Liz Renner
@lrrenner.bsky.social
Academic; cats, culture, child development, cultural evolution, social learning; she/her #BiInSci
Pinned
Bridging the Species Divide: Animal minds and the human-animal relationship (Ref: RDF26/HW/PSY/RENNER) at Northumbria University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Bridging the Species Divide: Animal minds and the human-animal relationship (Ref: RDF26/HW/PSY/RENNER) at Northumbria University, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
Are you interested in doing a PhD about what humans infer about animal minds?
Check out this opportunity @northumbriapsy.bsky.social with me, @mdconstable.bsky.social and Lee Shepherd!
Deadline 23 Jan 2026
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Check out this opportunity @northumbriapsy.bsky.social with me, @mdconstable.bsky.social and Lee Shepherd!
Deadline 23 Jan 2026
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Yes! We have been in the business of discipline-specific pedagogy for years now. A field doesn't get upended over one new technology. Pedagogy isn't fragile!
It is amazing actually what good pedagogy can accomplish by guiding students, incl. in their very first year of university, through the substantive work of facing serious course materials head-on with discipline-specific approaches. Relying on synthetic text critique is really not it.
I will add the following: our students lack the research skills required to audit an LLM essay for errors. They don’t arrive on campus with these skills; we teach it to them over four long years. So throwing freshmen in the deep end and saying “swim your way to a shore of rectitude” is folly.
November 25, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Yes! We have been in the business of discipline-specific pedagogy for years now. A field doesn't get upended over one new technology. Pedagogy isn't fragile!
Reposted by Liz Renner
Awesome PhD opportunity, deadline in one week! Please re-post.
PhD studentship on antimicrobial resistance in wild baboons! Fully-funded by @swbiodtp.bsky.social Application deadline: Wed 3 Dec 2025. More details: bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristo.... Apply here: www.swbio.ac.uk/programme/ho...
@inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @xavh.bsky.social
@inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @xavh.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Awesome PhD opportunity, deadline in one week! Please re-post.
YES you will laugh, you will cry, you will wrinkle your nose at the delicious bitter taste of contemporary life
November 25, 2025 at 8:18 PM
YES you will laugh, you will cry, you will wrinkle your nose at the delicious bitter taste of contemporary life
Reposted by Liz Renner
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
November 24, 2025 at 10:54 PM
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
Reposted by Liz Renner
** Recruiting a postdoc ** We are looking for a postdoc to work on emotion, mental health, and interoception, based in London at @ucl.ac.uk in my lab (Clinical and Affective Neuroscience). Part of a large Wellcome Grant (co-led with the brilliant @camillanord.bsky.social)
November 24, 2025 at 12:22 PM
** Recruiting a postdoc ** We are looking for a postdoc to work on emotion, mental health, and interoception, based in London at @ucl.ac.uk in my lab (Clinical and Affective Neuroscience). Part of a large Wellcome Grant (co-led with the brilliant @camillanord.bsky.social)
Reposted by Liz Renner
Celebrating an incredible coincidence of history today: #OnThisDay in 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, and 115 years later, to the day, Lucy was found. 🏺
November 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Celebrating an incredible coincidence of history today: #OnThisDay in 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, and 115 years later, to the day, Lucy was found. 🏺
Reposted by Liz Renner
Got the furnace serviced today and the guy asked about carbon monoxide detectors so it’s a good day to share my favorite reason for ensuring your CO detectors are fully functional as the winter approaches:
Carbon monoxide is never funny, but one of my best friend’s CO alarm went off at about 11pm after a particularly cold OU-Texas weekend Saturday.
They had had their roof replaced and the vent of their HVAC was not reconnected to the outside air so when the heater kicked on CO just flooded the attic
They had had their roof replaced and the vent of their HVAC was not reconnected to the outside air so when the heater kicked on CO just flooded the attic
November 24, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Got the furnace serviced today and the guy asked about carbon monoxide detectors so it’s a good day to share my favorite reason for ensuring your CO detectors are fully functional as the winter approaches:
sometimes cats just wanna hold yr hand @poorlycatdraw.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 4:50 PM
sometimes cats just wanna hold yr hand @poorlycatdraw.bsky.social
Reposted by Liz Renner
Orangutan youngsters reach the broad diet they need to survive only if they culturally learn what to eat & where to find it
-> This is the first clear evidence for cultural dependency of any kind in apes <-
More info, and link to the paper in this thread by Elliot [the master-modeller behind this]
-> This is the first clear evidence for cultural dependency of any kind in apes <-
More info, and link to the paper in this thread by Elliot [the master-modeller behind this]
Our New Paper is out in Nature Human Behaviour: 🚨 Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials! 🦧 www.nature.com/articles/s41.... See 🧵
Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials - Nature Human Behaviour
Howard-Spink et al. develop an empirically based model of orangutan diet development, which suggests that social learning is vital for orangutans to acquire varied diets.
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Orangutan youngsters reach the broad diet they need to survive only if they culturally learn what to eat & where to find it
-> This is the first clear evidence for cultural dependency of any kind in apes <-
More info, and link to the paper in this thread by Elliot [the master-modeller behind this]
-> This is the first clear evidence for cultural dependency of any kind in apes <-
More info, and link to the paper in this thread by Elliot [the master-modeller behind this]
Reposted by Liz Renner
Support @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social fight to save their TPS
pensions! www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...
pensions! www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...
Northumbria Pay and Pension Petition: Stop the Steal!
If Northumbria does this, other universities will too.
These cuts will harm thousands of people, their students, families, and their local communities now and into the future.
www.megaphone.org.uk
November 24, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Support @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social fight to save their TPS
pensions! www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...
pensions! www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...
Reposted by Liz Renner
"‘Which is the best university in the world?’ is not a useful question. ‘Which university might be best for me, given that I care about X and Y?’ is a better question — but one for which current measures are unlikely to provide a good answer"
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
To reform universities, first tackle global rankings
Universities are in thrall to a rankings system that prioritizes narrow aspects of academic life. Three changes would give institutions the freedom to explore fresh ways of working.
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:49 AM
"‘Which is the best university in the world?’ is not a useful question. ‘Which university might be best for me, given that I care about X and Y?’ is a better question — but one for which current measures are unlikely to provide a good answer"
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Liz Renner
If you are applying for grad school, I recommend you build time into your process to get feedback on your materials from someone with experience evaluating application documents.
November 24, 2025 at 2:03 AM
If you are applying for grad school, I recommend you build time into your process to get feedback on your materials from someone with experience evaluating application documents.
Just finished this book (why yes I DID borrow it from an academic library), and really enjoyed the interpretation of teenage behaviour. Asolescents aren't deficient, they are trying to figure things out.
November 23, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Just finished this book (why yes I DID borrow it from an academic library), and really enjoyed the interpretation of teenage behaviour. Asolescents aren't deficient, they are trying to figure things out.
Reposted by Liz Renner
Oops. Ooooooooooooops.
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Oops. Ooooooooooooops.
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
Reposted by Liz Renner
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
November 23, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
this
November 23, 2025 at 3:23 PM
this
Reposted by Liz Renner
Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n
What enables human language? A biocultural framework
Explaining the origins of language is a key challenge in understanding ourselves as a species. We present an empirical framework that draws on synergies across fields to facilitate robust studies of l...
www.science.org
November 23, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n
Reposted by Liz Renner
This is the technological equivalent of not being able to get your house insured in Florida, and for similar reasons.
share.google/SOpWK172vQx5...
share.google/SOpWK172vQx5...
Insurers retreat from AI cover as risk of multibillion-dollar claims mounts
AIG, Great American and WR Berkley seek permission to limit liability from AI agents and chatbots
share.google
November 23, 2025 at 9:45 AM
This is the technological equivalent of not being able to get your house insured in Florida, and for similar reasons.
share.google/SOpWK172vQx5...
share.google/SOpWK172vQx5...
Reposted by Liz Renner
This is the sad impact of grade inflation:
"These kids were not doing anything wrong. They were lied to. They were told that they were prepared for classes they were not prepared for. They were told that they were excelling in classes that they were not excelling in. They deserved better."
"These kids were not doing anything wrong. They were lied to. They were told that they were prepared for classes they were not prepared for. They were told that they were excelling in classes that they were not excelling in. They deserved better."
November 23, 2025 at 5:17 AM
This is the sad impact of grade inflation:
"These kids were not doing anything wrong. They were lied to. They were told that they were prepared for classes they were not prepared for. They were told that they were excelling in classes that they were not excelling in. They deserved better."
"These kids were not doing anything wrong. They were lied to. They were told that they were prepared for classes they were not prepared for. They were told that they were excelling in classes that they were not excelling in. They deserved better."
Reposted by Liz Renner
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
November 6, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Reposted by Liz Renner
Latest paper: Boxgrove is a key European site dating to 480,000 years ago. At GTP17, hominins knapped handaxes and then butchered an adult female horse. A fragment of the horse's scapula appeared to have evidence of impact from a wooden spear.....
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Latest paper: Boxgrove is a key European site dating to 480,000 years ago. At GTP17, hominins knapped handaxes and then butchered an adult female horse. A fragment of the horse's scapula appeared to have evidence of impact from a wooden spear.....
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Liz Renner
After the Ngogo chimpanzee group killed 21 members of neighboring groups and expanded their territory by 22%, female birth rates more than doubled and infant survival increased sharply—showing clear fitness benefits from intergroup killing. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/TKmf50XuPjY
November 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM
After the Ngogo chimpanzee group killed 21 members of neighboring groups and expanded their territory by 22%, female birth rates more than doubled and infant survival increased sharply—showing clear fitness benefits from intergroup killing. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/TKmf50XuPjY
Reposted by Liz Renner
I am currently, because I know how to enjoy a Saturday morning, writing some guidance for people on filling this consultation in. As I do several things are highly apparent. Before I go through them though I don't want this to put people off of filling it in. It is important to do so nonetheless. 1/
Government has today published its consultation into "earned settlement", the forward alone contains a hot mess of misrepresentation of the current system by the Home Secretary. I would strongly urge anyone affected by the current system to respond.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/691edd...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/691edd...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
November 22, 2025 at 8:57 AM
I am currently, because I know how to enjoy a Saturday morning, writing some guidance for people on filling this consultation in. As I do several things are highly apparent. Before I go through them though I don't want this to put people off of filling it in. It is important to do so nonetheless. 1/
Reposted by Liz Renner
Beyond criterion: cognitive flexibility in wild striated caracaras: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... | #BiologyLetters #Behaviour #Cognition #Ecology
November 21, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Beyond criterion: cognitive flexibility in wild striated caracaras: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... | #BiologyLetters #Behaviour #Cognition #Ecology
Reposted by Liz Renner
For those of you in the UK, especially if you are a UK citizen, can you please take part in the consultation on changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) that were just proposed by the UK government. We need as many people as possible to reject these proposals. www.gov.uk/government/c...
Earned settlement
The government is consulting on how the current settlement system should be reformed and how those reforms should be implemented.
www.gov.uk
November 21, 2025 at 11:13 AM
For those of you in the UK, especially if you are a UK citizen, can you please take part in the consultation on changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) that were just proposed by the UK government. We need as many people as possible to reject these proposals. www.gov.uk/government/c...