photo of Mason smiling
Happy to welcome Dr. Mason Majszak as visiting researcher to our Phi-Geo Research Group this term! He's currently working on a Swiss National Science Foundation/NYU project "Understanding risk perception & decision-making for climate change adaptation under uncertainty"
www.masonmajszak.com
#philsci
Writing is a big part of being a researcher, but grad students are rarely trained to do it well. Three researchers who double as writing instructors share their strategies for making the process more productive than painful: spklr.io/633238aIlD
#AcademicSky #SciWri #AcademicWriting
New on the Archive:
Bocchi, Federica and Currie, Adrian (2026) Ecologies of the Past. [Preprint]
https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/27880/
Registration is open for this event 16-17 March @royalsociety.org with programme (titles and abstracts) available online: royalsociety.org/science-even.... In person and online.
Thanks to generous funding from the @sloanfoundation.bsky.social, John Basl and I are thrilled to be running the AI and Data Ethics summer school in 2026! ~12 graduate students, $10k stipend, 9 weeks to learn about scientific and ethical issues raised by AI. Please apply! aidesummer.org
We (Miles MacLeod, YJ Erden, @ccmmody.bsky.social and me w/ editorial contributions by Yagmur Ozturk) are putting on a special issue!
In Studies in History & Philosophy of Science!
Ab/ scientific @nanobubbles.bsky.social
Deadline July 15 - spread the word!
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Promotional black-and-white image announcing the publication of an article in The Journal of Philosophy. The text displays the journal title, the article title "Much Ado About ‘N'othing," and the author’s name, Grant Ramsey, in a clean, minimalist layout.
In his forthcoming 📃 in @jrnlofphil.bsky.social, Grant Ramsey shows that a long-standing thesis held by philosophers of biology & evolutionary biologists—that fitness depends on population size, n—is based on conceptual & mathematical errors 👇 philsci-archive.pitt.edu/27701/ #philsky #HPBio #evosky
➡️New article out⬅️
The Fate of Behavioral Modernity
by Andra Meneganzin @andrameneganzin.bsky.social
Free reading link: rdcu.be/eUOUH
The next conference of the Society for the Study of Measurement will take place at Edinburgh on 22-25 June.
Call for papers and symposia opens Nov 15 and closes Jan 15.
Submissions via app.oxfordabstracts.com/auth?redirec...
Still time to sign up for the talk tomorrow!
#philsky #philsci #STS #humangenetics #sciencesky #HPBio
My stay is supported by the Boston University Graduate Research Abroad Fellowship, a competitive award across the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Very grateful for this opportunity! #philsci
This is a wonderful opportunity to connect my dissertation on the conceptual, evidential and ethical dimension of human population genetics as tool for inferring demographic histories with the HUGERA team’s efforts to rethink how genomics can be done responsibly and without racial bias.
I’m thrilled to share that I’ll be spending a few months as a visiting PhD at Egenis, the Centre for the Study of Life Sciences at the university of Exeter. I am joining prof. @celsoneto.bsky.social’s ERC-funded project HUGERA (Human Genomics Without Racism) hugera.org
New History & Philosophy of Physics network in Boston! Join us: open to locals and visitors. Check out the inaugural colloquium program & sign up to our mailing list and register for the inaugural lecture given by Peter Galison: www.bu.edu/cphs/boston-...
#philsci #histsci #philsky
My paper "Models and Analogies in the Reconstruction of Extinct Life" is also out now in this volume dedicated to Hesse ⬇️
#HPS #PaleoSky #Philsky ⚒️
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
In Groningen for #EPSA25. I am extreamely happy of being part of the symposium on “Race in Genomics” organized by @celsoneto.bsky.social. Very engaging, detailed and thought provoking talks on the use and misuse of race and ancestry labels in genomics studies. #philsci
A woman smiling in front of ppt screen that reads "Philosophy of Paleoanthropology Data, Underdetermination and Evidence about Past Human Populations Prospectus Defense Matilde Carrera BU PHILOSOPHY OF THE GEOSCIENCES RESEARCH GROUP
Congratulations to @matildecarrera.bsky.social on her superb defense today of a fantastic dissertation prospectus! She is now officially ABD! 🎉
#philsci #phigeo
Thanks @adrian-currie.bsky.social, Mathilde Lequin and Anton Killin for organizing a very interesting session!
Coming out of my dissertation project, I propose to distinguish population concepts according to the different stages of the modeling process and that this highlights epistemic and ethical challenges in inferring human ancestry and past demographic histories.
Coming *very* soon #philsci
Frequently, geneticists defend the objectivity of “ancestry” over the subjective and loaded notion of “race.” This framing of the opposition is very misleading, however. Below, collaborator @yashaddad.bsky.social explores how values and biases can shape ancestry.
#popgen
#evobio
#STS
#philsky
In the last two days, I had the opportunity to learn about science policy and advocacy and put it into practice visiting Capitol Hill as part of the @aaas.org
Case Workshop. Working alongside the delegation of fellow PhD students from BU, UMass Amherst and MIT was truly inspiring. #MakingOurCase
Starter pack for @aaas.org Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE) Workshop, where #STEM students are learning tools for effective science communication and civic engagement.
Just ask @hannaherf.bsky.social or comment to be added!
#MakingOurCASE #DefendResearch
go.bsky.app/GMNpSh3
Matilde Carrera has been offered to be part of a competitive summer program at Northeastern University intended for graduate students with advanced training in applied ethics, ethical theory, philosophy of science, or other areas with potential research applications to Al and big data. (AIDE Summer - the Ethics Institute -Northeastern University,_Summer 2025) • Matilde Carrera has also been selected as one of four PhD students from Boston University through a competitive, merit-based process to attend the Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering workshop. This workshop, sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), focuses on the role of science in policy making and the federal policy-making process. (CASE Workshop: Catalyzing Advocacy inScience and Engineering, April 6-9, 2025, Washington, D.C.)
Congrats to Phi-Geo grad Matilde Carrera @matildecarrera.bsky.social for being accepted to the competitive AI & Data Ethics Summer Institute at Northeastern this summer, as well as accepted to the upcoming AAAS Workshop: Catalyzing Advocacy in Science & Engineering, April 6-9 in D.C. 🙌 #philsci
New publication OA #philsci — where I discuss the epistemic nature of three possible varieties of ‘local knowledges’ and defend their importance for fulfilling human rights — from the right to participate in science to the right to food and right to clean water www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Applying to grad school can be challenging, especially for first-gen and minority students. BU Minority&Philosophy chapter organized a workshop w/ faculty members and current grad students to help our junior&seniors students navigating the process! Good turnout and productive conversations!
Alisa, Leticia, Matilde & Matt standing in front of Mexico's standard of length the Castilian vara brass bar. Sign says Measuring Difference. This vara was seized during the 1847 U.S. invasion of Mexico City by an army engineer.
Gabriela Soto Laveaga | Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez | Pablo Gómez sitting on stage in conversation
Three grad students next to display with Humboldt's famous Mount Chimborazo elevation diagram.
A nice Phi-Geo group trip to @harvardmuseums.bsky.social to see exhibit Measuring Difference & hear a wonderful presentation by @chattyprofessor.bsky.social, artist Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez & #histmed Pablo Gómez, who spoke about roots of medical data about bodies in Atlantic slave trade. #philsci
I am thrilled to share that I was selected as one of four BU PhD students to attend the 2025 #CASEWorkshop organized by @aaas.org. Looking forward to contributing a #HPS & #philsci perspective to the discussions on #SciencePolicy. #MakingOurCASE @hps-aaas.bsky.social
www.aaas.org/programs/cat...
BOSTON COLLOQUIUM FOR PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE DECENTERING THE HUMAN IN HUMAN SCIENCES Aliya Dewey POSTDOC., CENTRE FOR PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Grant Ramsey PROFESSOR, CENTRE FOR LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, KU LEUVEN Rachell Powell PROFESSOR, INTERIM CHAIR, TUFTS UNIVERSITY Irina Mikhalevich ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, RELIGIOUS STUDIES, NC STATE UNIVERSITY Carrie Figdor PROFESSOR, DUS, PHILOSOPHY, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES, NEUROSCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA Marta Halina ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, PHILOSOPHY OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Albert Newen PROFESSOR, RUHR- UNIVERSITAT BOCHUM May 2nd 10-5:30 p.m. May 3rd 9:30-2 p.m. Metcalf Science Center 590 Commonwealth Ave. Rm. 117 Free & open to the public Patrick Forber PROFESSOR, DIRECTOR,
Great lineup for this Spring's Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science on Decentering the Human in the Human Sciences on May 2-3. #philsci
MIT dome and Boston skyline
Snowy day in Boston
Giving comments to a paper on plagiarism in generative AI systems at the #TexneCon Conference at #MIT this morning computing.mit.edu/cross-cuttin...
