iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

“The world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of the billionaire class” No thank you. We’re still dealing with the inequality consequences of the previous industrial revolutions

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“Op de fiets van Berg en Dal naar Nijmegen Centraal Station maar dan recht omhoog”

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Andy Diggle @andydiggle.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

My Glock system went rogue and issued 9mm agents which accessed the internal organs of several victims. Please give me billions of dollars to help me regulate the behavior of the gun whose trigger I keep pulling.

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Orbital Radar @orbitalradar.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Hundreds of imaging satellites photograph every point on Earth every day. But which ones watch your sky? Satellite Eye tells you exactly when they pass, their camera sharpness, and shows real Sentinel-2 and NASA imagery. Get your surveillance score now: orbitalradar.com/satellite-eye…

orbitalradar.com

Satellite Eye — Who

50+ imaging satellites photograph your location every day. Enter any city to see your surveillance score, live satellite passes, and real satellite imagery of your area.

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

That checks out - also a very German thing in my experience 😁

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

‘German has a word for everything’-experience of the day: Erstverschlechterung (lit: fore-worsening), the notion that when you change things, they tend to get worse a bit before they start getting better. Example: medication side-effects occurring before the healing effect starts

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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

With some delay, my op-Ed on the dramatic Saxony-Anhalt election. It is high time we focus our political struggle on strengthening democracy, rather than merely weakening the far right. To do this, we must show realism, resilience and restraint.

theguardian.com

The AfD’s win in Germany is a dark day for Europe. Time is running out to stop the far right | Cas Mudde

This party is among the most extreme in Europe. To protect our democracies, liberal parties must urgently change their tactics, says Cas Mudde, author of The Far Right Today

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Reminds me of a talk I heard last year, where researchers tried to test how different tones of voice from an LLM would be perceived by healthapp users, but couldn’t get the chatbot to change its tone of voice enough for people to notice (doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...)

doi.org

Lost in Translation? Assessing User Perception of Prompt-Engineered Chatbot Tone-of-Voice for Smoking Cessation

Large Language Models (LLMs) offer significant potential for personalised health coaching applications, such as smoking cessation support, where communication s

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Thank you for your insightful explanation of the ‘rogue’ spin, that was excellent! Around the 19 minute mark, you mention a paper in which models come up with generally the same answers regardless of context. That reference would be very helpful for my current work. Have you found it yet? :-)

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Meg @justdrinkyourtea.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“It is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it.” -Becky Chambers

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I briefly considered to keep moving westward every week, but the carbon footprint…

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Unpopular opinion (?), but I love an East->West jetlag: the only time I get to experience the everyday benefits morning people always have Waking up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the crack of dawn, and having your productivity peak with noone else around. No wonder morning people rule the world

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Relevant as ever - nothing like a couple of decades of working in science to make you even more aware of its value, right? I only just came across the book through hearing about it on the @ppfideas.bsky.social podcast… Slow on the uptake as per spec

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Finally had time for Ursula K Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. If there’s any more proof you need that even the most fundamental scientific endeavour is deeply political, if only because of the system that makes the work possible, this is the book for you

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Oh wow yes. I remember walking through that artwork right after hiking along the Basque coast for a week. The experience was transformative

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Jodi Pickens 🏳️‍🌈🖖✨ @jodipickens.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Art question 🎨 What painting, photograph, sculpture, or piece of visual art has stayed with you long after you first saw it? Not necessarily your favorite. The one that lingered.

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Rapture, by Iranian artist Shirin Neshat. Two screens, one depicting the male experience, the other the female experience of life in an Islamic society, without resorting to stereotypes, platitudes or simplification. Saw it in Hamburg’s Kunsthalle in the early 2000s vimeo.com/65972620?sha...

vimeo.com

Shirin Neshat: Rapture, 1999

“Rapture” is a two-channel video projection divided down gender lines. The male protagonists of the narrative are projected on the left wall of the gallery, the women on the right (Neshat exploited th...

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Just focusing on communicating health benefits may reach some people who were already convinced, but may harden a positive attitude towards alcohol and scepticism towards health promotion in others

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Changing a social practice is hard work, and needs a combination of health promotion, public policy and legal changes, presentation of alternatives, and slow culture change. The most important ingredient of that mix will be legislation, as we have seen in smoking: workplace bans, restaurant bans

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

You see the same discussions in the advancement of plant-based (or just generally healthy) food. “Yes, it’s healthy, but the taste / we’re celebrating / it’s comforting / it’s a treat / and so on”

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

We see that a lot in other research too: health care practitioners and policy makers see health as a superordinate goal, the highest good, while ‘normal people’ say life is for living, and good health important, but no more than a means to an end.

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

The negative effects of even a small amount of alcohol on our health are indisputable. It’s fascinating to watch what happens when this fact gets communicated to the general public: Health promotors seem incapable of considering the value of drinking alcohol as a social practice

Tweet by @firstdoctor saying “Alcohol has no single benefit. Zero. Not one.”

Two tweets stating that the benefit of alcohol is enjoyment and social glue

Tweet by James May saying “It helps ugly and shy people to have sex,” and tweet by @Andy__Ford saying “A wise man once said, alcohol is god’s apology for making us self-aware.”

More tweets stating the function of alcohol as social lubrication

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

En knap hoor, met je wielrenfiets de Holleweg op… Ik zou zeggen probeer het eens op een stadsfiets met drie versnellingen en een fietskar met twee vermoeide kleuters en een lading strandspullen… #bergendal-life

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Grappig zo’n NK Wielrennen rond m’n huis, maar die helicopter van de NOS mag onderhand echt wel weg

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Katrin Auspurg @kauspurg.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

There’s been a lot of buzz around the Borjas/Breznau (2026) paper (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and potential ideological bias in research. We took a closer look at the data. Could there be a "bias in bias research"? Here is what we found: www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10...

econstor.eu

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Mark Rubin @markrubin.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Establishing-an-effect, theory-of-the-effect, and theoretical framework Three strategies for claiming research progress by Dal et al. (2026): doi.org/10.1002/jcpy...

Abstract
Researchers are increasingly challenged by this question: On what basis can they claim their work contributes to research progress? We propose that contemporary consumer research relies on three broad strategies for warranting such claims. An establishing-an-effect strategy claims progress based on confidence that a focal relationship between variables X and Y reliably replicates. A theory-of-the-effect strategy claims progress based on confidence that a local mechanistic account specifies when and how a particular effect occurs. A theoretical framework strategy instead claims progress based on confidence in an explanation that transcends any single effect paradigm. We (a) clarify how these strategies differ in their core logic, methodological emphases, and vulnerabilities; (b) document via a coding of recent articles in leading consumer research journals that the field relies overwhelmingly on the theory-of-the-effect strategy and rarely advances theoretical frameworks; and (c) develop actionable guidance for progressing from theories of effects to frameworks. We argue that recognizing the merits and vulnerabilities of each strategy—and deliberately leveraging the strategies in combination—provides a stronger basis for claiming research progress

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UCL Centre for Behaviour Change @ucl-cbc.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

We're really pleased you were able to present your work on Co-Creation at the Behaviour Change Conference 2026. Thank you for attending #BCConf2026!

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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

the real takeaway from the World Cup is that if you don't have immigrants on your team, it probably sucks

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Yes, by the time you read it, it might already be too late

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Wonder what caused them to put that here? 🧐

Text on the side of the escalator in El Corte Ingles shopping centre in Lisbon, reading “For your safety, tie your shoelaces”

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

“Cloak room”. I love that term. Please madam, take my cloak. Will you also look after my dagger?

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Yes, it is! Thank you for mentioning people joining remotely, gives me time to change my talk a bit to accommodate remote viewers :-)

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

For those unfortunate enough to not be attending this marvellous conference: the toolkit and all canvases and material are available from my own website: www.sander-hermsen.nl/prevention-h... #BCConf2026

sander-hermsen.nl

Prevention Hub Co-creation Toolkit – Sander Hermsen

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

If you can't make the session but would like a book, talk to me during the coffee or lunch breaks!

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

At #BCConf2026 in Lisbon, I will present the toolkit today. If you're at this conference, please come see me in the yellow building auditorium (room A102) at 2pm. You can get your own copy of the toolkit book, too.

linkedin.com

LinkedIn Login, Sign in | LinkedIn

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

This toolkit has >30 codesign activities, canvases to plan sessions and journeys, frameworks to help you determine what level of participation fits your needs and those of your participants and stakeholders, and tools to help you integrate your research question into design processes.

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Has your PI sprung a research proposal on you that trendily promises #codesign or #cocreation? Did you notice a tendency in yourself to stick with the most participatory research method you already knew (focus groups, interviews) but felt like there should be a way to add more 'co' to your work?

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Launching the Prevention Hub Co-Creation Toolkit at the Behaviour Change Conference 2026 #BCConf2026 in Lisbon

A canvas to help you translate your research question to design phases and processes

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

So… the public health practitioner is a professional mansplainer, and the behavioural scientist can’t spell. Thanks AI 🙄 #BCConf2026

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Thank you Esther Flanagan and @robertjwest.bsky.social for running up and down the auditorium stairs to demonstrate the tools #BCConf2026

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Using ontologies to inform behaviour change intervention development seems promising (see www.humanbehaviourchange.org), but as yet there’s been a lack of usable tools to do so. CACTIS 1.7.2 robertjwest.github.io/Unlocking-Be... and PAT the Paper Authoring Tool look useful there #BCConf2026

screenshot of CACTIS 1.7.2 showing combining intervention function with behaviour change technique to prompt concrete behavioural interventions

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Such a brave, personal, and insightful keynote… Marijn de Bruin not only makes the case for collective action and activism in behavioural science, but also gives us concrete action plans to do so. Those who say that science isn’t political haven’t been paying attention the last century #BCConf2026

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Marijn de Bruin delivers his amazing, incredibly information-dense keynote on his perspective on strengthening behavioural science for societal impact #BCConf2026 “As a field, we’re just out of puberty, but we’re ready for the next step upwards”

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Love how all the posters are openly available online padlet.com/bcconf2026/p.... Abstracts will be available through zenodo later #BCConf2026

padlet.com

Behaviour Change Conference 2026

Made with Padlet

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Sander Hermsen @sanderhermsen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Susan Michie @susanmichie.bsky.social, Marta Marques, and Felix Naughton open the #BCConf2026. Delegates from over 40 countries, with much attention to behaviour change for climate and planetary health

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