This week is National #CareersWeek Why not take a look at some of these inspiring resources I’ve collated to weave careers into STEM teaching and learning (link in comments, or follow link to blog in bio)👇 #ScienceIsEverywhere #BeCurious #DrJoScience #STEMCareers

Cognitive Science is stronger when more voices are included. The Broadening Participation initiative funds projects that engage underrepresented communities, bridge disciplines, and create lasting outreach impact. Deadline: April 15 🗓️ Learn more & apply: cognitivesciencesociety.org/broadening-p...

Academic life can be brilliant & exhausting! Deadlines stack up. Teaching prep takes longer than expected. Emails multiply. Dr Becky Carlyle shares her experience of academic overwhelm & reminds us that feeling stretched doesn't mean you're failing. It means you are human. buff.ly/cri1x4X

Want to improve your writing? Blogging genuinely taught me not only how to write better, but that I also have interesting things to say! Who knew? If you've ever considered blogging - why not just give it a whirl? You might learn something about yourself 🤔 #academicsky #neuroskyence #scicomm

Dementia Researcher@dementiaresearcher.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Ever thought blogging but convinced yourself you were not ready? Rebecca Williams @beccasue99.bsky.social did too. Three years and 26 blogs later, she discovered something surprising. She had plenty to say, and writing helped her say it better. www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-why-you...

Fancy a forray into policy? 🗣 Specifically, are you an ECR that thinks its too early to engage with policy? To thee I say "pfft" - its never too early! Get used to communicating science now and I guarantee it will pay off later 😉 #academicsky #scicomm www.csap.cam.ac.uk/case-studies...

Rebecca Williams - Centre for Science and Policy

"The opportunities that CSaP has provided have been transformative. The connections and skills I've developed have fundamentally changed how I approach my research and its potential impact."

csap.cam.ac.uk

Six Blogs you may have missed in 2025 - thanks to Dr Becky Carlyle, @dryvonnecouch.bsky.social, Dr Lindsey Sinclair, @beccasue99.bsky.social, Dr Cliona Farrell & Dr Peter Connelly www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/collections/...

Six Blogs you may have missed in 2025 - DEMENTIA RESEARCHER

From the archives: 6 must-read blogs from 2025 that you might have missed. Visit our blogs page to catch up, or enjoy the narrated versions for a more engaging experience

dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk

Reading “The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing” theconversation.com/the-5-stages...

The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing

Academic publishing now shows the same decline that has hit social media and online marketplaces.

theconversation.com

Apathy in dementia is common but poorly understood. Join Rebecca Williams @beccasue99.bsky.social to explore a new way of thinking about apathy and what it means for research and care. Wed 14 Jan 8pm GMT. communities.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/c/events/res...

Research Showcase - Rebecca Williams - Understanding Apathy in Dementia

Research Showcase - Rebecca Williams - Understanding Apathy in Dementia

communities.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk

❗️NEW OPINION PIECE 🗨 Want to find out how apathy might be more than evaluating cost and benefit? ⚖️ Then read on! V excited for the release of my first opinion piece on #apathy as a failure of active inference in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social with thanks to my co-author @cambridgeftd.bsky.social 😊

MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge@mrccbu.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Apathy is a common symptom in a wide range of conditions with limited treatment. In this opinion article, we highlight a novel approach to apathy based on a reduction in confidence on action outcomes, & include testable hypotheses at a cognitive & neuroanatomical level: www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

Its not all smooth sailing - and that's why I recommend getting yourself a might fine crew for the journey 🏴‍☠️😄 Some of my reflections on the final stretch of #PhD life which I hope might be helpful to those coming along next! #academicsky #WomeninSTEM

Dementia Researcher@dementiaresearcher.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Climbing the thesis mountain is wild but @beccasue99.bsky.social reminds us that perfection is not required and cheesy chips after submitting taste incredible. pod.fo/e/35d311

#BeckyandtheBrain is back! 😄🧠 After a little break to submit my PhD I'm back to talk about the rocky road to submitting, how I got there and whether a #PhD might even be for you #neuroskyence #scicomm youtu.be/lHo2M3kzDeI

The Road to PhD Submission (and if it might be for you!)

YouTube video by Becky and the Brain

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Happy LGBTQ+STEM Day! To mark the occasion, LGBTQ+ and ally scientists alike introduced our new pride flag to the @mrccbu.bsky.social

Reflections on a fab session at #CCN25 - how might gamification fit into #dementia research? 🎮 Would love to hear others' thoughts on this one 😊 #neuroskyence

Dementia Researcher@dementiaresearcher.bsky.social · 11mo ago

What if dementia research felt more like playing a game than taking a test? 🎮 @beccasue99.bsky.social explores how gaming could make research more engaging and realistic — from Sea Hero Quest to futuristic lab simulations. www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-gamifyi...

Happy belated Halloween 👻🎃 I'm dressed as the scariest thing of all - a PhD thesis! Proud to say that as of Wednesday mine no longer haunts me haha Thanks to the whole @cambridgeftd.bsky.social team for their support! #academicsky #womeninstem #neuroskyence

🎃 Halloween meets sleep science💤: Our ECSM team's “Polysomnography Pumpkin” brought sleep science to the spooky season - earning second place at Oxford’s Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building Games! Brains, electrodes, and a few spiders included.🧠

Come listen to John Duncan and myself discussing his new book on 25 Nov. So much insight into the human condition. Definitely not an event to miss!

MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge@mrccbu.bsky.social · 12mo ago

What does it mean to be both animal and thinker? Join @moatazassem.bsky.social and John Duncan on 25 November at Murray Edwards College for the launch of John’s new book ‘The Animal and the Thinker.’ Get your tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-animal...

📚 Core principles of responsible generative AI usage in research link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Core principles of responsible generative AI usage in research - AI and Ethics

In a rapidly evolving Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) landscape, researchers, policymakers, and publishers have to continuously redefine responsible research practices. To ensure guidance o...

link.springer.com

🧠 The Lipid #Brain Atlas is out now! If you think #lipids are boring and membranes are all the same, prepare to be surprised. Led by @lucafusarbassini.bsky.social with Giovanni D'Angelo's lab, we mapped membrane lipids in the mouse brain at high resolution. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

NEW PREPRINT ❗️ A slightly different take on the old problem of #apathy - we find evidence that apathy is linked to confidence on action outcomes 🎯 🧠This confidence may be underpinned by self-regulation of prefrontal superficial pyramidal neurons #neuroskyence www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Apathy as a Loss of Prior Precision on Action Outcomes

Apathy is common in neurological disease, associated with poor prognosis and limited treatments. Current models posit that goal-directed actions are reduced because costs or effort outweigh the expect...

biorxiv.org

An incredible article from one of the students of our psychology Summer CAMP this year ☀️ The key takeaway - never hold back from applying to new opportunities. A message I can endorse wholeheartedly. #academicsky #womeninstem #neuroskyence sunderlandpsychology.substack.com/p/from-summe...

From Summer School to Research: My Journey at Cambridge University

Third year undergraduate student Cecilia talks about her time at the Cambridge Summer School

sunderlandpsychology.substack.com

Uncertainty: terrifying and thrilling in equal measure. Rebecca Williams shares why she still chooses academia, even when “the only certainty is rejection.” @beccasue99.bsky.social pod.fo/e/3396c9

Dementia Researcher Blogs: Rebecca Williams - Uncertainty: Academia’s Drive & Downfall

Rebecca Williams, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.In this blog, Rebecca Williams reflects on her transition from an internship in government to the uncertain world of ...

pod.fo

It's terrifying out here in #AcademicSky... and yet I'm still willing to give it a whirl. At least for now. Join me for my latest blog as I share some reflections on the uncertainty (and maybe thrill??) of careers in the academic sector 🤔 #neuroskyence #WomeninSTEM

Dementia Researcher@dementiaresearcher.bsky.social · last yr.

“It feels at times that the only certainty is rejection.” Rebecca Williams @beccasue99.bsky.social shares her reflections on life towards the end of a PhD and at the edge of the academic map. www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-uncerta...

Meet the judges: 🌟Wondering who’s helping behind the scenes of WiNUK Awards 2025? We’re delighted to share our talented team of judges! 🌟

Something a bit different on #BeckyandtheBrain as I just couldn't resist reacting to #MyOxfordYear on Netflix. As an Oxford alum and current supervisor at Cambridge, safe to say I had some thought 🤣 youtu.be/oVUAZ55_THU

How accurate is Netflix's #myoxfordyear?

YouTube video by Becky and the Brain

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Mental and metabolic health are closely linked - but what drives this connection? In our new theory paper, we (w/ @camillanord.bsky.social & @hugofleming.bsky.social g.bsky.social) propose dysregulation of interoceptive energy allostasis as a key mechanism. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🧵 1/n

An interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health

Interactions between metabolic interoception and regulation may drive comorbidity between mental and metabolic ill-health.

science.org

Normative neuroanatomical modelling to quantify individual 🧠atrophy patterns in #FTLD - results from this UCL and Brunel collaboration are now out: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Neuroanatomical normative modelling in frontotemporal lobar degeneration: higher heterogeneity in the behavioural variant - Journal of Neurology

Introduction Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) includes heterogenous diseases: behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), primary progressive aphasias (PPA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS). We applied neuroanatomical normative modelling to quantify individual atrophy patterns and heterogeneity within and between FTLD forms. Methods We included 160 participants across FTLDNI and 4RTNI studies: controls (n = 15), bvFTD (n = 22), nfvPPA (n = 14), svPPA (n = 21), CBS (n = 43) and PSP (n = 45). Using cortical thickness and subcortical volumes from 3T MRIs, we applied normative modelling with a large healthy reference dataset (n = 58,836), further accounting for age, sex, and scanner. Outlier regions (z < – 1.96) were used to compute total outlier counts (tOC) and Hamming distances, capturing individual atrophy patterns and inter-subject dissimilarity. Results bvFTD, svPPA, CBS and PSP showed significantly higher cortical tOC than controls, with all groups showing higher subcortical tOC than controls, especially svPPA and PSP. bvFTD, svPPA, CBS and PSP had significantly higher cortical Hamming distance scores than controls, with higher scores in bvFTD and svPPA than nfvPPA and PSP. svPPA and PSP had significantly higher subcortical scores than controls and CBS. Greater disease severity (measured using the Clinical Dementia Rating—CDR for PSP and CBS, and the CDR® plus NACC-FTLD global scores for FTD variants) was associated with increased tOC and dissimilarity, highlighting the link between clinical progression and neuroanatomical heterogeneity. Conclusions The pronounced heterogeneity within and between FTLD subtypes (particularly in bvFTD) increases with disease progression and may reflect distinct underlying pathologies. This supports the development of subtype-specific biomarkers and emphasize the need for personalized diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

link.springer.com

So...what exactly do scientists do?? Come along for me for a week in the life of a Cambridge neuroscientist to find out 😄 #neuroskyence #science #scicomm #WomeninSTEM youtu.be/eJL61d8nm8w

SO...what do scientists do? | A Week in the Life of a Cambridge Neuroscientist

YouTube video by Becky and the Brain

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Feeling like an imposter? Rebecca Williams @beccasue99.bsky.social & Connor Richardson @connorrichards2 share how they face self doubt in research. Watch the Salon recording & join future sessions: youtu.be/b8-jB8TQ9M8

Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

YouTube video by Dementia Researcher

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Let's address the psychoanalyst in the room - the next #BeckyandtheBrain video now out discussing the life and times of the one and only Sigmund #Freud 🚬🧠 Do you know who invented the term "a talking cure"? 🗣 Time to find out 😉 #scicomm #AcademicSky #psychology youtu.be/mvkX_O33qow

FINE...Let's Talk Freud | Scientific Story-Time

YouTube video by Becky and the Brain

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Worried about what comes next? Me too! The solution? No idea - but here's some advice I've been giving students for years that I'm now hoping to turn inwards 😄 #AcademicSky #science #careers

Dementia Researcher@dementiaresearcher.bsky.social · last yr.

Career paths aren’t linear. PhD Student Rebecca Williams @beccasue99.bsky.social reflects on research, life choices, and learning from every step. www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-career-...