Anna Sharman

BBC News - OpenAI claims GPT-5 model boosts ChatGPT to 'PhD level'

PhD level is such a meaningless term.

I have a PhD, and outside my very niche area of expertise I'm just as capable of being a fucking idiot as everyone else.

Probably just a marketing phrase designed to play well with focus […]

There's this trope that you have to be so into your PhD topic that you live and breathe it and can't possibly stop thinking about it, so here's your regular reminder that passion is good, but burnout isn't. It's okay and recommended to take breaks, enjoy the weekend, and treat a PhD like a job.

A speaker presents in a large lecture theatre with a slide titled “Elucidating the status of type specimens deposited in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew’s Fungarium”, showing a pie chart and images of fungal specimens including one collected by Charles Darwin.

A researcher stands next to a poster titled “Fungarium Sequencing Project: Specimens of Particular Interest from the Kew Fungarium”, featuring specimen images, a world map, and historical figures including Darwin.

What do you find when you sequence 7,000 fungi? We’re starting to find out… 🍄🔬

At this year’s British Mycological Society conference - a key meeting point for the UK’s fungal research community - we shared some of the first discoveries from our Fungarium Sequencing Project.

Fast & Fair peer review: a pilot study demonstrating feasibility of rapid, high-quality peer review in a biology journal Traditional peer review is slow, often delayed by the time-consuming process of identifying reviewers and lengthy review turnaround times. This study tests the feasibility of the Fast & Fair peer revi...

You can read about the details of the experiment in a paper on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social . The results , which were presented at last week's Board Meeting, were stunning 6/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Flow chart of the process

How are reviewers being compensated? We value our reviewers and compensate contracted reviewers under the Fast & Fair workflow by paying them £220 per reviewed manuscript that complies with our quality and timeliness standards. How are we controlling the quality of peer reviews? Reviewers must follow a structured review form that complies with our rubric for publication and our reviewer guidelines, including competing interests and confidentiality. Review reports are routinely rated by the Editor and inadequate reviews addressed via feedback for improvement. In January 2025 we implemented transparent peer review, where review reports are published alongside the published article. This allows readers to assess for themselves the quality of the reviews.

I was initially skeptical but they did a highly successful pilot. The key is a set of pre-contracted reviewers who only get paid if they deliver a high quality review in 5 days. The Editors also commit to very fast turnaround with reviews in hand 5/n

Interesting pilot - pay a selected pool of reviewers to review papers quickly and fairly

How AI is shaking up scientific publishing On top of the usual cases of fraud and malpractice, artificial intelligence is sowing discord and transforming the world of academic publishing.

"Even if still marginal, a troubling landscape is emerging. Software is now writing scientific papers that are reviewed and evaluated by other machines, which in turn attempt to outwit those designed to detect them."

Story in Le Monde on AI in scientific publishing.

Archive link: archive.ph/ldxM0

And here's my post on postdoc/ecr fellowships and the advantages on changing institutions. Also, how to make the case for not moving. socialscienceresearchfunding.co.uk?p=1348

Great thread. My understanding is that LT also consider potential contribution of the ECG to their host's research environment. Arguably greater potential to contribute outside the Russell Group.

My annual reminder to people thinking about applying for these or @leverhulme.ac.uk ECFs: you do NOT have to go to Oxbridge or Russell Gp unis to make a successful application. I went to Edge Hill with my Leverhulme and moved it to Staffordshire when I was offered a permanent job. 1/?

Many forms of “AI” fit fine with our policy. Grammar checking. Sorting a table of numbers. Maybe ML codes to do optimal data regression fits. Debugging code. Etc.

But we just don’t think using GenAI to do writing, analysis, research, creative work, etc., fits our ethical standards.

We have decided to ban the use of GenAI for research, writing & creative work at our organization.

In fact, we make people sign an agreement saying that their research, analysis, writing, and creative work are *theirs* and not done by GenAI.

Go WILD for Hedgehogs - Hedgehog Street Wild gardens welcome hedgehogs Our gardens can provide ideal habitat for hedgehogs, and a brilliant way to encourage prickly visitors […]

#GoWildForHedgehogs and pledge your wild patch today👇
www.hedgehogstreet.org/go-wild-for-hedgehogs

Hedgehog Street is a joint campaign run by us and the @hedgehogsociety.bsky.social

Sometimes impact is equated with routes to impact like public engagement, communications or knowledge exchange. For Chris Pahlow impact = relationships. Because without those relationships you are just shouting into the void.

I'll be there!

Preprints and Journals: A Model Publishing Ecosystem - The Scholarly Kitchen Robert Harington digs into the world of preprints. He uses the field of mathematics to explore how an inclusive view of preprints and published articles leads to a research ecosystem that is greater t...

My Scholarly Kitchen post today:

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/07/14/p...

"... academics who are neurodivergent sometimes fear to disclose that identity due to the risk of being misunderstood and mistreated by the organisations where they work." This work by and for neurodivergent researchers seems important.

Agree.

Taking on a Head of Research Department role, I had two types of people offering me advice.
A) You should do it because you can make positive changes
B) You should let someone else do it and focus on things you want to do

🫠

The article focusses on Women doing more tasks than men - culturally we are conditioned to say yes and be "good".

This is then further worsened with requests due to "representation" requirements in a system where there isn't enough people of the categories needed for representation 🫠

Academia is a meritocracy.

Discuss.

I saw this exhibit a couple of weeks ago and the photos are stunning

NHM London is looking for a Director of Research as part of our leadership team. Guide a world-class research community, set a strong vision for collections-based research, and ensure research excellence across NHM activities.
plusportal.perrettlaver.com/VacancyDetai...

📰 67 technicians shortlisted for national award

🏆 The shortlist has been revealed for the 2025 #PapinPrizes out of an incredible 328 nominations.

➡️ Find out whose been shortlisted here: lnkd.in/eVQCNKhz

England v India, third Test: Ladybirds invade Lord's as play is interrupted Play is interrupted as a swarm of insects invades the field of play at Lord's, late on day one of the third Test between England and India.

Did you see? A loveliness of ladybirds briefly stopped play at Lord's yesterday 🐞🏏

Ladybird expert Prof Helen Roy says that many aphid-feeding species such as the 7-spot ladybird are being seen in v high numbers this year due to high aphid numbers and warm weather.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

Close-up of a woman in a yellow shirt typing on a laptop, situated at a vibrant workspace with paperwork around.

We’re co-developing a Good Practice Exchange (GPEx) for research and innovation culture with the community – and we want your input!

Have your say in our survey👉
www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/GPExConsul...

⏰Closes 10 August 2025

Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions | John Innes Centre An exciting opportunity for an Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions has arisen at the John Innes Centre. To read the full job description for this role…

New Independent Fellowship position in Microbiology to launch your lab in our department @johninnescentre.bsky.social (UK). We are conducting a broad search in the area of plant-associated microbial interactions. Message me if you have any questions.

Apply here: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/in...

There are some databases where the “Mrs.” disappears and women are literally indexed as their husbands. (I’m looking at you Gerritsen Collection.)

infuriating this still happens - so often I'm at meetings/training relating to teaching admin, engagement/outreach, or just routine departmental meetings and sometimes it is all women, sometimes 1 or 2 token men bother to participate. it's so glaringly obvious! But when I point it out...

If only there'd been some way to predict this... Sigh.

On a slightly less sarcastic note, this is why many editors ask if AI has been used in writing – because a lot of editing is taking LONGER if it's AI text rather than human text. Not always, obviously – but often.

Useful post