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Polly

@pollyashford.bsky.social
98 followers 165 following 67 posts

Research Lead for Clinical Psychology and Mental Health at Norwich Clinical Trials Unit. With a side order of respiratory. My views are entirely my own!

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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
There can be nothing more satisfying than submitting a paper at 4.45pm on a Friday.
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a woman is sitting at a table with a pink laptop and the word s-tv is on the bottom
ALT: a woman is sitting at a table with a pink laptop and the word s-tv is on the bottom
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
As I'm now a school run parent it's my turn to say - idling is illegal! Idling outside a SCHOOL demonstrates to everyone that you are a....
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Anyone else avoiding the news and instead watching old gentle telly? Peak Practice S01E01 (1993) brought back memories. Features a boy getting electrocuted while getting a kite off a pylon. Classic.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Anyone thinking of doing health research involving "AI" should read this and have a good think about what it means.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
So excited the MERL has a podcast. #absoluteunit
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
Oh hai.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Camo-cricket. Technical term.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Bumper year for seven spot ladybirds in our garden.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Bruiser! We continue to increase the biodiversity of our garden by doing almost no gardening. Win-win.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Nearly 20 years at this university and today I found some toilets I never knew existed. It's like a brutalist Hogwarts.
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American Statistical Association History of Statistics @hos-asa.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
Time for your yearly reminder that “We need less research, better research, and research done for the right reasons”. #OTD 1948 Douglas Altman b (d 3 June 2018) “One of the most influential medical statisticians of the past 50 years” he led reforms in medical research reliability & reporting. 1/3
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
Super Cool! Let's use AI for everything! #hellinahandcart
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
No need to check the weather this morning, having been kept awake by combine harvesters most of the night.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Turns out MS Teams "request control" feature V useful for elderly parent IT support from 300 miles away.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
🔥
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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 12/06/2025
This is a wellbeing room in my university.
A tiny room with no windows and overhead lighting, which is probably fluorescent. It has one black pleather reclining chair, three blue fabric corporate type chairs with wooden arms, and a white laminate round table with metal legs. All the furniture is shoved up against the walls. There is a white plastic casing around the walls around 3 feet high with several plug and ethernet sockets. The floor is shiny and dark grey. There is literally nothing else in the room. No natural light. Looks shit, frankly.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Ooooh
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Sometimes I listen to the Moana soundtrack when child isn't in the car. 😬
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
It must be my age, I'm getting so much escapism from revisiting television/radio/music from the 90s and early 00s. Would happily go back there...
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a close up of a man wearing a black leather jacket .
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
At what age do children stop filling the house with feathers? Because I could reconstruct a whole wood pigeon at this point.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
I'm just staying up late with my work laptop, holding its little hand through a mandatory windows update that has the potential to ruin any chance of doing meaningful work tomorrow morning. Sigh.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Crikey. Been a while since I've been complimented on my telephone voice. Still got it. 😉
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
I'm apparently the sort of person who goes to a visitor attraction and photographs the label on their well-designed composting toilet.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Please share :) @norwichctu.bsky.social @ueamedical.bsky.social @nihr.bsky.social
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Dr Richard Ma PhD 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🍉🕺⚕️🩺🎓 @richard-ma.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Are you a healthcare professional in the UK caring for people living with HIV aged over 50? What are the important issues for you & your patients? We are creating a bank of research questions to bring to a workshop to prioritise research in this area. app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/socs/have-...
Survey header with University of Bristol logo.

Have your say to improve the care of people aged over 50 living with HIV in the UK


We are looking for research ideas to improve health and care for people aged over 50 living with HIV in the UK.

This is a survey for people with HIV aged over 50, their carers, and healthcare professionals involved in their care.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Have prepared a truly punishing schedule of events to survive solo parenting this long weekend. Easter crafts, steam train, duck race, Bug Park, petting zoo. Not to mention playgrounds, planting sunflowers, all the toys, bike rides etc. Send stimulants.
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a group of power rangers are standing next to each other and waving their hands in the air .
ALT: a group of power rangers are standing next to each other and waving their hands in the air .
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
A beautiful and terrible thing about The Internet is that one minute someone mentions a gong bath in passing and before you know it you've become aware you can buy a 40" gong for £800 and that suddenly seems like a tremendous idea.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
New career milestone unlocked: I just saw a paper that made me think of a student and emailed it to them (so they can ignore it because it's not actually what their project is about). Hopefully not the last bit...
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Day 1 of a new NIHR grant, and a new member of the team to help me deliver it. Got the butterflies!
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
First garden blob of the year, and some very proud parents
Two frogs and a pile of frogspawn in a small, sunny UK garden pond.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
I could not have anticipated that parenting might involve sewing a tiny Elsa dress for a toy rabbit at 7am on a Sunday. While ill.
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a close up of a cartoon character 's face with the word xpfun on the bottom left
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Going into the office today because I'm too annoyed by my two work VPNs fighting each other. Well played, employer, well played 😬
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Jolyn Hersch PhD @jolynhersch.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Trial participant self‑reported understanding of randomisation phrases in participant info can be high but acceptability of some descriptions is low esp if linked to gambling/luck @streweek.bsky.social @katiegillies.bsky.social @taliaisaacs.bsky.social trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com
Trial participants’ self-reported understanding of randomisation phrases in participation information leaflets can be high, but acceptability of some descriptions is low, especially those linked to ga...
Background Evidence indicates that trial participants often struggle to understand participant information leaflets (PILs) for clinical trials, including the concept of randomisation. We analysed the ...
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Marion Campbell @marionkcampbell.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
I’ve seen a number of trial applications in development over recent weeks with lots of discussion about appropriate sample size calculations. A good time to remind everyone about the perils of the “sample size samba” 1/8 #MethodologyMonday #111
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
You know your kitchen is too cold when you can't pour the olive oil.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
I find the psychology of this stuff absolutely fascinating! #teamsceptic
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
This is horrendous. If you work in trials, read the full article.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Trials are getting more inclusive, flexible, innovative, complex... For roughly the same budget. This isn't sustainable. Efficiency savings are not being passed on to the people slogging their hearts out to deliver research.
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Stephanie Rossit @stephanierossit.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
At the time of much uncertainty in HEI in the UK, leadership is critically important. Leading by example, with integrity, respect, kindness and empathy for a team is now more important than ever.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
What is it about my silly human brain that recognises I have a headache but then procrastinates about just immediately taking some tablets that will make it go away?? I'm literally typing this instead of walking to the cupboard.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Glorious
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Flipping heck.
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Stephanie Rossit @stephanierossit.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Please see job below #neurojobs #neuroscience #neuroimaging #neurology #psychology
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
A decadent afternoon - train to Cambridge, Pret, team-building painting class! A rare treat and lovely to see the TYPPEX programme team ❤️
A Norfolk lavender field at sunset, painted by someone who hasn't lifted a brush since GCSE.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
A trial I oversee has recruited its target of 496 participants, 6 MONTHS EARLY. Can't take any credit for that but my goodness. Also nobody tell NIHR 😬
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a cartoon drawing of a unicorn with a rainbow in the background
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Very proud to call this team colleagues ❤️
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
#Norfolklife
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
It's shiny round here and they've got art and a duck pond. Back to Norfolk...
Heart and Lung Research Institute in Cambridge at sunset.
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Weirdly exciting bit of my job (in Norwich) is working with three different teams at Cambridge, and periodically checking my diary to see who I'm going to visit this month. Train ride, nice coffee, home in time for tea.
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an elderly woman with a ring on her finger looks out a window
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Polly @pollyashford.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Holding out hope for a revolutionary backlash against fakery of all kinds and mass production. Food, clothes, stuff. Most people want this! Being able to PAY for it means a) being prepared to scale back what we "need" in life, and b) fair wages & profits...
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