Dr Zoë Ayres

10/10 life goal met that my toddler can now say "thermometer" and "x-rays", as a just under two year old

The UK *is* losing a generation of scientists.

I know lots of brilliant people who have left their jobs / the country because of the limited jobs & funding.

Once lost, they cannot ever be replaced.

The UK government is overseeing the death of UK academic science, and it doesn't seem to care.

Kiddo is out of her leg cast tomorrow. 8 weeks in so far!

No limbs injured ...currently

Apparently I need to be told I cannot write two books at once. Anyway: the postdoc mental health book is finally underway 🤞 interested to hear what you'd want to see in it

An absolute undercelebrated art to do the transfer without them waking

Totally understand how you are feeling. Just popping here to tell you yout brain is lying to you and that you did that because you smashed it. You. Not because you exaggerated anything.

FWIW I think that this is exactly what making Twitter untenable for a lot of us was about; Destroying our networks, and by doing so breaking connections and community, and in doing so wearing down our hope that together as a collective we CAN make a difference. We can. We still can.

You mean you don't interprecate data regularly?

You kill me with you humour sometimes 😅

We must persist but it is bloody tough. Trying to just ignore everything because what else can we do?

I've gone for reading fantasy novels because dissociation is easy that way

You all fairing alright because it's quite challenging to not absorb all of the bin fire of news at the moment isn’t it?

I don't think I'm being dramatic when I say that workloads going from 5 person teams to 1 person has the potential to harm. It's egregious.

Having the patio redone and got a time capsule because why not? What am I putting in it?

I'd like to just try the meds see if they work at all, and if they don't, fine. It’s being treated like I'm desperate for access to stimulants that really gets me. No. I just want to know if it might help.

This hits hard this morning. I have ADHD. I was diagnosed via Right to Choose.

I am currently being denied access to meds because the NHS are refusing to, despite me following due process as they are prioritising younger people due to lack of funds.

Wouldn't deny me heart meds though would they?

For what it's worth I think all of the following can all be true at the same time:
-Detection of microplastics via analytical techniques can be really challenging due to detection limits
-Some scientific papers out there are poor and lack rigour
-Microplastics are bad for human health

A journey from researcher to research enabler: A story of acceptance and shifting identity by Sarah Masefield I am a researcher. For 12 years I had health-related research roles, and before that I was a healthcare professional – an occupational therapist. Making a difference through one-to-one clinical pra…

The first Voices of Academia blog of 2026

A journey from researcher to research enabler: A story of acceptance and shifting identity by Sarah Masefield

"...I’m not a researcher now. I was outmanoeuvred by the system."

voicesofacademia.com/2026/01/09/a...

Thank you

Surviving. Bloody knackered though.

Toddler having major surgery followed by chickenpox the following day was not on my bingo card. Thankfully recovering slowly and out of hospital now but what a wild few days.

My daughter's hip operation was successful yesterday. So so grateful 🙏

Lottery before peer review is associated with increased female representation and reduced estimated economic cost in a German funding line - Nature Communications The authors show evidence from a German funding line that a lottery-first approach followed by peer review is accompanied by increased female representation both at the submission stage and among fund...

Leaders at @ukri.org should be seriously looking at the lottery first idea. 68% lower economic costs, increase in diversity of award holders and well received.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Yeah, that's the one

Been going for a half an hour walk each day for the last few weeks, which is a big change for me, and I'm horrified to report it's actually helping loads

Streeting to next launch inquiry into “over-diagnosis” of left-handedness.

“Never used to be like this,” he insists.

My hot take: if your assessments fall down the moment you make disability accommodations, your assessment is shit. Do better.

Thanks so much