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Michael Seery

@mkseery.bsky.social

600 followers 310 following 200 posts

Deputy Director of Centre for Academic Language and Development, University of Bristol. National Teaching Fellow. Visiting Professor at OU. Interested in all things higher education and history 🏳️‍🌈 🇮🇪

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Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Jul 11

What an amazing week! Thank you everyone who made it so special. This was a career highlight that will be tough to beat. #GRCCERP #MoonAgents

Groups of presenters and discussants posing for photo

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 16d

Something new from me. The Chris Adams symposium prompted me to think the role of virtual laboratories in chemistry and I have been slowly thinking it through since. It turns out that there is a lot to do. Sharing as a preprint and really welcome comments while I work it up. osf.io/preprints/ed...

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 28d

National Archives (UK) running 3 events on Irish history this month. Yes pleeeeze www.eventbrite.com/cc/finding-i...

Ireland, 1485-1798: colonial laboratory?
Fri, Sep 26 • 2:00 PM

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · 29d

Sometimes it is hard being a chemist and a gardener

Screen grab showing subtitles "This lets some of the salt and minerals evaporate so they don't build up in the soil."

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Sep 5

Sometimes this is a very difficult country to live in

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Sep 4

One of the fascinating if depressing things about “the literature” is the extent to which people cite other work that completely misrepresents what the cited article says. And that’s going to get so much worse with AI “insights”.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Sep 4

Hollow is a great description. I am similarly "figuring out" my thoughts, but "generic that might be useful to someone with expertise" is the best I've got to so far. Given the nun, I am repurposing All Hallows and imagining an AI school called All Hollows.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Sep 4

Separately of course is the body of work that says STEM courses are so choc full that students don’t have time to think.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Sep 4

…less sense of how taught curriculum is changing. Are courses really being dropped? What about core learning hours? (Of course we were too content heavy so this may not be a bad thing). Any thanks for voicing and need more coffee to ponder more.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Sep 4

… so I’m moving to a position where I’d prefer instead a set of core competencies (what I’ve framed elsewhere under ‘doing chemistry’ but would include your Problem Solving) that should be evident in a lab curriculum. And that will take a time but perhaps less rigid than a fixed number. I have…

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Sep 4

A lot to ponder here thanks for writing. Core issue is that “300” has somewhat protected labs from prying eyes. They have to be there but who knows (cares) what they are. 300 hours in a lab is very different depending on how many in a group (I’ve heard tales of 6!) and what students do…

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Sep 1

Happy Putting those Aspirations for Completing Tasks Back On Ice For Another Year Day to all who celebrate. 🙌

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Aug 30

Wow! Looks like it was a great meeting this time. Sorry to miss it.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Aug 27

Isn’t this where we met?! Enjoy!

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Aug 23

You *can* have it all.

Plaque for Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society
WILLIAM HENRY CLAYFIELD (1772-1837)
CHEMIST, BOTANIST, GEOLOGIST, BALLOONIST LIVED HERE
1814-1837

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Aug 19

Bring up the bodies took a whole summer! I only came to them after the first TV series which probably helped

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Aug 19

Quite a year! While perhaps not as tangible as an output I think that first year in a new place is one where you can tune into differences and so think about things in a different way. Hope you’ve got over that dratted cold!

Reposted by Michael Seery

Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · Aug 18

**New blog post** A reflection on how moving city made me less productive this year. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2025/8/18/the-academic-productivity-cost-of-moving

The academic productivity cost of moving — Michael O'Neill

A reflection on the way I became less productive in the year I moved from one University to another.

www.michaeloneill.org

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Aug 19

Amazing thanks! Bradshaw is the one I was after. Now in the queue!

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Aug 18

Thanks! Just enjoying yours by return. And yes, despite good taste in abbeys, Watson probably the safer choice.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Aug 16

Thanks. Separately the Venn diagram of Hilary Mantel, all the abbeys & monasteries around here and my own interests have meant that I’m becoming borderline obsessed with dissolution. I’ve read that in Irish context it happened much later. Is there any good reading on it?

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Aug 15

It's 4 years since everything upended, and having this month just finished the first year in my new role, I am (over)sharing some reflections. Short version: all is well :D michaelseery.com/reflecting-o...

Reflecting on moving career, moving life: 4 years on

I’ve recently completed my first year in my new job and as part of my annual review was prompted by my Director to reflect on learnings over the year past (I work in a Faculty of Arts now; it’s wha…

michaelseery.com

Reposted by Michael Seery

Prof. Natalie Fey @nataliefeynls.bsky.social · Aug 8

Paging the #CompChemSky and #iTeachChem communities: Could you please help my MSc student with an education project, exploring how gen AI shapes the way we think, solve problems, and build confidence.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Jul 31

I've spent a bit of time thinking and writing about GRC CERP; how it came together, and how it came to be. Thank you to everyone who played a part and the many messages since. It's long, so a main take away message, it is: *conference organisers should always have a "meal with speakers" system*.

A Maine Meitheal: Reflecting on the 2025 GRC Chemistry Education Research and Practice

In early July in rural Maine, I chaired the 2025 Gordon Research Conference Chemistry Education Research and Practice meeting. I was elected way back in 2019 as Vice Chair to Ellen Yezierski (Vice …

michaelseery.com

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Jul 18

First day//last day of GRC CERP. Who needs sleep?!.Thanks so much to Erin Saitta for photos.

At registration desk waiting for people to arrive

Group picture waiting for bus to leave.

Michael Seery @mkseery.bsky.social · Jul 18

Was an amazing week - thanks for presentation and bringing *all* the gang from Texas 🤣 They made an enormous contribution to the meeting.

Dr. Molly B. Atkinson @mollybatkinson.bsky.social · Jul 15

PHOTO DROP from the 2025 CERP GRC!

I feel so excited for what’s to come in our field. I’m intellectually overwhelmed in the best way possible, and I’m so happy I got to connect again with #CER friends and meet so many new people this year. My heart is absolutely full.