Raf De Bont 🟥
Historian of science and the environment // Late adopter & cautious adventurer // Interested in 19th, 20th and 21st century natures // Author of Stations in the Field and Nature's Diplomats // https://moving-animals.nl
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- Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥we're hiring in STS @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social! deadline coming up soon (February 8). focus is the social science-y corners of STS preferably w/ some interest in sustainability & environment - but interpreted broadly. vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...
- A report by 'Microsoft researchers' indicates that historians are the professional group whose work is one of the easiest to replace by AI. The article below shows what's wrong with the report.
- What does Gen AI mean for the work of the historian and the value of historical experience, skills and craft? 'The Historian in the Age of AI' by @chriscampbell1.bsky.social. New Comment article now available in 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society' bit.ly/4atErTB #Skystorians 1/2
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- You can probably blame the Dutch royals for lots of things, but not for their choice in Erasmus Prize winners. Hooray for Donna Haraway!
- Seeking adventure! Trying to get to Amsterdam from Leuven. By train. During a national railway strike.
- *Globalizing Wildlife*, a book edited by @vbateman.bsky.social, Tom Quick, and myself, is now available for pre-order with @uncpress.bsky.social! Using code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout, you can save 30% www.uncpress.org/book/9781469...
- With great contributions by @nancyjjacobs.bsky.social, Vincent Bijman, @monicavasile.bsky.social, @greggmitman.bsky.social, @georgeiorda.bsky.social, @julesskotnesbrown.bsky.social, @moneschleper.bsky.social, @reginahorta.bsky.social, Christina Dunbar-Hester, Nitin D. Rai, Ajit Menon and Jim Webb.
- Pre-discussing the Dutch elections @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social
- Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥Today IUCN has officially declared the Slender-billed Curlew extinct, marking the first known global extinction of a formerly widespread migratory bird species whose range included mainland Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. Read more here ⬇️ www.unep-aewa.org/fr/node/6632
- Just read that the doctoral thesis of Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Niko Tinbergen was 32 pages long. Efficient.
- Not so long ago, I wrote about the history of human interactions with (wild) hamsters. A coda in the news today: the Flemish populist right makes the (no longer existing) “hamster coaches” a culture-war target - seemingly to discredit wider biodiversity efforts. www.standaard.be/politiek/de-...
- @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social is mooi vertegenwoordigd op het Weekend van de Wetenschap!
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- My neighbors' red maple. Although considered highly adaptable, this one individual has been suffering under increasingly hot and dry summers. Still, every October, it is my favorite non-native species.
- RIP Jane Goodall — she forever transformed what it means to do fieldwork. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
- "The report stresses that climate change and environmental degradation pose a direct threat to Europe’s competitiveness." Framing environmental policy in this way may well be strategic, but still sad to see the value of nature primarily expressed in terms of geopolitical and economic competition.
- 🌍🚨 Europe’s environment 2025 is out now, and the conclusions are sobering: ⚠️ Europe’s environment is in poor shape. Nature continues to degrade, biodiversity is declining, and Europe is warming faster than any other region. www.eea.europa.eu/en/newsroom/... #EuropesEnvironment2025
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- On my way back from the "Planetary Futures" conference in Manchester, organized by @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social and @duncanwilson78.bsky.social Two days of vibrant discussions on how the humanities can help us understand extinction.
- Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥We are seeking a PhD candidate with an interest in East–West European relations (1970s–1990s) to work with me and Aline Sierp. The deadline for submitting proposals is 28 September. vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...
- Impressions from #eseh2025: a speech by Linnaeus himself, grandiose academic architecture and a quaint natural history museum. But, above all, wonderfully engaging panels and workshops. And, abover all, catching up with old and new friends. Many thanks to the organizers!
- Good morning Sweden! On the train towards #eseh2025
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- Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥1/ Happy to share that my article “Beyond Homecoming: The Reintroduction of Seven Przewalski’s Mares in the Gobi Desert” has been published in Environmental Humanities. It is the story of seven mares flown from Australian zoos to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert in the 1990s doi.org/10.1215/2201... #envhist
- Make sure to read @monicavasile.bsky.social's wonderful new article in Environmental Humanities - arguing we should think of reintroduction projects not as a form of 'homecoming', but as 'homemaking'. #MovingAnimals read.dukeupress.edu/environmenta...
- Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥New special issue of OSIRIS: "Animal Mobilities" 🐫🐠🐛 The volume was edited by MPIWG Research Scholars Tamar Novick, @lisaonaga.bsky.social, and Gabriel N. Rosenberg of the working groups "Out of Place, Out of Time" and "Proteins and Fibers." 🔗 bit.ly/amv4025 #HistSci #EnvHist #STS #Zoology
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- Warning: DB rant approaching.
- The imagined student-professor relationship at Basel university looks rather, uh, Leninist.
- "It amounts to misleading your readers scientifically and – pardon me – it is rather questionable as human behaviour." Ethologist Rudolf Schenkel, unhappy about a reference to his work in a book by Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, expresses his frustration in an angry letter in 1968.
- New article in Osiris, entitled 'Flying Rhinos', in which I follow two northern white rhinoceroses to discuss the entanglement of mid-twentieth century zoo conservation, colonialism and celebrity culture: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
- If anyone would be interested in a PDF view of the article, you can send me a message.
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- Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥Academische vrijheid staat onder druk en moet beter worden beschermd. Die conclusie lees je vandaag in dit KNAW-rapport: www.knaw.nl/nieuws/knaw-... Aanbevelingen o.m.: meer vrijheid van onderzoek, bescherming tegen intimidatie en minder inhoudelijke overheidsbemoeienis.
- Spent the morning in Heerlen at Studio Europa's presentation of a new policy brief on the Digital Services Act. Interesting (and sometimes) sharp discussions on an important topic.
