Samuel Brockington
Professor of Evolution | Curator of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden | Co-Director of the Connections-Collections-Communities Strategic Research Initiative
- Fantastic heartfelt thread…
- Reposted by Samuel Brockington
[This post could not be retrieved] - Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonExcited to share a new paper with Sandra Guerrero-Rubio and @docbroc.bsky.social on the convergent evolution of betalains, now published in @newphyt.bsky.social! nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/.... A 🧵
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonAll three days were epic!
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonThat was a good day for Natural History Humanities initiatives! Thank you @theul.bsky.social @theulspeccoll.bsky.social @jillwhitelock.bsky.social for hosting a great workshop! #GLAM
- Productive and inspiring day with BGCI colleagues at @rbgkew.bsky.social talking about living collections management and data ecosystems. A highlight was first ever visit to the newly restored Marianne North gallery. Absolutely fabulous. Must see.
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonGreat Collections Lab yesterday: how communities shape participatory research! Questions were on issues that matter most to academic and non-academic researchers & what changes are needed in this space. Grateful to be able to convene these conversations! #research #participatory #community #seminar
- Reposted by Samuel Brockington💫 Thrilled that our seed funding on Participatory Research partly allowed for MAA at @camunivmuseums.bsky.social won £90K for: “From the Caribbean to Cambridge: Reimagining Pre-Columbian Archaeology Collections Together” Apply now for the new round! www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/news-events/...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonThe @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social are calling on retailers to label all peat containing products to help consumers avoid buying it. You can sign their open letter here to support them www.wildlifetrusts.org/peat-inspect... I’ve signed!
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonApplications open for the new round of Participatory Research fund! NEW & IMPROVED! Check the Further Particulars and Apply via our website. Email us for any questions, and spread the word! www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/opportunities/ @jillwhitelock.bsky.social @docbroc.bsky.social @nealspencer.bsky.social
- Reposted by Samuel Brockington📅 If you are in Cambridge on the 26 February, 5-7pm, join us for our termly Keynote on the exciting topic of 'Tapping Natural History Collections for Interdisciplinary Research' by Yota Batsaki @dumbartonoaks.bsky.social Plants, animals and rocks can tell us more than what we might think!🪷🦎🪨📖👇
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonTODAY! Come to our interactive workshop and learn from members of our community who took part in the participatory research projects we funded last year via @ukri.org ! Still time to register 👇
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonIf you are looking for beauty, fun, books, plants, insects and more across Cambridge and collections, please follow our wonderful Co-Chair @jillwhitelock.bsky.social 🌱🪷📖🦎
- Great to see our paper on the front cover @natureecoevo.bsky.social, with the tropical displays in our glasshouse range! With thanks to all 50+ co-authors. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Nice editorial on the issues facing a variety of ex situ plant collection. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Samuel Brockington"So, why isn’t conservation horticulture a priority? I suspect it is because the trade off with ornamental horticulture is too high. ... Sadly, it also reveals our disingenuousness – after all, we have a lot to say about the loss of biodiversity." Fascinating read, and an important call to action.
- Our colleague Dr Paul Smith, Secretary-General for Botanic Gardens Conservation International has written an important reaction (“A rude awakening”) to the paper here: www.bgci.org/news-events/...
- We’re delighted that our latest paper on the world’s living plant collections has now been published. You can find it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... @roinnanluisigh.bsky.social @natureecoevo.bsky.social Grateful for the exclusive by @donnalferguson.bsky.social, here: shorturl.at/GnYIQ
- I have posted a digest of the paper and what I think it may mean for the botanic garden community here: www.linkedin.com/pulse/worlds...
- Our colleague Dr Paul Smith, Secretary-General for Botanic Gardens Conservation International has written an important reaction (“A rude awakening”) to the paper here: www.bgci.org/news-events/...
- Powerful and eloquent articulation by @carolinelucas.bsky.social on need for a GCSE in Natural History, Radio 4 Today Programme.
- Reposted by Samuel Brockington🥳 Collections Lab is back! How communities shape participatory research.Keeping 🤞 for more funding available soon for more participatory research projects! Register via our website👇 @docbroc.bsky.social @jillwhitelock.bsky.social @nealspencer.bsky.social www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/news-events/...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonThais Vasconcelos @tvasconcelos.bsky.social will be the new Director of the Univ. of Michigan Herbarium starting in January -- and the first woman to fill this role in our herbarium's >100 year history. Congrats Thais!
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonAn obituary celebrating the life and research of Professor Mary Gibby, Ph.D., OBE, FLS, FRSE, PPBPS (1949-2024) by Professor Stephen Blackmore #RoyalBotanicGarden #Edinburgh and Professor Johannes Vogel #MuseumFürNaturkunde #Berlin published today #OpenAccess in #EJBotany: rbge.cc/4gsoNbc
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonIn one year, I genetically engineered the boring Arabidopsis into a beautiful ornamental flower 🧬🌹 Here is how and why I gave this model organism a visual upgrade 🧵(1/7)
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonCommunity Collaborations: nature and art at @kettlesyard.bsky.social as part of our funded participatory research projects. Read the blog here 👇 @jillwhitelock.bsky.social @docbroc.bsky.social www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/blog/communi...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonJob opportunities! We are currently recruiting for the following roles: * Collections & Digitisation Assistant * Herbarium Collections Manager * Research Assistant / Research Associate * Research Laboratory Technician Find out more & apply: tinyurl.com/3smk68t5 #PlantsAtCambridge
- Reposted by Samuel Brockington🚨Read our latest blog on participatory research projects! Bringing the #ancestors home: how Cambridge collections can support #repatriation using #osteobiographies Funded via CCC thanks to co-chairs: @jillwhitelock.bsky.social @docbroc.bsky.social & #nealspencer www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/blog/bringin...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonTo celebrate our arrival on @bsky.app here's our most recent report: African Collections Futures: the first initial mapping of African objects, histories, legacies within Cambridge collections! Check it out 👇: www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/... @docbroc.bsky.social @jillwhitelock.bsky.social
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonWe are now on BlueSky! Here's a cute little angel from our Gutenberg Bible (Inc.1.A.1.1[3761]). Follow us for all the best special collections content!
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonIt was fantastic to be at the launch of the University of Cambridge ‘African Collections Futures’ report tonight. Incredible, rich, important work by Dr Eva Namusoke through the Collections-Connections-Communities research initiative. Summary report here: www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/u...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonCome work with us! Excited to advertise a two-year Munby Fellowship for a Research Associate in Bibliography and Natural History Humanities, a collaboration between @theul.bsky.social and the Collections-Connections-Communities Strategic Research Initiative: jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49338/ Closing: 17 Jan
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonWe are a research initiative at the University of Cambridge.We support, catalyse, & empower communities of researchers who use the University’s collections in museums, garden, libraries, & archives to discover the past, learn about the present & act on the future. www.ccc.cam.ac.uk
- We’ve just posted a new blog. Participatory research with Cambridge Community Arts & Cambridge University Botanic Garden Botanical Hues: Empowering Health Through Natural Dye Research #collections #mentalhealth www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/blog/botanic...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonOpen position: Post-doctoral Living Collections Curator UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden. (I am not associated with this; passing it along for a colleague... I think it could be a good opportunity for a systematist / botanist who wants to move into collections) recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF09879
- Fantastic launch this evening of our African Collections Futures report: www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/... Congratulations to Eva Namusoke on the report and her presentation, and to Njabulo Chipangura for a thought provoking reflection. Press coverage here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonSome #MicrobialArt by @jennifer.j.quinn . “The Scream” painted in fluorescent bacteria. #AgarArt @univpugetsound @ASMicrobiology
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonIt's hedge apple season. These massive fruits of Osage-orange, Maclura pomifera, are dropping throughout the eastern US. They go by many names, like horse apples and monkey brains. There is increasing evidence that the seed oil of this tree has important cosmetic and possibly pharmacuetical uses.
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonApplications open for several research positions here in Cambridge including evolutionary genetics, genomics and population genetics. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49389/
- We have just advertised a unique collaboration. A 2-year Mumby Fellowship co-funded with our Collections-Connections-Communities Initiative. Applicants should combine bibliography or history of the book with humanities research on natural history collections: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49338/
- We are advertising two fabulous jobs at the Cambridge University Herbarium. Collection Manager: jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49404/ Collections & Digitisation Assistant: jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49378/ Incredible collection of 1.1 million specimens including most of Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle material.
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonVery happy to share that our latest publication on the evolution of C4 photosynthesis is out now. It was such a pleasure working with the amazing Joseph Swift, Joe Ecker, @tinaschreier.bsky.social, and @jmhibberd.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonYes, libraries are invaluable for their collections and public services they offer, but also social contact without the expectation to interact with anyone or spend any money is so important to so many people
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonThis is a great figure. For all the doom & gloom about climate inaction, we have made a big dent over the past 25 years. What started out as 3.5-4°C increase by 2100 is now down to 2-3°C. Of course, more work is urgently needed but this is progress! We don't let up now. h/t @hausfath.bsky.social
- Incredible achievement by the BCN Wildlife Trust, to secure Strawberry Farm.
- An "accidentally rewilded" 377-acre UK farm is now home to many threatened species, including turtle doves, warblers, 11 bat species, orchids + butterflies. Such examples prove how nature can recover when we let it, and that rewilding reverses nature loss. 🌍 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonAn "accidentally rewilded" 377-acre UK farm is now home to many threatened species, including turtle doves, warblers, 11 bat species, orchids + butterflies. Such examples prove how nature can recover when we let it, and that rewilding reverses nature loss. 🌍 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonWe strongly suggest that academic publishers and other platforms that host research rapidly implement a Share to Bluesky button for their articles. Here's how: docs.bsky.app/docs/advance... #AcademicSky #HigherEd #Altmetrics
- Reposted by Samuel BrockingtonBeef has a huge climate problem. It’s time we admitted it, and focused on real solutions — not greenwashing and denial. drawdown.org/insights/gre...
- Reposted by Samuel Brockington1/IMPORTANT thread about Bluesky funding and origins. Many folks know that it was seeded by Jack Dorsey around a libertarian vision of a magical network that wouldn’t need moderation because it would be decentralized and baked into a protocol (somehow).
- Great title! Looking forward to reading this…
- Excited to share the title of my next book... NATURE'S MEMORY: BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE WORLD'S NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS tells surprising stories about how nature is put on display, some hard truths about how these #museums were made, and how they can save the world. Out in April.🤩
- 48hrs to apply for what might arguably be the “best job in the natural world”. Could you be our Expedition Botanist? Deadline 17th November. www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/join-support...
