extinction of a formerly widespread migratory bird species whose range included mainland Europe, North Africa, and West Asia.

Read more here ⬇️
www.unep-aewa.org/fr/node/6632

Well, I read it in Richard W. Burkhardt's 636 page long history of ethology 😊

Just read that the doctoral thesis of Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Niko Tinbergen was 32 pages long. Efficient.

De Vlaamse hamstercoach, de favoriete pispaal van rechts, bestaat al lang niet meer: “Intussen is het beestje hier nagenoeg uitgestorven” Onder meer Vlaams Belang-voorzitter Tom Van Grieken blijft uithalen naar de “hamstercoach”, als symbool van een Vlaamse regering die haar prioriteiten niet op orde heeft. In werkelijkheid is de functie allang geschrapt en werd Vlaanderen onlangs nog veroordeeld omdat ze de wilde hamster, een Europees bedreigde diersoort, niet genoeg heeft beschermd.

Not so long ago, I wrote about the history of human interactions with (wild) hamsters.
A coda in the news today: the Flemish populist right makes the (no longer existing) “hamster coaches” a culture-war target - seemingly to discredit wider biodiversity efforts.
www.standaard.be/politiek/de-...

Een prettige samenwerking tussen de binnenstadsfaculteiten ook.

@fasosmaastricht.bsky.social is mooi vertegenwoordigd op het Weekend van de Wetenschap!

Poster depicting an owl hunting gerbils in a field, juxtaposed with an image of the zoonotic cycle of plague. Arrows connect a rat with fleas, and a man sleeping in a bed. The image reads 'Friend of the Farmer Conserve Owls'.

I am thrilled to announce that I have been awarded a Wellcome Trust Career Development Grant. Over the next five years I'll be directing the research project "Conserving Global Health: Biodiversity Protection and the Prehistory of Planetary Health".

Congrats, Jules! Sounds super-exciting!

My neighbors' red maple. Although considered highly adaptable, this one individual has been suffering under increasingly hot and dry summers. Still, every October, it is my favorite non-native species.

For those interested in a history of science take on Goodall's work: Robert Kohler has a great chapter on her in his book Inside Science.

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91 Jane Goodall Institute says ‘tireless advocate’ for natural world died in California during US speaking tour

RIP Jane Goodall — she forever transformed what it means to do fieldwork.
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

"The report stresses that climate change and environmental degradation pose a direct threat to Europe’s competitiveness."
Framing environmental policy in this way may well be strategic, but still sad to see the value of nature primarily expressed in terms of geopolitical and economic competition.