Augustino E. Mwakipesile

Great chance for the synthesis of the Strain + Drain + Stain (PISS) team from Paolo here. Be sure to register in advance to get the Zoom invite on the day!

Professor Leon Tickly (FBA) shares a case study of a research-intensive Northern University in one of our morning workshops.

"Research collaborations must actively redress the multiple underlying layers of power imbalances in the production of scientific knowledge."

"The question we should be asking ourselves is not whether partnerships are equitable, but whether the system they operate in make equity possible." - Prof Similo Ngwenya #EquitablePartnerships

“We cannot assume, that when researchers from the global north and global south are working together, that there is equity. No - we must be purposeful.” - Professor Shadreck Chirikure (FBA) #EquitablePartnerships

200 dead in the mine that supplies 15% of the world coltan is under artisanal & small miners….selling coltan to earn a few dollars in a day. Living in temporary built shelters around the mine. And we keep enjoying the very bloody cell phones and computers.

A 1% wealth tax + 10% income tax on Africa’s richest 1% could raise $66 billion a year – enough to fund free quality education and universal access to electricity. Let’s do it. Ramaphosa, #BeOurChampion to #TaxTheSuperRich

BREAKING: A person in the richest 0.1% produces more carbon pollution in a day than someone in the bottom 50% produces all year. ​

Same pollution. Different worlds. But only one pays the price. ​

👉Read Oxfam's new #ClimatePlunder report to learn more. oxf.am/climateplund...

#MakeRichPollutersPay

Alt: Aerial view of a football stadium. Text over the image reads: ‘We’re losing six football pitches of Amazon forest, every minute.’ *Every minute, we have been losing the equivalent to six football fields of the Amazon forest, according to an estimate by WWF using data from MapBiomas.

We’re not just losing trees.

We’re losing our future. ⚠️

#COP30 is a crucial opportunity to take action and restore the world’s tropical forests.

📣 Use your voice and help protect the Amazon, before it’s too late.

Sign the petition at www.amazonleague.org

💥 Just 4 of Africa’s richest (all men) own more wealth than half of the continent — that’s 750 million people!

Inequality isn’t just rising – it’s exploding.

With South Africa leading the G20, this is the moment to demand tax justice.

Ramaphosa, #BeOurChampion to #TaxTheSuperRich

Transnational Rhino Horn Trafficking Syndicate Arrested | News Six individuals have been arrested on suspicion of international trafficking of more than 960 rhino horns in South Africa.

🦏 📣 John Hume, the big name in rhino breeding & calls for legalisation of #RhinoHorn trade has been arrested for smuggling. Demonstrates the complex inter-relations btwn legal & illegal wildlife trades. #IWT #GreenCollarCrime
Detailed piece from Save The Rhino ⬇️ www.savetherhino.org/africa/six-m...

Some 25 years in the making! Detailed insights into how #ecosystems have changed across East African mountains over the past 50000 years is now out in print version in the Journal of #Biogeography

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

ICTA-UAB Secures Third María De Maeztu Excellence Nod ICTA-UAB has been accredited, for the third time, as a "María de Maeztu" Unit of Excellence by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

🏆ICTA-UAB Secures Third María De Maeztu Excellence

This distinction is the highest awarded at the national level to research centres in Spain, and is awarded in recognition for their scientific leadership, research quality, and international impact.

www.miragenews.com/icta-uab-sec...

I am really proud to be involved with this. It is a tremendous honour just to receive one MdM award. Kudos to @icta-uab.bsky.social

2026 or 2025?

Springer Nature Discovers MDPI – The Strain on Scientific Publishing Home page for the paper ‘The Strain on Scientific Publishing’ by Mark A Hanson, Dan Brockington, Paolo Crosetto and Pablo Gomez Barreiro

Has someone found a good way of getting money out of research? Don't stop it.

Copy it.

APC charges cost billions. MDPI leads with over $1.7bn (est. 2015-2023). Springer-Nature ‘only’ got $1.1bn and so what do they do?

They copy MDPI.

the-strain-on-scientific-publishing.github.io/website/post...

The dates please

We are #hiring! 💼

We seek a #fulltime Associate Programme Officer with strong analytical skills to join our Nature Conserved team and work within the Global Wildlife Trade focal initiative.

Apply here: www.unep-wcmc.org/en/vacancies... before 24th May 2025!

🔥 news! Timely project.

I enjoyed reading the paper. Good to see @mbmabele.bsky.social making great development

“Milking the lions”: An analysis of conservation performance payments in eastern and southern Africa Conservation performance payments (CPPs) aim to encourage coexistence between humans and large carnivores by tying payments to species presence or abundance. While there is growing interest in the de...

Our paper "Milking the lions" was published today. It's all about a conservation approach that pays people for the presence of predators.

Thanks to amazing co-authors @georgeholmes.bsky.social, @mbmabele.bsky.social, and Julia Martin-Ortega

Read the paper (open access): doi.org/10.1111/csp2...

Wishing you best Suzy.

Giant Rats: Sniffing Out Wildlife Crime | Wild Targets MOROGORO, Tanzania – Rats have long been misunderstood, often seen as pests rather than pals. However, the African giant pouched rat, the largest in the world, possesses special qualities that have ca...

Giant rats are joining the fight against #wildlife crime: With their super noses, they’re sniffing out illegal wildlife products, helping conservationists tackle trafficking.
#WildlifeCrime #ConservationTech 🌍 #Ratswithjobs
news.mongabay.com/video/2025/0...

Farmland investments often outlast political regimes—but what happens when political shifts disrupt investor dreams? 🇹🇿Joanny Bélair’s Tanzania’s Land Rush unpacks the evolving politics of land deals in Tanzania 📖✨ #LandPolitics #Tanzania institutionallandscapes.org/contribution...

POLLEN 2026 will take place in Barcelona next June 💫, and we warmly welcome you all to join us. Stay tuned for updates on exact dates, costs, and scheduling ⌛—details will be available soon on our new website! 🖥️🙂

Very happy to announce the 2025 Wageningen Political Ecology Spring school (7-11 april):

Political Ecologies of the Countryside: agrarian roots, environmental transformations and capitalist conflicts

Please spread the word or consider joining!

www.wur.nl/en/activity/...

This baby is out in paperback. #GreenSky

Go get your copy and use the discount code GLR BD8 to save 20% www.bloomsbury.com/us/decoloniz...

As CITES turns 50, Oxford researchers urge reforms to improve global wildlife trade regulation

As CITES turns 50, a new study in Frontiers in Ecology & Evolution reveals that the global wildlife trade agreement is failing to curb illegal extraction and trafficking.

Researchers instead propose a new framework exploring institutionally diverse conservation models ⬇️

bit.ly/4hmla72

Looking forward to the milestones of the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit to be held in Dar es Salaam on the 27th and 28th of January 2025 @worldbankgroup.bsky.social @afdbgroup.bsky.social

The Economist covered our "Strain on scientific publishing" paper.

What is this all about?

We collectively churn out more & more papers *per scientist*, an increasing pace, in a rapidly changing publication landscape.

Why? How? Want to make sense of this? 🧵

www.economist.com/science-and-...

Please Rosa. Thanks