Heather Battles
@anthroetc.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in Bioanthropology at UoA in Aotearoa/NZ. Infectious disease and epidemics; disability; history and memory.
Announcing the 2026 ASHB Conference! Registration is open and we are now accepting abstracts for our annual conference. December 8-10 online, join from anywhere or come along to a local hub. See our website for more information! www.australasianhumanbiology.com/conferences....
ASHB Conferences
Registrations for our 2023 Conference in Brisbane, Australia are now open!
australasianhumanbiology.com
Second New Zealand bird flu case confirmed in Wairarapa hawk www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3610...
Second New Zealand bird flu case confirmed in Wairarapa hawk
A native kāhu (swamp harrier) found in the Wairarapa has become the second bird in New Zealand confirmed to have H5 bird flu.
stuff.co.nz
Summer conference season is here! Here are some tips to make your presentations accessible and ensure your audience is everyone. -use sans serif fonts (without extra flares and lines) stay away from times new roman and go for calibri or arial instead. -use bullet points.
Trust is key to epidemic prevention and response. Lessons from previous Ebola outbreaks, from @bbcmediaaction.bsky.social, on the importance of building relationships with local media outlets, journalists, and health authorities before a crisis develops: www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/...
Lessons from an epidemic
As a new Ebola outbreak takes hold in DRC, and misinformation spreads, here's how media can help
bbc.co.uk
Government overhauls tertiary institutions' research funding system
Government overhauls tertiary institutions' research funding system
Academics are cautiously welcoming the move but the Association of Scientists wants more detail and the Tertiary Education Union says a bigger problem is the size of the fund which has not increased for several years.
rnz.co.nz
At the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the front line is completely overwhelmed. Our chief Africa correspondent, Declan Walsh, describes what he saw in the Ebola ward at Mongbwalu General Hospital. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/w...
New research from a team I was part of w Lauren Steele, @andreatilstra.bsky.social, & other virologists & demographers: Research on flu pandemics has been heavily shaped by 1) the 1918 flu & 2) US-specific data for other pandemics. Turns out that way understates the variety of age patterns of risk!
Age-specific mortality patterns across influenza pandemics: evidence from all-cause mortality data across multiple populations
AbstractBackground. Understanding age-specific mortality patterns across historic influenza pandemics is crucial for future pandemic preparedness. Prior re
academic.oup.com
‘Biggest diphtheria outbreak’ in decades spreads into Queensland, SA and WA www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
‘Biggest diphtheria outbreak’ in decades spreads into Queensland, SA and WA
Health minister Mark Butler says vaccines are being rushed into NT communities, with one suspected death
theguardian.com
Important background information about increasing number of human hantavirus cases: apnews.com/article/arge....
Hantavirus is on the rise in Argentina, where a stricken cruise ship began its journey
Officials and experts in Argentina are scrambling to figure out if their country is the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has gripped an Atlantic cruise.
apnews.com
Congratulations to my colleagues Judith Littleton, Caitlin Bonham Smith, and Lisa Bailey on their new article in Royal Society Open Science on catastrophic mortality on Bahrain during the time of the Plague of Justinian. Fantastic to see this finally out! doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
Evidence for catastrophe at the time of the Plague of Justinian on Bahrain: right time, different disaster
Abstract. As argued for the Black Death, catastrophes are rarely unicausal and identifying them needs consideration of context. Scholars have focused on th
doi.org
#NZ Scholarships to attend the Science Communicators of NZ conference in Ōtautahi #Christchurch 25-26 June – You do not need to be an existing SCANZ member to apply – Applications close at 5:00pm on 30 April 2026 www.scanz.co.nz/2026-scholar... #scicomm #SciCommNZ #SCANZ2026
Scholarships — SCANZ - Science Communicators Association of New Zealand
scanz.co.nz
Budding historians of medicine and public health: have a look at this exciting opportunity to conduct PhD research at the University of Newcastle, on a larger project of the Australian history of polio, led by Catharine Coleborne! More information at the link: www.newcastle.edu.au/study/resear...
A Social History of Polio Vaccination in Australia, 1950s to 1970s
Closing Date: 30 April 2026 Apply Now
newcastle.edu.au
The human face of science funding cuts – Expert Reaction
The human face of science funding cuts - Expert Reaction - Science Media Centre
Kiwi scientists share how funding cuts have impacted their research and careers, in a new report from the Save Science Coalition. Many of the profiled researchers have been made redundant or have moved...
sciencemediacentre.co.nz
Gave a little plug for @aushumanbiology.bsky.social at the Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology (CABA-ACAB) webinar today! Maybe some scope for future collaborations? I hope some Canadians will consider joining us for the online ASHB conference this year in December!
🍃🌹🌿Extreme weather scientists warn of impending funding drought: Senior #climate scientists say the major funding for extreme weather research is drying up just as the country needs it the most #ChangeTheGovt #PartyVoteGreen #nzpol #cyclones #flooding #droughts www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Extreme weather scientists warn of impending funding drought
'Some nerd sitting in an office' doesn't seem like exciting research to fund but it's answering urgent questions about severe weather, a climate scientist says.
rnz.co.nz
Free dental care receives widespread support in new survey
Free dental care receives widespread support in new survey
Respondents across the political spectrum endorsed the idea in a recent Talbot Mills Research survey, commissioned by advocacy group Dental For All.
rnz.co.nz
"Temporary shock or lasting scar?" By 2024 nearly all high-income countries remained below their pre-pandemic life expectancy trends. We identify four distinct mortality shock patterns since 2020. Full analysis in our preprint: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Important paper. Schools are high-risk environments for respiratory disease transmission MAINLY because classrooms are underventilated. This problem has a workable solution - it just needs political will. Air quality is as important as water quality for public health. MT @martinmckee.bsky.social
James Munday@jdmunday.bsky.social · 6mo agoOur paper modelling transmission risk in schools is published in Nature Communications. **The relative contribution of close-proximity contacts, shared classroom exposure and indoor air quality to respiratory virus transmission in schools** doi.org/10.1038/s414...
And, for anyone like me who is a New Zealander living overseas, if you have been back to NZ at any point in the last 3 years, you are eligible to enrol and vote in this election (the extension of this provision to 6 years was for the 2023 election *only*)
🔜 Soon Lee@soonleenz.bsky.social · 7mo agoAs the date for Election 2026 has been announced (November 7), now is a good time to check if you are enrolled to vote, and to update your details if needed. vote.nz/enrolling/en... #election #decision2026 #nzPol
More than half of mpox patients in 2022 outbreak experienced lasting physical effects: Study abcnews.go.com/Health/half-...
More than half of mpox patients in 2022 outbreak experienced lasting physical effects: Study
Many mpox patients affected during the 2022 outbreak may have experienced physical effects more than a year later, a new study published Monday finds.
abcnews.go.com
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵 Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Here is an obituary for Alice Wong from The Sick Times, a publication aligned with disability rights and disability activism, if you are looking for an alternative to reading the nyt one: thesicktimes.org/2025/11/15/a...
Alice Wong, disability activist and luminary, dies at 51 - The Sick Times
Alice Wong platformed and uplifted people with Long COVID in her final chapter as a lifelong disability advocate and storyteller.
thesicktimes.org
As expected, Canada has lost its measles-free status because of the long-running outbreak there. With it goes the #measles elimination status of the entire zone of the Americas, the only division of the #WHO to ever have achieved measles elimination. www.statnews.com/2025/11/10/m...
Canada loses measles elimination status — as does the entire Americas region
Canada has formally lost its measles elimination status, the country’s public health agency announced, triggering the loss of that status throughout all of the Americas.
statnews.com
Less than one month until #ASHB2025 in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland! 💀🦷👣🗣🦧🐒🔬🩻🧬⚰️🪦 @aushumanbiology.bsky.social
'Alarming gaps': WHO warns NZ to urgently close measles vaccination gap among Māori and Pacific communities
'Alarming gaps': WHO warns NZ to urgently close measles vaccination gap among Māori and Pacific communities
The World Health Organisation has warned New Zealand to urgently close the "alarming gaps" in measles immunisation for the most at-risk communities.
rnz.co.nz
Hospitals, clinics not equipped for measles outbreak - general practitioner
Hospitals, clinics not equipped for measles outbreak - general practitioner
Immunisation Advisory Centre senior adviser Mamaeroa David warns waiting times at hospitals are 3-4 weeks.
rnz.co.nz
