Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Nice to find someone else randomly who shares a concern that when discussed with some colleagues leads to the blank stare and fixed smile that suggests they think I’ve lost my mind. 021
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026‘Bare’ nails a cover for white supremacy!? Reading articles like this makes me wonder if ‘The Patriarchy’ isn’t just a discourse blaming men for the appalling ways women treat each other. In the ‘Health’ section: “How the bare nails trend became a class issue” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukClassy or classist? How bare nails became a hot issueBare nails - or nails that appear that way - are a growing trend. But is it as innocent as it seems? 000
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 21/09/2026If AI just increases the volume of papers and proposals, I am wondering if anyone has thought through the implications of that for the free peer review service offered to academics. I am increasingly minded to refuse to review for journals and funders who allow AI generated contributions. 🧪 070
Reposted by Gary PolhillComputational Social Science Society of the Americas @computationalsocialscience.org · 12/09/2026Early registration discount ends soon! Presenters: confirm your attendance by registering before the rates go up! computationalsocialscience.org/conferences/... (computationalsocialscience.org/conferences/...) 011
Reposted by Gary PolhillComputational Social Science Society of the Americas @computationalsocialscience.org · 07/09/2026September Webinar! Leigh Tesfatsion (Iowa State University): Completely Agent-Based Modeling (c-ABM): A Right Mathematics for an Increasingly Agentic World? on Tuesday, September 22, at 11 am (ET). Click here to register for the webinar. (www.tickettailor.com/events/compu...) 022
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 28/08/2026Looking forward to this talk at the European Social Simulation Association’s annual conference! Love a rant! 010
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 03/08/2026It is of course silly of me to hate _all_ the even numbers, so I have decided not to mind those with an odd factor. Except 6. And other even numbers with a 6 in. 010
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Today I am working from home, with the intention that I would have a concentrated space to make progress with my work. But instead I’ve spent two hours wrestling frustratedly with a recalcitrant PC, and now I’m too annoyed to concentrate on work. 020
Reposted by Gary PolhillComputational Social Science Society of the Americas @computationalsocialscience.org · 29/06/2026CSS 2026: Deadline Extended Now accepting both submissions and student fellowship award applications until July 15th! More info: computationalsocialscience.org/conferences/... (computationalsocialscience.org/conferences/...)computationalsocialscience.orgCSS 2026 Santa Fe | The Computational Social Science Society of the AmericasCSSSA 011
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 17/06/2026If I have the belief that I need to get up to go to work, but the desire to stay in bed to get some more sleep, how am I to compute my intention? 010
Reposted by Gary PolhillBruce Edmonds @bruceedmonds.bsky.social · 29/05/2026Upcoming workshop 24-26th June, Groningen, NL on "Power to the People: Participatory Modeling for Societal Resilience". www.rug.nl/rudolf-agric... #participatory #modeling #resilience #societyrug.nlPower to the People: Participatory Modeling for Societal ResilienceWhen communities face their most pressing challenges—managing disaster risk, adapting to climate change, navigating energy transitions—solutions rarely... 111
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 13/05/2026Brend Parsons from Bristol, your country needs you. 000
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 11/05/2026Anyone know the secret of listening to the news and _not_ having an hour-long panic attack because of all the stupid? 010
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 11/05/2026I am having one of those days in which other people’s ‘systems’ have not been designed imagining that someone like me could exist. 020
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/03/2026Does anyone else find the music they are now playing over scenes of destruction in Iran on the news (e.g. Laura Kuenssberg) — what’s the word — trivializing? I’m reminded of scenes from B movies and video games, rather than being given pause to reflect on the suffering of real people. 000
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 20/03/2026Sometimes I wonder why academic organizations get so panicky about IT security when they already force us to use operating systems capable of sabotaging work with denial of service attacks of which nefarious actors can only dream. 100
Reposted by Gary PolhillStockholm Resilience Centre @sthlmresilience.bsky.social · 11/03/2026We’re looking for a postdoc to join the SURPRISES project! The project aims to understand the transformative changes needed to achieve sustainable and equitable coastal and marine futures that are resilient to surprises in African ocean basins. Learn more and apply by 7 April 2026 buff.ly/zMQ4YZE 057
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 10/02/2026Do you know, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say “It’s not rocket science” for ages now… It just goes to show that difficult things don’t last forever. 000
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Just dropped in to #PoliticsLive debating immigration. Missed the beginning so did not know who anyone was. From what he was saying, I just assumed the chap who turned out to be Jonathan Hinder MP was from Reform. 000
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/01/2026Two words to invoke a nameless fear: “new recipe” 000
Reposted by Gary PolhillProf. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 21/01/2026My course syllabi now contain a link to this document, "why Professor Holliday Doesn't Use Generative AI". Feel free to share/repurpose or just check out the links for your own reference. It won't stop some of them, but I want students to know why. docs.google.com/document/d/1...docs.google.comWhy Professor Holliday Doesn’t Use Generative “AI”Why Professor Holliday Doesn’t Use Generative “AI” This is a (very) incomplete list of journalistic and scholarly sources that provide information about limitations and documented drawbacks of variou... 1528291
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 07/01/2026Academic publishing is broken. My suggestion is that each academic organization runs its own journal ‘Research Reports of the Uni of X’ or whatever. Lead authors would be bound by employment / grant award contracts to publish only in their organization’s journal. 000
Reposted by Gary PolhillThe James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 30/12/2025Congratulations to Professor Lorna Dawson, who has been named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in New Year Honours List! 🤩👏 She was recommended for the award by His Majesty the King for her services to innovations in soil and forensic science. 083
Reposted by Gary PolhillRoccoPaolillo @roccopaolillo.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Our chapter on #syntheticpopulations and #researchinfrastructures is out: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1... An overview of #algorithms for estimation and some applied cases in #socialsimulation research, W/ @garypolhill.bsky.social, Alice Sbrana, Nick Roxburgh, Evelina Sabatella, Mario Paoluccilink.springer.comSynthetic Populations in Research InfrastructuresA challenge to many social and economic policies is to tackle the interactive processes between actors and institutions involved, bound to a geographical, economic, and cultural context over which the... 021
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 09/12/2025Your back is up against the wall. All is lost. Who is coming to save you? 110
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 07/12/2025Electric cars seem to make an inordinate fuss out of plugging something in and turning it on. Other appliances manage this simple task without needing an app. 100
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 01/12/2025I want to suggest that we try to get ‘runctitional’ in to the dictionary by using it as an adjective for academic papers using AI. e.g. A reviewer might say ‘This paper has too many runctitional features to merit publication.’ #AcademicSky 🧪 1237
Reposted by Gary PolhillSimon Waldman @simon-on-energy.bsky.social · 29/11/2025In case you had any doubt that peer review doesn't work in pay-to-publish journals, including those with a Nature badge.... #academicSky pivot-to-ai.com/2025/11/28/n...pivot-to-ai.comNature’s latest AI-generated paper — with medical frymblal and Factor FexcectornNature’s open-access sideline Nature Scientific Reports is the “we’ve got Nature at home” of scientific publishing. It appears to run any garbage for a mere $2,690 processing charge. A snip, I’m su… 0129
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 30/11/2025When journalists quote think tanks I think they should be obliged to say who funds them so we know whose political agenda they are parroting 000
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 25/11/2025Really good read about the importance of supporting postgraduates and postdocs as a research leader. I absolutely agree that this should be as, if not more important, than publication metric when hiring. 020
Reposted by Gary PolhillJ. Doyne Farmer @doynefarmer.bsky.social · 03/11/2025We're looking for a postdoc for our new project on forecasting technological change - more details below 175
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025It’s more than that though. We have left things so late that emissions need to drop rapidly and go negative to achieve 1.5. 000
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 16/10/2025Oh, is that what we’re calling empirical agent-based modelling now…? 010
Reposted by Gary PolhillInternational Association for People-Environment Studies @iaps-association.bsky.social · 15/10/2025📢 Call for submissions is now open 👇👇👇 023
Reposted by Gary PolhillIAPS 2026 Conference @iaps2026.bsky.social · 01/10/2025🍂🌞 October is here! Time to start thinking about your conference plans for 2026? In a couple of weeks we’ll be launching our Call for Submissions. Stay tuned to our website: www.surrey.ac.uk/iaps2026 🍁🍃 @iaps-association.bsky.social | @eprg-surrey.bsky.social | @bpsenvpsych.bsky.socialsurrey.ac.ukIAPS Conference 202629 June - Friday 3 July 2026, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom. The theme of IAPS 2026 is Sustainability as Wellbeing: Towards healthy, green, and equitable communities. 025
Reposted by Gary PolhillThe James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 30/09/2025🤖🌳 Inspired by a Hutton project, Aberdeen teens Anjishnu Bhaduri, Adwait Sharma & Jayawant Sivarajan built ThistleDroid—a robot that tests land for reforestation & plants seeds! 🥇 Winners at #WROUK2025, they’ll rep GB in Singapore this Nov. 👉 ow.ly/tr9X50X4nYe 083
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 30/09/2025You know when a piece of software does not work when its advocates start saying the problems aren’t with the software, they’re with people. 010
Reposted by Gary PolhillThe James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 24/09/2025⏳ Just one week to go until the 46th #TBMacLecture! World-renowned economist Professor Kate Raworth is set give a talk on her revolutionary concept of #DoughnutEconomics 📅 1 October | 🎟️ Tickets are sold out, but you can still join the waitlist! More: ow.ly/NYVI50X1ytj 253
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/09/2025I’m wondering what else could be found to cause autism and whether any of them are things I don’t like. Cauliflower, for instance. 100
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/09/2025Not sure about Apple’s ‘glass’ UI thing in 26.0. But maybe I’m just getting retraumatized from Aero in Windows 20+ years ago. 000
Reposted by Gary PolhillComputational Social Science Society of the Americas @computationalsocialscience.org · 19/09/2025CSSSA September Webinar Join us Wednesday, September 24, at 10 am (ET) or An Open Discussion on Education Needs for Agent-based Simulation with Dr. Rob Axtell and the CSSSA Team. Register here! (www.tickettailor.com/events/compu...)tickettailor.com 011
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 16/09/2025Windows and Office are productivity vampires. Fun little UX today in Outlook. A pop-up over a tab that ‘helpfully’ tells you the same text as the tab title (but in a slightly smaller font), obscuring the cursor where I’m typing. Moving the mouse interrupts my train of thought. 010
Reposted by Gary PolhillThe James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 08/09/2025🌾 #Flax, once a staple of Scottish agriculture, could play a key role in sustainable textiles and low-impact #farming today. We’ve been working with Soil Association Scotland through the Flax Field Lab to test this crop’s potential. More: ow.ly/1Spp50WT7Cr 043
Reposted by Gary PolhillThe James Hutton Institute @hutton.ac.uk · 21/07/2025🌱 What happens when economic theory meets local action? Ahead of the #TBMacLecture, explore how our speaker, Kate Raworth’s, #DoughnutEconomics is shaping a Swedish town, and join us in Edinburgh to hear more. 🎟️: ow.ly/lAcp50WrKpv 📖 @theguardian.com : ow.ly/mbqo50WrKptow.ly46th TB Macaulay Lecture - with Kate Raworth46th TB Macaulay Lecture - Kate Raworth 043
Reposted by Gary PolhillStockholm Resilience Centre @sthlmresilience.bsky.social · 11/07/2025We're looking for a Postdoctoral Fellow to join the Horizon Europe project INSPIRI! Help co-create imaginative, stakeholder-driven visions for Europe's ocean and water systems. Learn more and apply by 31 August: www.stockholmresilience.org/4.aeea46911a... 085
Gary Polhill @garypolhill.bsky.social · 22/06/2025It seems now the sole qualification for being doomed to watch history repeating itself is simply to live long enough 000