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M Smallman

@melaniesmallman.bsky.social
435 followers 74 following 164 posts

Professor of Science & Technology Studies and Director of Scicom @stsucl.bsky.social Author Governance Democracy & Ethics, ex-Chair SERA Labour Environment Campaign. Science & society, tech, inequality & populism, climate change & tech ethics. EASST.

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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Most shocking but not surprising thing about #Labour2026 was the level of lobbying by oil industry again. Their new narrative is that North Sea oil and gas is lower carbon. 🙄 Wouldn't it be called hydrogen if that was true?
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I'm sure this must reflect journalistic bias rather than reality, as it's hard to believe yet another Labour PM is surrounding himself with men. You can't understand the problems facing the country if half the population is outside the room www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
theguardian.com
Labour’s last chance? The people shaping Andy Burnham’s grand plans for Britain
The long read: The new prime minister has declared he wants to end 40 years of neoliberalism. But is he really prepared to be that radical?
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
You are a class act @catherineatkinson.bsky.social ❤️ www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Mail on Sunday ends up funding state school scholarship via payout to MP
Labour’s Catherine Atkinson says she will give students £5,000 paid to her by paper that falsely accused her of concealing private school education
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Currently in one such queue to get into EU - looks like at least an hour's wait. Warning to Brits travelling to #easst2026! #brexitdividend #IamstillEuropean www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Travellers to EU face renewed queues as border-check flexibility rules expire
Sources indicate some members states will not enforce EES biometric controls after 6 September deadline
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Communications with @imperialnhs.bsky.social is a disaster. Missed calls from numbrs that won't receive calls,emails you can't reply to, no direct lines on website, extensive telephone tree and call queue, 3rd party online systems that harvest data. Then they ask if I want my blood pressure taken.😬
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
🤮 Broken broken broken world. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Grenfell cladding firm Arconic paid shareholders £23m more in compensation than to fire victims
Report’s author said findings highlighted ‘near-total failure’ to hold corporations accountable over the disaster that killed 72 people
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
This is how public services end. If we hire tech companies rather than humans, receipts to the treasury will drop. Taxes on citizens will have to rise but still won't make the shortfall, so we all pay more and get less. That's unsustainable and destabilising. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Palantir paid just £2m corporation tax in UK in 2024 despite lucrative public sector contracts
Software group benefits from global systems and accounting practices ‘that enable tax to be shirked’, says union boss
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Stay classy www.theguardian.com/business/ng-...
theguardian.com
Revealed: major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and climate crisis
Iran conflict windfall over three months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
V depressed if this is true. It won't reduce bills and simply ties us to volatile oil markets for longer and causes more climate damage. Burnham to announce plans for new North Sea oil and gas drilling - BBC News share.google/dcuif0yKfNhg...
share.google
Burnham to announce plans for new North Sea oil and gas drilling
Drilling has become a controversial topic for the Labour party after the 2024 manifesto pledged to not issue new licenses.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
I'd like to suggest that @theguardian.com readers (or editors) need to read more female authors. What an uninspiring list! www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...
theguardian.com
Top 100 reader novels
After authors and critics chose their top 100 novels, we asked for your favourites. From Uruguay to the Isle of Skye, 3,000 readers cast their votes. Here are the titles that made your list – topped b...
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Happy to see the gov doubling down on clean energy as the best way to break free from volatile oil prices and the growing chaos in the world. Glad we have a PM who understands this is how we lower bills and build security for people. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Government to propose electricity price changes in clean power push
The war in the Middle East has brought renewed attention to Britain's vulnerability to energy price shocks.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Next London PUS Seminar coming up on 25th March when we have the amazing Dr Margo Boenig- Lipstin from ETH Zurich on "Between Human and Machine". londonpus.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/m...
londonpus.wordpress.com
March 2026 Seminar: Between Human and Machine
Between human and machine: Conceptions of “technology” and “the people” in projects of digital constitutionalism Dr Margo Boenig-Liptsin, ETH, Zurich the next London Public Understanding of Sc…
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Still a few hours to submit a paper for my panel on populism, expertise and science at EASST. I'd love a gender balanced panel, so if you're a woman who is hesitating because you don't know me, aren't sure your paper will fit (etc) please submit and we can worry about those things together later!
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
I've had some really great submissions to my panel on Populism, science, expertise & society for @easst.bsky.social and there's still time for more. Join us here: easst.net/conference/e...
easst.net
Programme
Programme
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
what even is the fucking point
How can Einstein do all this?
Einstein has his own virtual computer with a browser, just like you do. He can navigate websites, watch videos, read documents, type in text fields, click buttons, and submit forms. Anything you can do on a computer, Einstein can do.

How does Einstein access my Canvas?
You link your Canvas account once during setup. Einstein uses your credentials to log in, view assignments, and submit work on your behalf.

Will my professor know?
Einstein submits assignments from your account just like you would. The work is original and generated per-assignment — not copied from a database.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Next London PUS Seminar coming up 25th Feb. "Ex Cathedra: Preaching and Teaching the Positivist Creed" with Dr Guillaume Lancereau from the Central European University in Budapest. Comes and join us. londonpus.wordpress.com/2026/02/17/f...
londonpus.wordpress.com
February 2026 Seminar: Ex Cathedra: Preaching and Teaching the Positivist Creed
The next London PUS seminar will be taking place 16.00-18.00 on Wednesday 25 February 2026, at LSE when Dr Guillaume Lancereau from the Central European University in Budapest will be giving a talk…
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
This would be nonsense with any other funding arrangement - including a graduate tax.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
I didn't get the kind of experience I expected during 2020-21 either - mainly because I was working 12 hours a day trying to ensure that these students didn't lose out on learning. Glad it has been appreciated. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Students begin Covid compensation claim against 36 more universities
It comes after University College London settled a claim from students there over lost learning in the pandemic.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
The news at the moment is triggering some really horrible memories of what it was like being a young woman trying to build a career in the 1990s and the difficult/predatory situations that we regulalry found ourselves in.
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Jon Agar @jonagar.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
A neat short video that introduces our Science and Technology Studies degree programmes at @stsucl.bsky.social Please share if you like what we do! #histsci #philsci #sts www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYYE...
youtube.com
What is Science and Technology Studies?
YouTube video by UCL Science and Technology Studies
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
I'm convening a panel @easst.bsky.social on "More than Politics: Science Technology and Expertise in the age of Populism" (p231). It should be a fascinating discussion, so if you want to join us, we are open for papers until 9th March. easst.net/conference/e...
easst.net
Programme
Programme
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
This important, under reported but great news - especially given the wider global context. If more governments had moved sooner on decarbonisation and emissions reductions, the arctic region wouldn't be opening up. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK households to get £15bn for solar and green tech to lower energy bills
The government has announced the details of its long-awaited Warm Homes Plan which promises to cut energy bills.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
The latest UK Public Attitudes to Science Survey is out today (link below). We will be discussing it in this month's London PUS Seminar 4pm on Wednesday 29th January at LSE. DM if you want room details (in person only): pas.ipsos.com
pas.ipsos.com
Public Attitudes to Science |
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
I can't help wondering how things would have turned out if the US had got behind the Paris Agreement and invested in renewable and low carbon tech instead. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Dense, sticky and heavy: why Venezuelan crude oil appeals to US refineries
South American nation’s tar-like oil is what many Gulf coast facilities were built for but ramping up production to 3m barrels a day will be a long game
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Show me swathes of working class kids getting professional jobs without going to Uni and I'll agree. Until then, I question who we appoint as uni leaders if they no longer believe that higher ed is the key to social mobility. Because there is nothing else. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
UK university degree no longer ‘passport to social mobility’, says King’s vice-chancellor
Prof Shitij Kapur says there are too many graduates and degree is now just a ‘visa’ to enter professional world
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Happy Christmas emails. Sigh.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Income from digital services tax will do more to tackle inequality and improve public services than the promised investment would. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
US puts £31bn tech ‘prosperity deal’ with Britain on ice
Pledge to invest billions in UK paused, with Washington citing lack of progress on trade barriers across pond
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
When I became an academic, I completely underestimated how much of my time would be spent setting up passwords, finding them then logging into systems of my own university, other universities and various publishing companies. So fulfilling.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
I've been saying this for years to AI engineers who seem to think they are developing the 'luxury' service. Nope, it's the rubbish option that rich people will upgrade from.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Glad to see it finally acknowledged that things could have been very different but 23,000 unnecessary deaths is shameful. We can't let entitlement be more important than competence again. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
theguardian.com
‘Chaotic and indecisive’: key findings of report on UK’s Covid response under Tories
Second pandemic report focuses on decision-making, organisation and messaging by senior politicians including Boris Johnson
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Having Johnson & Cummings in Downing Street when Covid struck was, just like Brexit, an entirely avoidable disaster caused largely by utterly appalling journalism. And now exactly the same clowns, arses & bigots with bylines are rolling out the red carpet for Farage. www.thetimes.com/article/1b15...
thetimes.com
Covid inquiry live: ‘Inexcusable’ delays under Johnson led to 23,000 deaths
Lockdowns may have been avoided if Boris Johnson’s government had acted faster, damning report finds
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
I've just received an appointment letter from @imperialnhs.bsky.social via 2 texts and an email. Each connected to a different 3rd party app, that I had to register & sign consent with. So it seems my medical correspondence is being shared with at least five organisations (inc gp & hosp). Not OK.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Great. So trains are to become even more of a noisy hellscape. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Formula 1 tech used to improve train Wi-Fi on GWR
The 60 day pilot will use signals from mobile phone masts and satellites in space to create a more reliable connection.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Late but huge thanks to the authors of this (very useful) paper for flagging the Multiscale Ethics Framework as an emerging idea in #AIethics in healthcare. I am worried about future of NHS is we don't think about impact of tech beyond individuals. journals.plos.org/digitalhealt...
journals.plos.org
Ethical challenges and evolving strategies in the integration of artificial intelligence into clinical practice
Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly transformed various sectors, including healthcare, where it holds the potential to transform clinical practice and improve patient outcomes. However, its integ...
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
The problem is, spread as well as size matters. £8 return on £1 investment could be driving inequality in the UK if the £1 comes from everyone and the £8 goes exclusively to those owning tech companies, by passing the treasury.
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Muki Haklay @mhaklay.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
A call for papers for a special collection of #CitizenScience Theory and Practice - Citizen Science for Evidence-based Policy and Decision-Making. Deadline for abstracts of 250 words is 15 December. Do you have an example? participatorysciences.org/2025/10/15/c...
participatorysciences.org
Call for Abstracts Policy and Decision-Making - Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences
CITIZEN SCIENCE: THEORY AND PRACTICE Special Collection:  Citizen Science for Evidence-based Policy and Decision-Making Call for Abstracts Issue editors: Muki Haklay1,2, Smriti Safaya3,4, Jay Benforad...
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
The privatisation of University spaces is increasingly depressing me. It is almost impossible to organise an open event now, particularly when security staff have been replaced by swipe cards. Seemingly small changes but significant in the relationship between academia and the rest of the world.
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Lisa Haushofer @haushoferl.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
❗️JOB: Assistant Professor Social Studies of Medicine, joint appointment in sociology (65%) and #hps (35%) #histstm #histmed #histsci www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
cam.ac.uk
Assistant Professor Social Studies of Medicine
This is a joint post 65% Sociology, 35% HPS. The Departments of Sociology and History and Philosophy of Science are looking to recruit an Assistant Professor in the Social Studies of Medicine in a
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Looking forward to this afternoon's AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award Lecture with the Economist's Natasha Loder. We are almost sold out, so hurry if you still want to join us! www.ucl.ac.uk/mathematical...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL-STS Hosts 2025 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award Lecture
From Print to Prompts: What the Past Says About the Future of Science Journalism - A lecture by Natasha Loder, The Economist's health editor
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Happy to share a whole year's worth of programme for the London PUS Seminars. All are in person at LSE and usually followed by a beer - email me to join the email list and to find out more. londonpus.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/2...
londonpus.wordpress.com
2025-26 Seminar Schedule
We are delighted that this year we have pre-planned the whole year’s schedule. All seminars take place in person, 16.00-18.00 at LSE. 2025 Term 1 29 Oct:  Cows – from a cuddly…
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Natasha Loder @natashaloder.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
In this talk I'll reflect back on what journalism's past tells us about the future of science journalism. I'll also talk about my long love affair with journalism, and how to get a bikini wax on expenses. Do come and join us, and let us debate the future.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Still time to join us on 15th October to talk the future of science journalism with @natashaloder.bsky.social as @stsucl.bsky.social hosts the @aaas.org @kavlifoundation.org Award lecture. Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ucl-sts-ho...
eventbrite.co.uk
UCL-STS Hosts 2025 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award Lecture
From Print to Prompts: What the Past Says About the Future of Science Journalism - A lecture by Natasha Loder, The Economist's health editor
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Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Labour MP Alex Sobel describes government fee levy plan as “stupid”, and also says ministers should never have implemented free speech act. Meanwhile, Russell Group VC describes fee levy as “utterly bonkers”. Lively session at #Lab25. Full story: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
researchprofessionalnews.com
Labour MP describes government fee levy plan as ‘stupid’ - Research Professional News
Labour 2025: Alex Sobel also says ministers “should never should have implemented free speech act”
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
A fitting tribute to my friend and former MP Iain Coleman. It was an incredible honour stand in his seat when he retired and I regret that I wasn't able to continue his amazing work. But my abiding memory will always be how much fun and great company Iain was. xxx labourlist.org/2025/09/iain...
labourlist.org
Iain Coleman obituary: 'Labour could do with a few more Iain Colemans right now' - LabourList
Tributes have poured in for former Labour MP Iain Coleman, who represented Hammersmith and Fulham between 1997 and…
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Also, what's the point of Oxford education now? All of the conversations/training sessions I've had about leaning into student use of genAI requires me to abondon any attempt to teach my subject or critical skills and instead to teach prompt engineering. Absolute rubbish.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Excellent run up to the start of the academic year yesterday, looking at amazing art and finding inspiration and fascinating connections to our own ideas. (And suprisingly, I am not one of the guilty parties!)
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
Yes, Defra becomes the first department with a full complement of ministers to be all female. (Welsh department has been but only has two ministers).
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Also the first time the three great offices of state (FCDO, Home, CX) have all been held by women at the same time.
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
😂
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M Smallman @melaniesmallman.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
How can I have spent the last week in Somerville and not have been made aware of this? www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
The cat mayoral race: meet 11 runners and riders in the US’s most furious – and furriest – election
It has been the talk of Somerville, Massachusetts this summer, with the winner announced later today. Will it be the candidate who promises free kibble or the one who speaks gnomically of ‘CRIME’?
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