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Petra Boynton

@petraboynton.bsky.social

2.7K followers 3.1K following 3.5K posts

#Safety and #wellbeing advocate and creator of the #PEEPSS Model. Social Psychologist. #Methodologist. Sometime #AgonyAunt. Advice giving as praxis. Critical #MentalHealth. Lives by the sea. Come for a #ResearchTip, maybe ask a question, stay for cat pics

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 7d

I promise not to ask too often, but if you could help Small Son and I raise funds for The Miscarriage Association we'd really appreciate it.

We are going to be doing a sponsored walk on the 12 October and all donations are very welcome via our fundraising page.

www.justgiving.com/page/p-boynt...

Miscarriage Association's Memory Walk 2025

Help Petra Boynton raise money to support The Miscarriage Association

www.justgiving.com

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 2h

Useful new reports for those supporting looked-after children

Improving outcomes for looked-after children in complex situations www.gov.uk/government/p...

Family finding and befriending and mentoring programme: year 1 early findings

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Improving outcomes for looked-after children in complex situations

Report on looked-after children and young people with multiple needs who are at risk of, or subject to, a deprivation of liberty.

www.gov.uk

Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 6h

Fatboy Slim mental health workshops to continue www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Fatboy Slim DJ mental health workshops to continue

The Brighton DJ, whose real name is Norman Cook, is working with a Sussex NHS trust and charity.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Petra Boynton

Audrey Gagnon @audreygagnon.bsky.social · 23h

Looking forward to discussing how to research the far right safely in academia at the @vox-pol.bsky.social report launch. The report is by @antoniavaughan.bsky.social, with the event hosted by @lizzypearson.bsky.social

New VOX-Pol Report Online Launch - VOX - Pol

09/10/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm - VOX-Pol is publishing a new report titled Researching the Far Right Safely in Academia: Current Practices and Constraints by Dr Antonia Vaughan on Thursday 9 October 2...

voxpol.eu

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Reposted by Petra Boynton

Katrina Navickas @katrinanavickas.bsky.social · 6h

Contrasting headlines

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Reposted by Petra Boynton

M.J. Crockett @mjcrockett.bsky.social · 18h

Great piece in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social on why AI won't solve the loneliness epidemic:

"presenting AI as a scalable solution to the loneliness epidemic risks overlooking the structural and societal roots of the problem and may allow us to abdicate our responsibility as a society."

Can AI really help solve the loneliness epidemic?

Advances in artificial intelligence offer an enticing solution to a global problem: perhaps interacting with large language models (LLMs) can help all…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 19h

I love watching creative people at work. These costumes are incredible. "Try not to be happy!"

youtu.be/rY5xpxm7-50?...

Making a Butterfly Wire Bra Carnival Costume 🦋 | Behind the Scenes Notting Hill Carnival

YouTube video by V&A Up Next

youtu.be

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 19h

Don't get me started on that, it's a whole other level of ranting.

Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 19h

Interestingly this came up in a discussion both about research and pastoral care. I was talking with academic colleagues recently about the intersection of both and mentioned the library as key. They were completely baffled, which was concerning.

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Reposted by Petra Boynton

Dr Gillian Jack @drgillhistory.bsky.social · 20h

Even those of us working in universities but on teaching-only contracts are excluded from a variety of opportunities and funding.

Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 22h

With yet another university hosted event closed to 'non academics' (aka those not employed by a university)* I'm just going to leave this piece by @drhelenkara.bsky.social and myself here blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

* yes I know it's utter nonsense and academics/researchers exist outside unis

Institutional affiliation should not be a requirement for doing research - Impact of Social Sciences

Universities espouse a universalist approach to creating research-based knowledge. Helen Kara & Petra Boynton argue, from the outside these claims are hollow.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 21h

It's infuriating isn't it? And so restrictive.

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 22h

Institutional affiliation should not be a requirement for doing research - Impact of Social Sciences

Universities espouse a universalist approach to creating research-based knowledge. Helen Kara & Petra Boynton argue, from the outside these claims are hollow.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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Reposted by Petra Boynton

Praxis, for migrants and refugees @praxisprojects.bsky.social · 1d

EXCLUSIVE: Over 800 NHS workers have signed our letter with Medact, saying the “already strained NHS would crumble under the pressure” of Reform’s proposal to scrap Indefinite Leave to Remain and Labour’s planned restrictions on migrant workers.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

NHS could cease to function under Labour’s new visa rules, say nurses

Exclusive: Royal College of Nursing says plan to tighten rules for foreign workers is ‘pandering’ to Reform UK

www.theguardian.com

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 22h

btw I know the latter's a contested term (more on that here www.npr.org/sections/goa...) and I'm not suggesting the day degenerates into competition.

But it is going to be interesting to reflect on what 'access' means in diverse contexts. And what solutions may be offered.

Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 22h

I don't think we've had a theme for World Mental Health Day that's as likely to highlight local and global disparities, particularly related to poverty, infrastructure, culture and conflict as this years theme.

Access to services could include anything from long waiting lists to healthocide.

Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 23h

Alongside amplifying other initiatives, I'm intending to explore access barriers in two ways.

1. reflecting on how Signposting does and doesn't work
2. critiquing mental health activities that imply access but limit help through circular storytelling

Which of these are you most interested in?

Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 23h

Just a reminder it's World Mental Health Day this Friday (10 October) and the theme is a very timely one. "Access to services – mental health in catastrophes and emergencies".

Different charities and countries will interpret the theme per their circumstances but all will focus on access.

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 23h

Today I've had the most supportive, clear and inclusive set of instructions for a forthcoming event. It's not lost on me how reassuring this is - but also how unusual it is to receive something like this.

Many promises of inclusive and welcoming spaces fail to materialise. I'm glad when it happens.

Reposted by Petra Boynton

Siva @sivav.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote about the “compact” for higher education

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Petra Boynton

Alex Blechman @alexblechman.bsky.social · 1d

Tron gives an inaccurate impression of how many guys live in your computer. It makes it seem like thousands of guys are in there. In reality only about 10 guys live in your computer and less than half of them ride motorcycles

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Reposted by Petra Boynton

Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 2d

Many aspects of academia normalise abusive practices.

Like putting people through stressful situations, encouraging pile ons and put downs, all to be mitigated by alcohol.

When we ask 'who does this bring in? who does it leave out? who might it help? who might it harm?' so much becomes clear.

Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 2d

Academia turns its eye toward itself

(Source: The art of anthropology: Essays and diagrams / Alfred Gell 1999, edited by Eric Hirsch)

The British-style (anthropology) seminar is a peculiar institution with rules of its own. A regular weekly (term-time) event, the 'ideal' seminar usually brings together some 20 or more participants, around a table, under the chairmanship of an experienced teacher and seminar leader. The chairman introduces, and generally gives moral support to, the speaker, while the audience undertake the role of critics, and may, indeed, ask extremely hostile-sounding questions. In a good seminar, there are usually three or four expert seminar practitioners, who can be relied on to give the speaker something of a grilling. The questioning goes on for an hour, allowing time for the more junior members of the seminar to intervene as well and acquire the interrogatory skills of their seniors. However, the seminar is not as unfriendly an occasion as it sometimes seems to visitors unused to its conventions. There is an implicit rule that really severe questioning is reserved for speakers who have shown, in the course of their papers, either that they possess the dialectical skill to handle even the most destructive questioning, or, on rare occasions, that they are so bumptious and thick-skulled that they are unlikely to comprehend the devastating nature of the questioning they receive.

The mild, tentative, paper from an inexperienced speaker will not be dealt with harshly. Meanwhile, the skilled dialectician relishes the cut and thrust of debate, and exploits the opportunity afforded by hostile questioning to produce additional extemporized displays of wit, turning the questions back on the questioners and making fun of their positions. As the question period draws to a close, the skilled speaker elaborates the main points of the paper in a series of improvisations on themes suggested by the audience. Adrenalin flows copiously through the speaker's bloodstream by this time - now the hard questioning has been overcome - and unusual freedom of expression may be attained. The audience are enjoying themselves too. But the chairman must close the seminar once the time allotted for its duration is over, since, like Cinderella's ball, seminar bonhomie has a fixed temporal compass, which cannot exceed two hours, even by a second. At this point, the chairman thanks the speaker, conducts him to a place of refreshment, where adrenalin is tempered with alcohol, and happy, animated conversations ensue. The point is that the seminar is a social occasion, a game, an exchange, an ordeal, an initiation. To one of a naturally social disposition, to hear a paper in a seminar is intrinsically much more interesting than to read the same paper in cold blood, because one's social proclivities are excited as well as one's strictly academic or intellectual interests. I confess to being a social animal of this type. Consequently, it is much more exciting for me to write a paper for presentation at a seminar than it is to write for an imaginary reader, as one does when writing a book. Books do not give anything like the feedback that one gets from seminars.

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Reposted by Petra Boynton

International Rescue Committee @rescue.org · 1d

Ahead of the first-ever World Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH) Day, we're proud to announce the launch of a new global initiative to address the preventable causes of maternal and newborn deaths in crisis-affected settings.

Learn more: www.rescue.org/press-releas...

On the First World Postpartum Haemorrhage Day, IRC Announces Partnership with Rt. Hon. Dame Jacinda Ardern to Prevent Maternal Deaths in Crisis Settings | The IRC

Ahead of the first-ever World Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH) Day, marked on October 5, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is proud to announce the launch of a new global initiative—Safer Births in...

www.rescue.org

Reposted by Petra Boynton

Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 1d

A @sciam.bsky.social story on the cognitive benefits of hand-annotating books inspired my latest newsletter on maps, monsters, and making sense of Sir Walter Ralegh's "Brief and True History of Guiana" (1596).

🗃 #earlymodern #histsci #manuscript #maps #cartography

buttondown.com/surekhadavie...

Walter Ralegh's headless monsters and annotation as thinking

On writing and picturing as forms of thinking and knowledge-making, with examples of Renaissance mapmakers and publishers demonstrating exactly this in the...

buttondown.com

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 1d

“This is where I find my inner peace.” The man trying to save Ukraine's hamsters.

A reminder that small actions may be highly significant in the long term and can be vital when everything else going on is too big and too scary to fix by yourself.

www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

A scientist is saving Ukraine's hamsters—in the middle of war

Mikhail Rusin is perhaps the world's greatest hamster champion.

www.nationalgeographic.com

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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 1d

There seem to be so many prejudices, phobias and harms. But especially sexism, racism, ableism and classism. However it manifests it's horrible. I also experienced this from senior women, although all were privately educated and independently wealthy so I wasn't sure if that played a part.

Reposted by Petra Boynton

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 1d

This isn’t my field. I’m not working on anything even remotely related. I don’t generally read this area.

However, this is the most exciting sounding conference and I would attend in a heartbeat if I could.

Sugar: Bringing Sweetness to Light

gustavus.edu/about/nobel-...

Nobel Conference

Since 1965, the Nobel Conference has been bringing leading researchers and thinkers to Gustavus, to explore revolutionary, transformative and pressing scientific issues and the ethical questions that ...

gustavus.edu

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