iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 24/09/2026

She's grown a lot since that first photo, but this magical jumper seems to grow with her 😅

Baby (the cutest) standing up in a playground, wearing a jumper that says 'hello world'. It's the same jumper she is wearing in the original photo

Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 24/09/2026

Although a little teaser of some of the papers I've been involved with whilst I've been away... Led by the brilliant @joemallalieu.bsky.social

Screenshot of a paper in prep for 2026. Titled 'Global-scale variability of glacier velocity and mass loss across terminus environments' and published in nature communications

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 01/04/2026

Hello world... It's been a busy 2026 so far, with my daughter arriving at the end of 2025. She keeps amazing me every day. Although that 4 month sleep regression is hitting pretty hard at the moment

Selfie of me on the left holding my baby daughter, the back of her head to the right of me. She is wearing a cardigan and on the back it says 'hello world'

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 04/04/2025

Always a privilege to be teaching out at Mpala Research Centre Our MSc Biodiversity and Conservation students are having a great time so far

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 27/03/2025

I'm currently trying to crop utilisation distributions by habitat type (without recalculating the UD). I've done it before, but I can't seem to replicate it well enough for me to make the conversion back to an estUDm for the UDOI calculations

Map of two habitats in black and white, looking pixelated. Some home ranges in yellow and purple are shown in the black habitat.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 17/02/2025

Throwback to my PhD fieldwork as I join the Tsaobis group meeting today Love hearing about what these baboons have been up to since I was last out there

Selfie of me in the bottom left of the photo, with a baboon sat nicely on a rock in the top of the photo. The baboon is doing a great job at looking cute for a selfie

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 05/01/2025

Spent the start of 2025 in the lake district. A frozen tent and some chilly walks, but also some incredible views. Especially from the top of Scafell Pike

A lake with brown green moors and a mountain in the background. Blue sky is reflected in the water

Amazing view from the top of a mountain. Small boulders are covered in snow and as you look further out there are more mountains in the distance. A bright blue sky holds a bright winter sun.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 17/12/2024

Visiting a placement student at ZSL... It's been a long while since I was last here! It only feels like yesterday I was doing my PhD here

Photo of a beautiful adder. The reptile enclosure has changed since I was last at ZSL and it looks great.

Terrible photo of an ostrich at London zoo. I was in a rush

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 16/12/2024

It was great to be able to speak about the @asab.org virtual conferences and how they changed the accessibility of these events. So many lessons were learnt during this process, and I hope academic societies continue to promote digital resources as part of their events. x.com/Cassie_Raby/...

Screenshot of a tweet, with the text:

Me after another #ASABvirtual2020
"I'm never doing another conference again"

In real life:
I have three more conference websites to finish
#IEA2021 #AnimBehav2021 #EMPSEB26

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 11/12/2024

A fox just ran in front of the castle! Feels very appropriate

Super blurry photo, but you can kind of see the fox running with the castle in the background

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 11/12/2024

Made it to Edinburgh! Looking forward to #ASABwinter2024 over the next couple of days.

Selfie of me in a blue bobble hat standing on the royal mile

Old buildings are just lovely in Edinburgh. Here is a grey brick building with Royal Mile street sign on it.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 06/12/2024

I'll forever be haunted by my own face, with these cold eyes staring out

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 04/12/2024

I'm currently looking back through Twitter to see my posts about online conferences I've organised over the last few years. Apart from feeling a little emotional, it's reminded me how brilliantly manic the whole process was. How do I even explain all this:

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 01/12/2024

All this trouble from such a tiny piece of glass #cycling

Photo of a bike wheel mid-inner tube change. In front of the wheel is my hand with one finger sticking out. In that finger is a small (and I mean small) glass fragment. I got through about three inner tubes to get the bike fixed

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 25/11/2024

Anyone got any tips for getting through marking? I want to get these last lot finished today, but it's so draining.

Selfie of me losing the will to live. But in a cute way. I am a Caucasian woman with long blondish hair, wearing a white jumper, sat in my office.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 24/11/2024

And my sweet fluffy little Oats. Such an absolute cutie #AdoptDontShop

Photo of my pet rabbit Oats. Cream double maned lion head rabbit (basically a very fluffy fluff) sat on a windowsill. She's sat upright on her back feet with her front paws raised.

Video/Photo of Oats (cream double maned lion head) sat eating at her hay box

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 24/11/2024

My little cuddly Rocco. Why is he so adorable 😍

Photo of my pet rabbit laying down. He is a black lop and is so very cute. His little paws are sticking out a little, and you can see bits of the gray fluff on this paws

Pretty much the same photo of my black lop rabbit. You get to see his beautiful brown eyes more in this photo.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 23/11/2024

Earlier this year we wrote a paper illustrating the fact that many academics were moving from Twitter to other platforms, and we briefly highlighted BlueSky as one of the alternative options. Might be of interest? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Screenshot of paper article: Is it time to get over the X? Assessing the global impact of social media conferences in animal behaviour. I'm the senior author listed.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 22/11/2024

Hello! I'm a little late to this party, but could I be added please? I study a range of animal species to determine the role of behavioural ecology on health and disease transmission Cassandraraby.com

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 20/11/2024

Don't you tell me no, Soul I hear you calling Oh, baby, please Give a little egret to me

Lone Little Egret, stood on a grassy bank, the bird is reflected in the dark, still water. Photo taken from the RSPB website

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 19/11/2024

I've just connected my profile to my website domain. Still not sure if this was a good idea. Hopefully any old links will redirect? And I'd like to make myself searchable as Cass Raby or Cassie Raby. Tricky going by so many variations of a name. Anyone got any advice?

Screenshot of my name Dr Cassandra Raby and my new domain which is my website address @cassandraraby.com - which makes me feel like I'm a business or something.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 15/11/2024

Over time the Alt-text I add the pictures seems to get more and more unhinged. I always hope it's still accessibile, so I am happy to adjust if needed. But if it still useful, then I look forward to the madness that is to come in future posts.

Coming to look for the Alt-text? I knew you would. So this is a photo I took of a baboon when I was doing my fieldwork. Background is a bright blue sky (appropriate for this app), bottom left and right are orange rocks, and peering inbetween those two rocks is a baboon. You can see his head and hand looking at me from above where I was sitting.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 15/11/2024

Hello there! Looks like I'm ready to start operating...

Photo of the operation room in the museum. I'm stood by the main wooden table whilst tying up the operating apron on. A bit morbid but I look very happy about the whole thing.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 13/11/2024

REMINDER! Breathe in deeply Relax that jaw Drink some water Back up your data 💙

Baboon (his name is Melbourne) lying on a rock whilst yawning. You can see some of his teeth, but also his cute hands. Overall, very chill vibes.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 11/11/2024

The benefits of having dissertation students studying captive species enrichment... A free trip to Tropical World for me 😁 I grew up in Leeds and have such fond memories of this place.

A beautiful butterfly (brownish with a bright eye spot on its wing) resting on a butterfly feeding (red sponge thing)

A meerkat sat on sand, looking upwards, and looking like such a cutie

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 09/11/2024

Hanging out at the allotment after dark is a little cool and a little spooky... Especially with all the garlic just hanging there

Photo of inside my allotment shed with a lantern lighting the interior. It's a bit of a mess, but I also have loads of garlic hanging down which is backlit by the light.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 08/11/2024

Hello all! I'm Cass. I'm an ecologist who focuses on animal health and behaviour. This includes studying monkeys and hedgehogs. But I also dabble in other conservation research, accessibility in STEM, and fieldwork pedagogy. And I have two pet rabbits

This is a photo of Syndey, an almost adult male chacma baboon. He is posing like a king, with his left hand draped over a reddish rock, and his chin resting on the top of the rock.

Photo of me, centre, behind a sign that says "Be aware of baboons". Which is a message I strongly approve of.

Photo of two rabbits on a window sill (it's safer than it sounds). On the left is Oats who is cream and so insanely fluffy. She's a double-maned lionhead. On the right is a black lop rabbit who is fluffy, but not as fluffy. Both are perfection.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 07/11/2024

Earlier this year we wrote about the fact that we needed to move away from X/Twitter as a social media platform for science communication. Individuals had already started making that move. But as Lawrie says, now it's time for organisations to do the same

Is it time to get over the X? Assessing global impact and future of social media conferences in animal behaviour

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 03/10/2024

The lecture theatres now have these cool electronic whiteboard things that mean I can draw on my slides as I talk. I had way too much fun with that today, but it worked so well for the lecture I had planned @envleeds.bsky.social

Presentation slide with a rabbit on, and handwritten text added on top. Indicates population change. You can see me on the right (very small)

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 02/10/2024

What a life. Working from home and every now and again I hear a bunny dramatically flop behind me.

White fluffy rabbit sitting next to a black rabbit that is so flopped into his side he looks like he died. They are cuddling on a reddish rug.

Black rabbit flopped with his little paws sticking out on a rug. There's a fluffy white rabbit sat at the top of the photo. She looks very patchy, not all the fluff seems to have grown back since we shaved her in summer

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 30/09/2024

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #249,216!

A virtual certificate with text "Celebrating 10M users on Bluesky, #249,216, Dr Cassandra Raby ‪@cassraby.bsky.social‬, joined on Jul 5, 2023"

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 03/09/2024

Well I'm back from my holidays. I did attempt to take some time to rest, but there was so much exploring to be done. Until next time Finland and Sweden

I'm sat on a white hammock drinking some tea. There are blue skies and lovely trees in the background. Bliss

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 26/08/2024

I'm currently cycling the Äland islands. Lots of nature so far... White-tailed eagles, plenty of kestrels, deer. I'm still waiting on seeing a swimming moose though. My only decent animal photo of is this poor grass snake

A snake with a dark brown back and yellow belly. Nice yellow and black stripes on the face. But sadly it's on the road dead

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 18/08/2024

I made a lovely new friend today down on the allotment

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 20/05/2024

New paper of what we learnt from #AnimBehav2023 ◾ Online conferences remain key to improving accessibility and inclusivity of academic meetings ◾ Twitter is no longer the best platform for this ◾ We provide some recommendations for future conferences www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 20/05/2024

5/5 Ultimately academics are still engaging with online conferences, especially individuals without funding to attend an in-person event However, Twitter's algorithm and ownership impacted participation and visibility. #FutureOfConferences

Some graphs, the key takeaway being that Twitter was viewed as a negative

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 20/05/2024

4/5 Although there was still enthusiasm for online conferences, our biggest challenge was Twitter/X. We started organising #AnimBehav2023 before Musk took over, and the resulting changes impacted the suitability of X as a conference platform

Timeline of conference organisation and Twitter take over (there's a lot of overlap)

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 20/05/2024

3/5 However, #AnimBehav2023 saw a drop in tweets and a decrease in reach compared to #AnimBehav2021 Despite fewer interactions, the impact of presenting on Twitter allowed for much more engagement than seen at some in-person conferences #AcademicTwitter

Average number of engagements on a conference Twitter post. Views 85, Likes 75, Retweets 46, Comments and questions 31, Shared 22, Used 4

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 20/05/2024

2/5 As with #AnimBehav2021 we found that accessibility was a major win for Twitter conferences. In 2023, we increased representation within international communities. But engagement dropped in US and UK time zones. #InclusiveScience

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 20/05/2024

1/5 In 2023 we hosted the second Global Animal Behaviour Twitter conference #AnimBehav2023 We were curious if there was still an appetite for online conferences when in-person conferences were returning. However, we also had to contend with a changing social media landscape.

#AnimBehav2023 in numbers: 2 days, 4 plenaries, 100 Twitter talks, Multiple Time zones

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 05/01/2024

Just perfection getting to work at home with these two. This week I've been reading up on rabbit health so I can get this next paper written, and they provide the perfect inspiration

Two rabbits laying down. Closest is a white double maned lion head (very fluffy!) And back and right is a black lop rabbit

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 20/11/2023

I'll be talking to students at Greenhead College tomorrow, giving them an overview of my work and career. It's been a little while since I've done any in-person outreach, so I'm looking forward to it!

Photo on left of me working with baboons, and text on right. Text says: Who am I? Current position: Teaching Fellow, University of Leeds. Research Interests: wildlife conservation, disease ecology, animal behaviour.

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Dr Cassandra Raby @cassandraraby.com · 05/11/2023

The Tsaobis baboons are on the BBC tonight... Very excited to watch this

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