Lauren Smith, PhD
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lkmsmith.bsky.social
Lauren Smith, PhD
@lkmsmith.bsky.social
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow; Adjunct Professor @ RRU
Climate, emotions, behaviour change, gender, planetary (and death) care
She/They 🌈🍁
Pinned
Hello!
I study how emotions (from fear to awe) influence climate behaviour, to hopefully get ppl to make better choices + policy. I also like thinking about environmental work as care work, and all the related 'things' (like gender inequity) that entails.

Most importantly, I have a hairless kitten
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
CfP: 'Political #Emotions in Times of Conflict', 11-12 March 2026 in Florence @sns.it @cidape.bsky.social

@sonjablum.bsky.social and I invite papers for our panel 'Emotional conflicts around Energy transitions in Europe: #Policy narratives and policymaking dynamics'.
👉Deadline 31.12.2025
November 25, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
This is a remarkable feat of complex, in-depth reporting on an issue involving #water pollution, local corruption, corporate power and influence over community well-being, and the role of agriculture and industry in contaminating groundwater.
“One man about 60 years old had his voice box taken out because of a cancer only smokers get, but that guy hadn’t smoked a day of his life.”
'The Precedent Is Flint': How Oregon's Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis
bit.ly
December 9, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
"The killing of women and girls simply because they are female deserves to be named for what it is, gender-motivated violence. Until femicide is recognized as a distinct crime nothing will change." -Doreen Nicoll doreenn.substack.com/p/time-to-ad...
Time to admit École Polytechnique massacre was an anti-feminist terrorist attack
Originally described as a "tragic event," 36 years later it’s time to call the mass killing of women on December 6, 1989 what it really is – an anti-feminist terrorist attack that remains unaddressed.
doreenn.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
If you run across a gen A.I. slop 🤖💩 diagram in an academic journal, I’d love to know about it! Please fill out this form:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Slop in journals is illuminating about journals’ quality control. And journals would like you to forget their mistakes.

#AcademicChatter
Slop graphics in academic journals
Use this form to share graphics (e.g., figures, covers, graphical abstracts) made using generative A.I. that have appeared in academic journals. The plan is to compile these slop graphics in an ope...
docs.google.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
Fascinating research on how the fossil fuel industry orchestrates public narratives to maintain its own status in society and delay our transition to a safer energy system
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 28, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
On the podcast today: my chat with Genome Canada CEO Rob Annan on Science and Science funding (both in Canada and globally). I really enjoyed this one, hope you will too.
The World of Higher Education | Funding, Free Riding, and the Future of Canadian Science
Join Alex Usher in the latest episode of the World of Higher Education Podcast as he talks with Rob Annan, President and CEO of Genome Canada. They explore the intertwined relationship of science a...
worlded.transistor.fm
November 27, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
November 27, 2025 at 3:06 PM
November 27, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Last week I spent 2 days with 40+ other #academics from across Canada to learn how to communicate research simply and concisely to politicians and share the importance of #science in #policy as part of #ScienceMeetsParliament. I met so many talented and kind individuals!

#SMP2025 @sciencepolicy.ca
November 26, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
🎙️Call for sessions! Towards a just and habitable world: exploring the role of technology

Submit your session proposal to help shape the discussions around how we might transform technological systems towards sufficiency, equity, and resilience.

📅 Lausanne, 2-5 June 2026

🔗 bit.ly/3JgQZT6
November 5, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
Hello to all my #edusky, #teachersky, and #academicsky friends! I am beginning recruitment for my doctoral research study. If you are interested or know anyone who would be, please send them my way!
November 24, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
Statement by the International Contact Research Network responding to the recent Bloomberg article on Miles Hewstone and sexual harrassment.

"First and foremost, we stand by the victims of these abuses."

#AcademicSky #PhdSky #SocialPsyc
ICRN response to evidence of abuse within our community
In this letter, our Chair and Executive Committee share their reflections and commitments following the reporting of sexual abuse within our field.
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:06 PM
At LONG last, the final chapter from my PhD has been published in PLOS Water! This was a true #interdisciplinary challenge finding the right home but glad to finally be able to share how threatening #water #communications influence #GenderBias regarding water managers

doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Human dimensions in water crisis management: Gender bias in water manager appraisals and implications for water decision-making
Climate change increases water crises’ frequency and intensity, requiring more effective solutions and water management. Environmental scholars have found gender-diverse teams make more sustainable, e...
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
Reminder that Starbucks’ CEO made 6,666x more than the company's median employee in 2024.

This was the widest CEO-to-Worker pay gap in the entire S&P 500.

And we're supposed to believe Starbucks can't afford to bargain a fair contract with its unionized workers?
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.

Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
Take a moment to consider the 250 million people who have been forcibly displaced by climate disasters over the past 10 years…70,000 per day, on average.

If you aren’t one of these unfortunate people, I invite you to consider what you can do to help one or more of them. They need us.
Climate disasters displaced 250 million people in past 10 years, UN report finds
Floods, storms and droughts have uprooted people across the globe as rising temperatures intensify conflict and hunger
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
"Rosalind Franklin, a talented scientist, had to work in an atmosphere of constant sexism.

In an obit, a reminder of Watson's rise and fall with DNA - including his problematic treatment of women and communities of color.

#academicsky

www.npr.org/2025/11/07/n...
James Watson, who co-discovered the structure of DNA, has died at age 97
James Watson, who co-discovered the structure of DNA has died at age 97. He was a scientific superstar until he made racist remarks that made him an outcast.
www.npr.org
November 8, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
Brava: “If I don’t file a complaint, then what message does that send to all Mexican women?” Ms. Sheinbaum said at her daily news conference, noting sexual harassment was a crime… “If this can happen to the president, what’s going to happen to all the young women & women across our country?”
Mexico’s President Presses Charges Against Man Who Groped Her on the Street
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
Latest Emissions Gap Report of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) finds relentless rise in emissions since 2020 rules out even theoretical routes to the 1.5°C goal.
#Climate
www.economist.com/graphic-deta...
For the first time, climate models show the 1.5°C goal is dead
Governments have failed to limit global warming. What comes next?
www.economist.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
Should 'sisters' be doing it by themselves when it comes to gender equality initiatives? Not really, no!

"It [also] matters whether the approach is arguing for a 'we-change' or a 'she-change'.”

Open Access: doi.org/10.1111/pops...

BSky author: @shellkryan.bsky.social
October 30, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
Major new report just released showing that total #water use in US homes, businesses, institutions, and water distribution systems could be reduced by 25% to 60% through improvements in efficiency.

pacinst.org/announcement...
New Pacific Institute Report Finds Huge Potential to Save Water Across the U.S. Through Efficiency  - Pacific Institute
First-of-its-kind national assessment shows efficiency can cut municipal and industrial water use by 25% to 60%, strengthening the economy and … New Pacific Institute Report Finds Huge Potential to Sa...
pacinst.org
October 28, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
**PARTICIPANTS NEEDED** Are you a Latino/a or Hispanic undergraduate in engineering? Do you have a condition that significantly limits your daily activities?

Join my study on #DisabledLatinxs in #engineering, a topic with little to no available research. All participants will be compensated.
October 21, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
"Qualitative Research: Advancing the Social and Behavioral Sciences" by @margaretrroller.bsky.social & Zachary Smith. The true definition of qualitative research resides in the complexity of the lived experience & the researcher's exploration of this complexity, academic.oup.com/poq/article/...
Qualitative Research: Advancing the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Public opinion and social science researchers are motivated by their mission to gain an understanding of people’s attitudes and behavior, and, in so doing,
academic.oup.com
October 16, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
The 1st Canadian Conference on #OpenScience and #OpenScholarship is happening October 9 -10, 2025!

PKP, @erudit.org, and #CoalitionPublica are pleased to be partner contributors to this event.

Livestreaming will be on!

Details: oscanada.github.io/en/

#OSCanada #CanadaSky #AcademicChatter
October 9, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Reposted by Lauren Smith, PhD
"Time is experienced on an emotional level as well as a cognitive one"

"Guilt, shame, regret, and nostalgia look back to the past; pride, joy, anger, and sadness are felt in the present; and hope, anxiety, and fear look to the future."
October 2, 2025 at 10:15 PM