iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

National Archives (UK) running 3 events on Irish history this month. Yes pleeeeze www.eventbrite.com/cc/finding-i...

Ireland, 1485-1798: colonial laboratory?
Fri, Sep 26 • 2:00 PM

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Sometimes it is hard being a chemist and a gardener

Screen grab showing subtitles "This lets some of the salt and minerals evaporate so they don't build up in the soil."

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Sometimes this is a very difficult country to live in

000

One of the fascinating if depressing things about “the literature” is the extent to which people cite other work that completely misrepresents what the cited article says. And that’s going to get so much worse with AI “insights”.

040

Hollow is a great description. I am similarly "figuring out" my thoughts, but "generic that might be useful to someone with expertise" is the best I've got to so far. Given the nun, I am repurposing All Hallows and imagining an AI school called All Hollows.

000

Separately of course is the body of work that says STEM courses are so choc full that students don’t have time to think.

…less sense of how taught curriculum is changing. Are courses really being dropped? What about core learning hours? (Of course we were too content heavy so this may not be a bad thing). Any thanks for voicing and need more coffee to ponder more.

210

… so I’m moving to a position where I’d prefer instead a set of core competencies (what I’ve framed elsewhere under ‘doing chemistry’ but would include your Problem Solving) that should be evident in a lab curriculum. And that will take a time but perhaps less rigid than a fixed number. I have…

220

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

A lot to ponder here thanks for writing. Core issue is that “300” has somewhat protected labs from prying eyes. They have to be there but who knows (cares) what they are. 300 hours in a lab is very different depending on how many in a group (I’ve heard tales of 6!) and what students do…

230

Happy Putting those Aspirations for Completing Tasks Back On Ice For Another Year Day to all who celebrate. 🙌

162

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Wow! Looks like it was a great meeting this time. Sorry to miss it.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Isn’t this where we met?! Enjoy!

100

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Bring up the bodies took a whole summer! I only came to them after the first TV series which probably helped

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Quite a year! While perhaps not as tangible as an output I think that first year in a new place is one where you can tune into differences and so think about things in a different way. Hope you’ve got over that dratted cold!

120

Reposted by Michael Seery

Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 18/08/2025

**New blog post** A reflection on how moving city made me less productive this year. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2025/8/18/the-academic-productivity-cost-of-moving

michaeloneill.org

The academic productivity cost of moving — Michael O'Neill

A reflection on the way I became less productive in the year I moved from one University to another.

131

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Amazing thanks! Bradshaw is the one I was after. Now in the queue!

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Thanks! Just enjoying yours by return. And yes, despite good taste in abbeys, Watson probably the safer choice.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Thanks. Separately the Venn diagram of Hilary Mantel, all the abbeys & monasteries around here and my own interests have meant that I’m becoming borderline obsessed with dissolution. I’ve read that in Irish context it happened much later. Is there any good reading on it?

Prof. Natalie Fey @nataliefeynls.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Reposted by Michael Seery

Paging the #CompChemSky and #iTeachChem communities: Could you please help my MSc student with an education project, exploring how gen AI shapes the way we think, solve problems, and build confidence.

116

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

I've spent a bit of time thinking and writing about GRC CERP; how it came together, and how it came to be. Thank you to everyone who played a part and the many messages since. It's long, so a main take away message, it is: *conference organisers should always have a "meal with speakers" system*.

michaelseery.com

A Maine Meitheal: Reflecting on the 2025 GRC Chemistry Education Research and Practice

In early July in rural Maine, I chaired the 2025 Gordon Research Conference Chemistry Education Research and Practice meeting. I was elected way back in 2019 as Vice Chair to Ellen Yezierski (Vice …

030

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

First day//last day of GRC CERP. Who needs sleep?!.Thanks so much to Erin Saitta for photos.

At registration desk waiting for people to arrive

050

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Was an amazing week - thanks for presentation and bringing *all* the gang from Texas 🤣 They made an enormous contribution to the meeting.

050

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

What an amazing week! Thank you everyone who made it so special. This was a career highlight that will be tough to beat. #GRCCERP #MoonAgents

Groups of presenters and discussants posing for photo

051

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

#GRCCERP begins! Setting off on journey with a view of Westbury White Horse from the train (through very murky window).

White horse shape carved out chalk soil on steep hill side

120

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Yes altho more generally I think the emphasis on discussion shifts the expectation from coming to listen to coming to engage.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Thanks M - the GRC had substantial influence on MICER design. People like to talk! Hope you’re well and ViCEPHEC goes well.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

At Trinity last night for book launch of 300 years of Trinity. Launched by Peter Boyle (who turned to history when he retired - role model ❤️); met up with JMK; and a talk from Peter Morris on history of chemistry lab.

Peter Boyle launching book with a slide showing Brian McMurry in the background

With John Kelly holding copy of the book

Slide showing image of Chemical Institute in Berlin from Peter Morris’ talk

000

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Thanks very much Paul. Was a really interesting day. Talk soon.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

RIP Edmund White. As a very confused young adult I somehow came across his work and it was a lightbulb. A world I never thought I could connect with, but was a comfort to know it existed. Some lovely tributes www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

theguardian.com

Edmund White remembered: ‘He was the patron saint of queer literature’

Colm Tóibín, Alan Hollinghurst, Adam Mars-Jones and more recall the high style and libidinous freedom of a writer who ‘was not a gateway to gay literature but a main destination’

Prof. Natalie Fey @nataliefeynls.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Reposted by Michael Seery

We are organising a one-day symposium in memory of Chris Adams, here in Bristol Chemistry on 27th June 2025, from 10 am. Details, programme and registration form here: cjasymposium.blogs.bristol.ac.uk Please register by the end of this week if you plan to come for dinner.

044

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Sorry for the reason but welcome to Dublin. As others have said RSC is a great way to connect with locals; there is an active Ireland section and it is the best way to meet UK/IE people in your domain. Let me know if you need any local advice (but nowhere is cheap to live…!)

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Reposted by Michael Seery

Are you attending GRC CERP this summer? If so, I have made a short presentation giving an overview of the conference, the flow of the week, and my top tips for attendees...! www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrok...

youtube.com

GRC CERP 2025 Participants' Briefing

YouTube video by Michael Seery

053

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

As a lifelong academic I’m here for it.

Extract reads: “facing his students on a Monday morning in January, wearing the same dark suit that he purchased in 1989 at Rothmans when he was first starting to teach and realized he needed formal professional attire.”

000

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

youtube.com

GRC CERP 2025 Participants' Briefing

YouTube video by Michael Seery

053

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

For Trinity Chemistry alumni (and interested others) Book launch of "Trinity College Dublin - 300 years of Chemistry" in Dublin on 30th June with a talk from Peter Morris on the history of the chemistry laboratory. What's not to love?!

Trinity College Dublin:
300 YEARS OF CHEMISTRY
Edited by Peter Boyle,
contributors John Boland, Peter Boyle David Grayson, John Kelly and Brian McMurry
This new book will be launched by Professor Peter Morris of the Science Museum, London, on Monday 30 June 2025 at 5.00 pm in the Tercententary Theatre, TBSI building. The launch will be preceded by a lecture at 4 pm by Professor Morris, on "Form and Function:
The History of the Chemistry Laboratory, 1700-2005".
All interested are welcome to attend.

030

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

God I hope the answer is yes 🤞 (it was, but only because of a few extra hundred thousand details not mention in headline)

I'm 46, earn £25k and have £6k in my pension. Can I quit my job and retire for good?

000

Reposted by Michael Seery

Colin McGill @colinmcgill.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

The finalised programme for Methods in Chemistry Education Research #MICER25 at @edinburghnapier.bsky.social micerportal.wordpress.com #chemsky #chemedresearch

021

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Oh very good! Just got your original meaning now! Ouch!