James O'Dwyer

Collaborate with researchers globally. Chart your transdisciplinary path. Apply to SFI's 2026 Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships. Competitive pay, research funds, and generous benefits to become a leader in transdisciplinary research.

Deadline: Oct 1, 2025
Apply: santafe.edu/sfifellowship

Become a Radcliffe Fellow | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University A fellowship year at Harvard Radcliffe Institute is an opportunity to step away from usual routines and dive deeply into a project.

Harvard Radcliffe fellowships open for the 2026/27 academic year:

www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/radcliffe-fe...

Unique opportunity for free-ranging research:

"The Santa Fe Institute Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships offer early-career scholars the opportunity to undertake independent research...about the complex systems that matter most for science and society".

apply-sfi.smapply.org/prog/complex...

Excited to report that Joy Bergelson (bergelsonlab.org) and I will be running a brand new GRC conference on the Function of Evolving Systems in the summer of 2026. The 2028 one will be chaired by Mikhail Tikhonov (physics.wustl.edu/people/mikha...) and @asanchezlab.bsky.social! Stay tuned!

Evolutionary Games: Mathematical Theory and Biological Insights

I am really happy to share that there will be a @nitmb.bsky.social workshop next year on mathematical and biological features of evolutionary game theory.

It was really fun to co-organize this workshop with Olivia Chu, Alex McAvoy, and @jplotkin.bsky.social.

www.nitmb.org/evolutionary...

🌱🌎 In May, the US-UK Scientific Forum on Measuring Biodiversity brought together leading voices to explore bold new approaches to monitoring and protecting Earth’s diversity of life.

📖 Read a new short summary of the Forum's discussions: www.nasonline.org/wp-content/u... @royalsociety.org

Apply for a Radcliffe Fellowship!
Applications in humanities, social sciences, & creative arts are due Sept 11, 2025
Applications in science, engineering, & math due Sept 30, 2025
www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/radcliffe-fe...
(I hear they'd especially welcome projects related to climate change)
#HPS ⚒️

Economic loss due to NIH budget cuts by congressional district, scienceimpacts.org/fy26

The #SCIMaP team announces a major update: an analysis of the economic impacts of the White House's NIH FY26 budget.

Bottom-line, we estimate $46B in total economic loss, 202K lost jobs, and impacts in communities nationwide.

Interactive map and shareable report:
scienceimpacts.org/fy26

a 🧵

YouTube video by SMTPB Reflections on Modeling and Theory in Population Biology: Joel Cohen

For “Reflections on the history of modeling and theory”, @sarperotto.bsky.social and I met with Joel Cohen. We learn how he navigated math and biology, the value of embracing ignorance, and what is a population. Or really, what _isn't_ a population: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCt9...
@smtpb.bsky.social

Help us record firefly flashes! 👇🙏

Infrared imaging shows heat levels in sun-exposed leaves of Alstonia scholaris from the Australian Wet Tropics. As climate change increases temperatures and the severity of heat waves, both natural ecosystems and agricultural plants are increasingly affected by heat. Examining heat responses at cellular, genetic, physiological, and ecosystem scales, this special issue explores how plants sense and respond to high temperatures.

As the world warms, plants in natural ecosystems and agricultural settings find ways to respond to the heat.

In a new special issue of Science, researchers examine how heat affects plants at multiple scales, from the molecular level to the biosphere. scim.ag/44cSw3Z

Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...

Get the word out far and wide. New opportunity from the Simons Foundation in the Eco-Evo space.

2026 Simons Graduate Fellowship in Ecology and Evolution Awards, due July 31, 2025, only for incoming PhD students who plan to start their PhDs in Fall 2026.

www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

YouTube video by SMTPB Robert D. Holt interview

Sally Otto @sarperotto.bsky.social
and I are back with the next installment of “Reflections on the history of modeling and theory”, supported by @smtpb.bsky.social. Bob Holt shares his personal history and stories of his life in science: www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hX...

Life on the dry side: a roadmap to understanding desiccation tolerance and accelerating translational applications - Nature Communications Desiccation tolerance is an extreme adaptation to water limitation. Here the authors envisage a roadmap to advance desiccation tolerance research, highlight key knowledge gaps, call for standardizatio...

our perspective on desiccation tolerance research is out in
@naturecomms.bsky.social. with nearly forty authors from around the world spanning diverse career stages and disciplines, this work represents a shared vision for the field. let us know what you think!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

YouTube video by SMTPB Simon Levin Interview

I really enjoyed this interview of Simon Levin by Sally Otto and @jpodwyer.bsky.social, hosted on the @smtpb.bsky.social Youtube channel.

I particularly enjoyed Simon's discussion of how to integrate math, biology, and economics to study complex adaptive systems.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TpJ...

The great Sally Otto and I are hosting a series of interviews called “Reflections on the history of modeling and theory”, as part of @smtpb.bsky.social. First one drops next week, with Simon Levin. Tune in for great stories, some pearls of wisdom, and the long view on modeling and theory in biology.

Simons Foundation Now Accepting Applications for Fourth Class of Pivot Fellows The Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International are now accepting applications for the 2026 class of Pivot Fellows.

Are you a PI interested in redirecting to something new? @simonsfoundation.org is now accepting applications for their Pivot Fellowships.

I'm grateful to be a Simons Pivot Fellow (I'm pivoting from memory to mood). Very few mechanisms like this exist.

www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/03/03/s...

Congratulations!

I am happy to announce that the Midwest Mathematical Biology Seminar is running again in the Spring 2025 semester, with talks held via Zoom on Fridays at 4pm Eastern / 3pm Central.

Please reach out to Ning Wei (Purdue University) or me with any questions.

sites.google.com/view/midwest...

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Emergent Engineering - Santa Fe Institute SFI seeks applicants for a postdoctoral fellow in a multidisciplinary research program on Emergent Engineering.

Open postdoc position at @sfiscience.bsky.social to work with my fantastic colleagues on "emergent engineering":

santafeinstitute.teamtailor.com/jobs/5463514...

Symmetry: A Call for Artists, Scientists and Arts Organizations Symmetry: A Call for Artists, Scientists and Arts Organizations on Simons Foundation

Symmetry: A Call for Artists, Scientists and Arts Organizations

One to ponder #sciart? Applications invited from trios of an artist 🎨, scientist and US-based arts organisation. Deadline January 22 or February 20, 2025 @simonsfoundation.org

www.simonsfoundation.org/2024/12/10/s...

Exciting opportunity for folks to work/live in Santa Fe at SFI as resident faculty, 12 month positions, 5 year terms, open at all ranks. Applications just opened & accepted through 3/28/25:

apply-sfi.smapply.org/prog/SFI2025...

🦦 Feed your intellectual curiosity & challenge your limits at SFI’s Undergraduate Complexity Research program. Pursue new research directions and walk away with an unforgettable, transformative experience. Apply by January 14: apply-sfi.smapply.org/prog/ucr2025/

“The continued health of all life on the planet, including human life, depends on making choices that will protect biodiversity.”

Learn about the importance of #biodiversity and what we can do to address #BiodiversityLoss caused by human activities: https://buff.ly/4fxWVAY

Started a Theoretical Ecology starter pack. For from complete. Respond if you want to be added or removed.

go.bsky.app/PwpvZLb

Undergraduate Complexity Research (Jun 1 - Aug 9) — apply by Jan 14

Complex Systems Summer School (Jun 8 - Jul 4) — apply by Jan 28

Graduate Workshop in Computational Social Science Modeling & Complexity (Jun 22 - Jul 4) — apply by Feb 27

Modeling and Theory in Population Biology | NITMB

Save the dates June 2-6 for the second annual meeting of @smtpb.bsky.social on Modeling and Theory in Population Biology, hosted in Chicago by @nitmb.bsky.social. More details coming later. www.nitmb.org/modeling-and...

Home The Alma Dal Co School on Collective Behaviour

Great school one collective behavior in memory of Alma Dal Co next Sept in Venice. Terrific lineup of speakers
almadalcoschool.github.io

Application deadline Feb 2025, travel grants available

An Editor's Guide to Writing and Publishing Science A good research paper is more than just a clear, concise, scientific expose. It is a document that needs to go beyond the science to attract attention. There are both strict and less definable norms f...

A preview of Part 1 of my book "An Editor's Guide to Writing and Publishing Science" is now freely available on Google Books shorturl.at/0xo93
If you like this preview, consider buying the book.
If you can't afford the book, then contact me and I'll send it to you for free.

SMTPBconnect PANEL DISCUSSION: GRANT WRITING hosted by Maria Servedio (UNC) Participants will gather to discuss grant writing strategies for theory and mathematical research. • Mark Broom (City, University of London) • Thomas Lenormand (CEFE-CNRS) • Marie-Josée Fortin (University of Toronto) • Scott Nuismer (University of Idaho) • Christopher Klausmeier (Michigan State University) November 18th 8:00 AM PT

SMTPB will host a panel discussion on grant writing in theoretical population biology Monday Nov 18 at 8AM PT / 11AM ET. Host: Maria Servedio, panelists: Mark Broom, Thomas Lenormand, Marie-Josée Fortin, Scott Nuimser & me. Register here: unc.zoom.us/meeting/regi...