Dr. Michael Salter-Townshend 📊🖥️🧬
@mststats.bsky.social
statistics Associate Prof in UCD 🇮🇪 working on problems in genetics, social networks, etc. 🏃🏻➡️🚲 maths.ucd.ie/~mst
I have just resigned from the board of "Statistics and Computing", along with 17 other Associate Editors. This was a difficult decision: this great journal has published many tremendous articles under the leadership of EiC Ajay Jasra, and before him David Hand, Gilles Celeux, and Mark Girolami.
Fully funded PhD position starting in September in @ucddublin.bsky.social #hiring The stipend is €25K per year, with additional funds for travel, fees, etc. I'm looking for someone for a project in statistical genetics, exploring complex factors of disease risk.
1779460769201.pdf
drive.google.com
Very cool!
Leo Speidel@leospeidel.bsky.social · 5mo agoNew preprint led by Hrushikesh Loya, me, and Simon Myers where we introduce GhostBuster! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... The idea is to find all the different ways a target individual relates to reference groups in genealogies, to "bust the ghosts" in our ancestry.
Lovely sunny day to get solar panels installed!
The closing date for these positions is Monday at 12pm!
Dr. Michael Salter-Townshend 📊🖥️🧬@mststats.bsky.social · 7mo agoWe're #hiring! We have three new Assistant Professor positions in Statistics @ucddublin.bsky.social See www.ucd.ie/workatucd/jo... and search for job references: - Permanent (ref. 019430). - Temporary 5-year (ref. 019431). - Temporary 5-year in the area of Machine Learning (ref. 019429).
We're #hiring! We have three new Assistant Professor positions in Statistics @ucddublin.bsky.social See www.ucd.ie/workatucd/jo... and search for job references: - Permanent (ref. 019430). - Temporary 5-year (ref. 019431). - Temporary 5-year in the area of Machine Learning (ref. 019429).
If Ireland's emissions are "too small to matter" then I might as well evade my taxes and eat doughnuts for lunch. Read my latest column about the laziest excuse in the climate debate: www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
‘Too small to matter’ is the laziest-possible excuse in climate debate
At a time of crisis, co-operation is the only way to resolve the climate collective-action problem
irishtimes.com
There's lots of interesting reading in vol 122 No 48 of @pnas.org. There's a focus on canine genetics, with several really interesting articles in there. Two of these report results on introgression between domestic dogs and wild relatives (wolves and dingoes) using MOSAIC maths.ucd.ie/~mst/MOSAIC/
MOSAIC
MOSAIC is a tool for modelling multiway admixture using dense genotype data. See our 2019 paper in Genetics for details or start with this post for a short and simple lay summary.
maths.ucd.ie
Genuinely impressed with the food policy for #PopGroup 59! This should be default for all conferences and events @popgroup2026.bsky.social
Excitement is building for our conference on Friday! Please register asap if you have not done so. See ishg.ie/conference/ for details on speakers, registration, directions and more!
Conference – ISHG
ISHG 2025 will be held on the 12th September 2025 in the Iontas Theatre in National University of Ireland Maynooth
ishg.ie
I'm delighted to say that I was promoted to Associate Professor in UCD this month. The process involves quite a bit of investment, but encouragement and support from colleagues - especially Heads of School Ted Cox (former) and @nialfriel.bsky.social (current ) - made it possible.
🎓 More graduation joy from CRT! A huge congrats to Matt Nagle, Thais Pacheco, and Prabhleen Kaur, who successfully completed their PhDs at @ucddublin.bsky.social 👏Hats off as well to their supervisors! Wishing all three graduates the very best in their next adventures #CRT #UCD @researchireland.ie
"It is, for me, the act of writing about a book that causes it to stay read." Very well put point. Using AI for coursework will have a hugely negative effect on student learning.
The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · last yr.Mark O'Connell: Using ChatGPT to write an essay is a bit like using a fork lift to lift weights
On the show today: Are you too old for this?; @profmeredithjones.bsky.social on no-eyelash men; @jokerrigan1.bsky.social on Fairy Forts; Banning smartphones; @feljin.ie on the public toilet crisis; World news; @mststats.bsky.social on is coin tossing fair?
Happy to see our paper on "Using an agent-based model to inform sampling design for animal social network analysis" published this week rdcu.be/efjkF Great work from Dr Prabhleen Kaur as part of her PhD on animal social networks with @ucdwildlife.bsky.social and @damienfarine.bsky.social
Using an agent-based model to inform sampling design for animal social network analysis
rdcu.be
Always annoyed when a journal allows submission of latex source and even builds the pdf on its system, but then requests a word document after acceptance...
As we near the end of this cold snap I can't help but wonder: how does Batman operate his various gizmos while wearing gloves?
Thoroughly enjoyed my brief visit to Derry city this week to examine a PhD thesis in Ulster University. Couldn't leave without walking the walls and seeing the sights.
Just completed a survey on AI use in research training and innovation in UCD. Very concerning none of the questions mention the huge environmental impact of AI tools such as LLMs like chatGPT, Gemini, etc.
Went for a 7 foot #christmastree this year so I wasn't looking forward to lugging it home over the shoulder like usual. Wheelie bin to the rescue! Couldn't have been easier and no needles all over the car. The tree sellers were kind enough to wrap our sons up as well...
If you or a member of your family use a bike to commute, please read this before you vote on Friday. #ge24. Thank you, Irish Cycling Campaign 🙏
Irish Cycling Campaign@irishcyclingcmpn.bsky.social · 2y agoIrish Cycling Campaign has unveiled the Strong, Mediocre & Weak Parties in Active Travel as per the Manifestos for General Election 2024. #greenparty, @labourpartyireland.bsky.social & @socialdemocrats.bsky.social are top of the class. ⭐️ Analysis & results below cyclist.ie/2024/11/iris...
I'm on the way to spend a few days in Oxford this week to build some sims to explore intense selection and highly skewed numbers of progeny in a heavily inbred population...
