Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · May 2

The paper invovled "Passive acoustic monitoring provides a fresh perspective on fundamental ecological questions" can be found here 🧪
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
2/2

Passive acoustic monitoring provides a fresh perspective on fundamental ecological questions

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

3

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · May 2

Delighted to be highlighted as one of the most read authors in the @britishecologicalsociety.org journal @funecology.bsky.social 🧪

This follows being higlighted as a #TopCitedArticle last month. Great to see we're having influence

#ecology #acoustics #TopViewedArticle
@ucddublin.bsky.social
1/2

1 5

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · May 2

The paper invovled "Passive acoustic monitoring provides a fresh perspective on fundamental ecological questions" can be found here besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
2/2

Passive acoustic monitoring provides a fresh perspective on fundamental ecological questions

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · May 2

Delighted to be highlighted as one of the most read authors in the @britishecologicalsociety.org journal
@funecology.bsky.social!

This follows being higlighted as a #TopCitedArticle last month. Great to see we're having influence!

#ecology #acoustics #TopViewedArticle @ucddublin.bsky.social
1/2

1 1 5

Reposted by Darren O'Connell

Armando Rosario-Lebrón @rosariolebronentomology.com · Apr 6

We are risking plunging the United States into a dark age of entomology next week. USDA programs are facing massive lay-offs next week and the public should be aware of the impact. If you care about food systems, forests, invasive species, this thread is for you. Read Below: 🧪 #entomology #science

12 260 500

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · Mar 21

Fantastic to visit the @naturalis.bsky.social for the last three weeks! 🧪

The Naturalis' incredible historical collections have allowed us insight into how mining bee species have adapted across Europe, and to a changing world from 1870 to present!

#pollination #ecology @ucddublin.bsky.social

1 3 22

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · Mar 19

The paper invovled "Passive acoustic monitoring provides a fresh perspective on fundamental ecological questions" can be found here besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... 2/2

Passive acoustic monitoring provides a fresh perspective on fundamental ecological questions

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

1

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · Mar 19

Delighted to be highlighted as one of the most cited authors in the @britishecologicalsociety.org journal @funecology.bsky.social in recent years!

#ecology #acoustics @ucddublin.bsky.social 1/2

2 5

Reposted by Darren O'Connell

Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦 @watershedlab.bsky.social · Mar 14

🚨 HUGE news from Canada's tricouncils who are harmonizing their scholarship & fellowship programs, upping the total number (huzzah!), and critically, allowing foreigners to apply for doctoral and postdoc fellowships. Want to work with me? Get in touch! 🇨🇦🧪⚒️

www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/NewsDetail-D...

NSERC - Latest News - Launch of the new Harmonized Tri-agency Scholarship and Fellowship programs

As announced in Budget 2024, the scholarship and fellowship programs administered by the three federal research funding agencies – the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) – have been streamlined into a new harmonized talent program called the Canada Research Training Awards Suite (CRTAS) that will open for applications in summer 2025.

www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca

28 360 970

Reposted by Darren O'Connell

Ed Hill @edmhill.bsky.social · Feb 24

📣 Funded 3.5yr PhD opportunity for UK applicants in @hpruezi.bsky.social @liverpooluni.bsky.social. #PhDSky

🧪 On "Optimising testing & control strategies in the early stages of infectious disease outbreaks" #IDSky #EpiSky

⏳ Application deadline: 24 Mar 2025

🔗: www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgr...

Optimising testing and control strategies in the early stages of infectious disease outbreaks

Supervisors: Dr Emily Nixon Professor Christl Donnelly Dr Richard Vipond Dr Emily Adams

Research area:
Maths and Computing

Studying in:
Department of Mathematical Sciences School of Physical Sciences Faculty of Science and Engineering

Stipend Amount: Funded studentship
Availability Region: Open to UK applicants
Application Deadline: 24 March 2025

In the early stages of a major disease outbreak, the availability of suitable diagnostic tests is often limited, however, timely interventions are critical for controlling the spread of disease. In this PhD, you will develop mechanistic and statistical models to investigate the effectiveness of various diagnostic test deployment strategies for emerging and zoonotic diseases which are at risk of causing large outbreaks, such as respiratory viruses (Influenza, SARS-CoV-2, Respiratory syncytial virus), vector-borne diseases (Dengue, Tick-borne encephalitis) or viral haemorrhagic fevers (Nipah, Lassa fever and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever). You will investigate the effectiveness of targeting use of tests in different settings, for example in areas of high versus low transmission, or in hospitals versus the community. The optimum strategy for diagnostic test deployment will vary depending on prevalence of disease, the sensitivity and specificity of the tests and the time it takes to receive and act on results. In addition, variation between pathogens, for example, in their mode of transmission, reproduction number and incubation period, will influence which strategy is the most effective in controlling the impact of the outbreak. These insights will inform stockpiling strategies of medical countermeasures for pandemic preparedness and in the event of a major outbreak, can be used and adapted to help inform decision making.

You will be part of a supportive and stimulating research environment at the University of Liverpool, with Dr Emily Nixon as your primary supervisor, with additional supervision from Professor Christl Donnelly (Department of Statistics, University of Oxford), Dr Emily Adams (Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford) and Dr Richard Vipond (UK Health Security Agency). This studentship will be for a maximum of 3.5 years duration starting in October 2025; it includes fees at the UK/home rate, stipend, and research-related travel.

This is an exciting opportunity to work with a world leading team delivering research that is relevant to public health in the UK. This PhD opportunity is funded by the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections (EZI). The successful candidate will therefore join the NIHR HPRU-EZI.

NIHR is the UK's largest funder of health and care research and provides the people, facilities and technology that enables research to thrive.

NIHR HPRUs undertake high quality research that enhances the ability of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to protect the public’s health and minimise the health impact of emergencies. There are 13 HPRUs across England.

The HPRU-EZI is a partnership between the University of Liverpool, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), University of Oxford, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and UKHSA, in collaboration with University of Glasgow. HPRU-EZI has been running since 2014, and supports and strengthens UKHSA in its role protecting England from emerging infections and zoonoses (i.e. those which spread from animals to humans). HPRU-EZI has played significant roles in the past in the UK response to Ebola, Zika, COVID-19 and mpox. We will continue to address the major emerging threats; these are transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks (e.g. dengue and Lyme), the respiratory route (e.g. COVID-19 and influenza), or directly through contact (e.g. Lassa fever).

For further details please see our brochure and our website: http://hpruezi.nihr.ac.uk/media/artlflhc/hpru-ezi-brochure.pdf http://hpruezi.nihr.ac.uk/

3 5

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · Feb 24

Check out our new blog summarising recent meta-analysis assessing treatments for the Varroa mite #pathogen of honey bees!
This #invasive #parasite has huge impacts on crops from lost
#pollination 🧪

@ucddublin.bsky.social @healyke.bsky.social @cristinabotias.bsky.social

www.ucd.ie/earth/news-o...

24 February tackling varroa mite

www.ucd.ie

2 10

Reposted by Darren O'Connell

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Jan 21

🔬 Trust in Scientists 🌍

A global survey of 71,922 respondents across 68 countries found that most people trust scientists and want them to engage more in policymaking.

However, small distrustful minorities can still impact decisions.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#SciComm 🧪

Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries - Nature Human Behaviour

What is the state of trust in scientists around the world? To answer this question, the authors surveyed 71,922 respondents in 68 countries and found that trust in scientists is moderately high.

www.nature.com

2 15 60

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · Jan 20

Also we've highlighted general issues with how data is reported. It's harder than it should be to do a comparative analysis, probably due to a lack of unified reporting standards.
Which has limited our capacity to get as specific as we'd like to (i.e. analysing dosage)
So plenty more work to do!

1

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · Jan 20

As much as anything it's allowed us to highlight where data is lacking;
Honey bee health metrics are measured way less than mite mortality. Particularly longer term health (if it's measured it's usually something short term).
Controlled studies of options like resistant bee strains.
Bee genotype

1 1

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · Jan 20

In terms of how we're measuring the efficacy. We're working with what has been previously published, so what we can do reflects that.
Mite count (Varroa mortality) is one analysis we've done. There's a big focus on that in the published literature
We've looked at other metrics also

2 1

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · Jan 20

Does this link work doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...?

Maybe also google the DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.178228

If not my institution should be putting out a summary blog on it later this week, I'll share it. Character limits here are tight!

doi.org

Darren O'Connell @daroconnell.bsky.social · Jan 20

Our new meta-analysis assessing treatments for the Varroa mite #pathogen of honey bees!
This #invasive #parasite has huge impacts on crops from lost
#pollination
We synthesise the best options and future prospects 🧪

@ucddublin.bsky.social @healyke.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A systematic meta-analysis of the efficacy of treatments for a global honey bee pathogen - the Varroa mite

The western honey bee Apis mellifera is the world's most important managed pollinator. However, globally honey bees have been facing increasing colony…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 2 6