@nickynicolson
👋 Software developer turned biodiversity informatics researcher: I use collaborative #OpenScience practices to build tools, analyse & mobilise natural history specimen data - at Kew & with partners worldwide. Fellow at Software Sustainability Institute.
Photo of a jaguar in the forest
🔎 Spotted a suspicious record... maybe an erroneous entry?
🥁 Introducing.... rule-based annotations in GBIF!
This new experimental tool allows users to mark certain occurrence data as suspicious to improve data cleaning and user feedback to publishers.
🔗gbif.link/rule-based...
RT @biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Minority representation on TV causes outrage
From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
Just a thought: How about we stop shaming the poor for buying things that may not be essential, and start shaming the rich for making a profit off things that are essential?
TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-...
🧵
I'd also like to shout out @carpentries.carpentries.org for leading the way on this, having made a similar decision earlier this year.
Python was awarded a funding grant, funding grant asked Python foundation to remove all diversity and inclusion initiatives they have.
Python foundation said no and rejected the grant.
If you use Python, send a few dollars to the charity to keep it going. I’m pushing a dono on behalf of ScamGuard.
Trinity College Dublin Herbarium
Calling botanical researchers, the School of Natural Science at Trinity College Dublin is hiring a tenure track Assistant Professor in Plant Biodiversity and Conservation.
I know this is someone's dream job, so let me know if that is you and you want to chat!
my.corehr.com/pls/trrecrui...
Here's your reach @turingway.bsky.social 😎supporting botanical research into the plant families that give us potatoes and coffee
Great closing quote from Graham Lee in this mornings Track A talk on Where do people come from?
"RSE is more than a technical discipline, its a social movement aiming to revolutionise how research engages with software." - Graham Lee
#RSECon25
Sorry to miss #RSECon25 - are the talks (or at least the keynotes) being recorded for later viewing?
I don't know if "punlishing" is intentional - but its a lovely neologism 😂
It’s Mary Anning’s birthday, so time to share @katebeaton.bsky.social’s brilliant cartoon again.
Still a few weeks to register for some hands-on training and hacking on open-source tools for analysing animal motion, whole-brain microscopy with @brainglobe.info, and big imaging data. 🧠📈
Aug 11-15 at @sainsburywellcome.bsky.social in London.
"Free as in beer" and travel stipends available.
Image of Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum with Hidden REF Festival logo and text '7-8 October 2025 Thinktank Birmingham, Registration is open!'
📢 Registration is now open 📢
Join us on 7-8 October 2025 at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum for the second Festival of Hidden REF!
Explore the indicative schedule, learn more on our website or head straight to the registration page to secure your place! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-festiv...
We're not "over-diagnosing", we're getting BETTER at diagnosing. That was the point of all those years of research.
And yes, more people are self-diagnosing, but that's because they are better informed. That was the whole point of raising awareness! #MentalHealth
Okay, I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but BHL is an absolutely VITAL resource for ecologists and evolutionary biologists. There's no other database I'm aware of that provides digital access to species descriptions dating all the way back to the 1800s and beyond.
Oh no - I use BHL collections multiple times a week for my work 😭 it’s open access & the only place the old American Mosquito Control Association journal (Mosquito News) are kept, with a ton of work on disease vector surveillance, ecology, their pathogens, you name it. God.
The most meaningful work of my career has been the 17.5 years I have spent with the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Now BHL faces new challenges, and seeks funding and support. Please share this message, and reach out if you can help.
#ILoveBHL
A screenshot of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) website homepage
Today we celebrate the incredible biodiversity of our planet – and the power of #OpenAccess to protect it. The Biodiversity Heritage Library makes over 62 million pages of biodiversity knowledge freely available to all. 🔗 biodiversitylibrary.org
#EarthDay #EarthDay2025 #Biodiversity #BHLib
You're a braver man than me! I'm not sure could re-read #ProphetSong
😱 ...do you think that we should try to compile a dataset of extreme variations to test AI identification approaches?
Thanks! Are any of this group going to the @softwaresaved.bsky.social collaborations workshop this year? Maybe we could catch up there if so
Text reads: We are recruiting a Research Associate for an exciting UKRI Metascience project Support researchers in moving from traditional methods of recording research......to digital-first Electronic Research Notebooks......enhancing data sharing, FAIR principles, re-use and collaboration Images show a person writing in physical notebook, holding a tablet computer while wearing lab gloves, and a big image of a blue 'share' button on a computer keyboard Apply by 24th March, Job reference: SAE-028173
Last few days to apply #Metascience post @uniofmanchester.bsky.social working with James Bird, @naubertbonn.bsky.social, Prof Andrew Stewart & me to investigate opportunities and barriers in deploying Electronic Research Notebooks (ERNs)
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
#ELN #OpenResearch
Good luck with your recruitment!
Is there anywhere I can read more about the ERN project? This seems pretty relevant for how working practices are evolving in taxonomy as our specimens and literature are digitised
SSI Logo, red people holding hands
👥 If you have written software, code or scripts for research purposes and are from an underrepresented group in research software, we would like to hear from you! Find out how to get involved in our inclusive RSE study at www.software.ac.uk/news/partici...
💪 An anti-acknowledgement:
"No thank you to the people who have called me scary instead of strong and intimidating instead of intelligent"
👀 @bionomia.net
