Toby Hodges
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tobyhodges.carpentries.org
Toby Hodges
@tobyhodges.carpentries.org
320 followers 320 following 180 posts
he/him
Director of Curriculum at The Carpentries. Views my own. Sorry I haven't replied to your email.
"I only know that hearts made of stone will rarely sail far and may never reach home" - Chuck Ragan
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Toby Hodges
standplaatskrk.pl
A very chubby kitty lays on her back: "Mother. I am but skin and bones."
December 18, 2025 at 11:45 PM
tobyhodges.carpentries.org
🎶 Oh I wish it could be the Thursday before Christmas everydaay-ay-ay 🎶
alanmcn1.bsky.social Alan McNally @alanmcn1.bsky.social · 11d
Email traffic is virtually non-existent today. Feels like everyone has checked out early for xmas.

If only every day was like this..............
December 18, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
vickiye.bsky.social
I wonder how many UK universities have very similar policies around workplace stress to those of Birmingham......?
eicathomefinn.bsky.social Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 11d
'An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the Russell Group university “does not have appropriate arrangements in place” for managing workplace stress and was unable to demonstrate that it is managing the risks associated with excessive workloads.' 1/2
Birmingham reprimanded over its management of work-related stress
Investigation by Health and Safety Executive found institution ‘does not have appropriate arrangements in place’ to manage burnout among staff
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 18, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
rmcelreath.bsky.social
The Max Planck Society has begun an exploratory round table for open science. We are drafting some recommendations to leadership. Still a long way to go! But here are my notes on the most recent draft, just so you all know how I am trying to steer things.
Richard McElreath: It must not be overlooked that junior researchers DO NOT TRUST US. We, the directors, are a big part of the problem. We made this system, we remake it every year, and we benefit from it. What can we do to credibly signal our commitment to reform a corrupt research culture? My conversations with junior scientists in the society has taught me that directors are too often either indifferent or hostile to science reform. We cannot hope to convince our prize winning colleagues. Their egos are immune. But we can replace retirements with researchers who care more about integrity than their own prestige. This is important both for earning the trust of the junior researchers who really do the research in the MPG and for attracting excellent future directors and starting to earn the trust of the public. So I suggest two strong signals to our junior researchers (and the public): (1) we will reform recruitment and promotion at all levels to eliminate proxies like citation counts and journal brands in favor of reliability and sustainability; (2) we will make open science skills a core part of scientific training, through the graduate schools at a minimum, as conditions for the central funding. The most ambitious thing we could do, as hinted at in item 5 above, is to meaningfully invest in metascientific research. As the largest basic research organization in the world, the MPG is uniquely suited to studying research and its products from a broad perspective that includes the humanities, the sciences, and policy. Governments are already involved in science reform. Someone should study it in an organized and sustained way.
December 17, 2025 at 11:33 AM
tobyhodges.carpentries.org
A lot that I agree with here, articulated better and grounded in more literature than I could ever hope to achieve. I think similarity of citation gaming and SEO could be further explored: Google has infamously broken search in favour of ad revenue. What is the equivalent for research publications?
December 17, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
softwaresaved.bsky.social
🌊 We are happy to announce that the first #CollabW26 Keynote will be delivered by @malvikasharan.bsky.social. Find out more about Malvika and have a look at the draft programme at
www.software.ac.uk/news/cw26-ke...
December 15, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
ellakaye.co.uk
Huge congratulations to @heathrturnr.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy for putting together a fantastic team of collaborators and a brilliant proposal.

I'm so happy to be a co-lead on this project, continuing to work with Heather and many others on the sustainability of the language and community we love.
ellakaye.co.uk Ella Kaye @ellakaye.co.uk · 17d
🎉 Big news for the future of #RStats. The project

"Enabling the next generation of R contributors"

has received £500k over 2 years.

- mentoring expert contributors
- modernising infrastructure
- improving governance
- strengthen communication and outreach

www.software.ac.uk/rsmf-round-1...
RSMF Round 1 Projects | Software Sustainability Institute
Round 1 of the Research Software Maintenance Fund awarded just under £3 million to 13 projects selected for their potential to deliver high impact, value for money, feasibility, and quality. The funde...
www.software.ac.uk
December 12, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
carpentries.carpentries.org
🗓️ Next meeting: 23 January, 14:00 UTC
🔗 Connect via #local-ukrainian or contact Olexandr Konovalov.

Read the full Spotlight on the blog (carpentries.org/blog/2025/12... )
Subcommunity Spotlight: Ukraine
The Subcommunity Spotlight blog series aims to raise awareness of the many vibrant subcommunities within The Carpentries and highlight their activities. A brings together a subset of the broader…
carpentries.org
December 12, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
carpentries.carpentries.org
🇺🇦 Subcommunity Spotlight: The Carpentries in Ukraine

A collaborative network of Ukrainian researchers working to translate lessons, support learners, and expand access to key coding and data skills. The subcommunity meets monthly to share updates and strengthen their work together.
Subcommunity Spotlight: Ukraine
The Subcommunity Spotlight blog series aims to raise awareness of the many vibrant subcommunities within The Carpentries and highlight their activities. A brings together a subset of the broader…
carpentries.org
December 12, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
society-rse.org
For our ethical sponsorship policy, we have collected proposed areas society-rse.org/about/polici....

We are now collecting arguments against the proposed areas. Please fill in this form by the 29th of December docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 🗳️
Avoidance criteria for ethical sponsorship policy - Society of Research Software Engineering
Join in our community consultation and members vote on avoidance criteria areas for SocRSE's draft ethical sponsorship policy.
society-rse.org
December 12, 2025 at 8:00 AM
tobyhodges.carpentries.org
Congratulations to all the new SSI Fellows! 🤩 Fantastic to see so many @carpentries.carpentries.org community members on the list again this year, including two members of our Board of Directors.
softwaresaved.bsky.social Software Sustainability Institute @softwaresaved.bsky.social · 18d
🧭 We are happy to announce our new #SSIFellows! Read more about this year's applications and the 2026 cohort at www.software.ac.uk/news/introdu...
December 11, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
2standandstare.bsky.social
Super excited to shout about being selected as an @softwaresaved.bsky.social #SSIFellow for 2026!

Lots of conversations to be had and networks to be built in 2026: www.software.ac.uk/news/introdu...
Introducing the 2026 Fellowship Cohort: Insights and Celebrations | Software Sustainability Institute
The selection process for this year’s cohort has now ended and we’re excited to introduce the 2026 Fellows and share their plans for the Fellowship.
www.software.ac.uk
December 11, 2025 at 11:46 AM
tobyhodges.carpentries.org
Instead of a change of ball, can England get a change of team please? This one has gone soft and really lost it's shape #Ashes
December 5, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
step-up.bsky.social
Awesome day yesterday plotting 🧐 how to better coordinate dRTP training across the UK, and also make it more sustainable and comprehensive. Thanks to everyone who attended, despite a last minute change of venue due to an underground fire... 🚒😮 Watch this space for outputs and ways to engage!
November 28, 2025 at 10:24 AM
tobyhodges.carpentries.org
Let's gooooo!
Screengrab from a GitHub repository: Milestones / 2025 Release 2025 Release Closed | Due by December 1, 2025 | Closed 11 hours ago
November 25, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
step-up.bsky.social
New event on leadership for dRTPs!

Explore how leadership can influence a healthy team culture in a dRTP context. Exchange ideas and practices, hear case studies. Organised by DisCouRSE

19 January 2026 @ King's College London. Register at the link
DisCouRSE Focus Group: Team Culture and Leadership in dRTP contexts
Participants in this DisCouRSE first focus group1 are gathered to explore how leadership can influence a healthy team2 culture in a dRTP context, with the aim of exchanging ideas and practices. The fo...
discourse-network.github.io
November 25, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
stejormur.bsky.social
I need the most 2025 news story you have...

No, that's too 2025
jim.londoncentric.media Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · Nov 20
It’s the exclusive everyone wanted, the story that will win next year’s Pulitzer…

I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
London's giant AI artwork to be torn down
The bizarre story of why a much-talked-about creation is being torn down. Plus: Docklands Light Railway extension, giant laser stalks the night sky, and more tales of Android phone theft rejection.
www.londoncentric.media
November 20, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
carpentries.carpentries.org
This 2 hour session, celebrating Ten Years of Library Carpentry, has just started! 🎉

Join us to celebrate this milestone! carpentries.org/community/ev...
A poster that reads "Celebrating Ten Years of Library Carpentry" with an image of the number "10" with a party hat on it.
November 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
philippbayer.bsky.social
I'll just leave this here

hbr.org/2025/02/when...
When Your Job Breaks Your Heart
Professional heartbreak is the loss of something work-related that feels as personally wounding as grief or heartbreak in your personal life. It might involve the death of a dream, like owning your bu...
hbr.org
November 17, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
carpentries.carpentries.org
📢 Your contribution matters! Help The Carpentries enhance our Glossary of Terms with real Carpentries community examples of accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Share your experiences with us today! 🌟

Read more on how you can help: github.com/carpentries/...
DEI and Accessibility in Action: Share with us your examples of actions you have undertaken towards the realisation of accessibility, diversity, equity and inclusion in The Carpentries community · Iss...
Background/Context The Carpentries is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. This is a commitment we have reinforced in recent times, and again, and again. The Equity, Accessi...
github.com
July 22, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
lorencrary.bsky.social
pls enjoy our beautiful new donate.python.org page <3

thank youuuuuu @maureira.dev and @durbin.ee
November 12, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
carpentries.carpentries.org
The support the Python community has shown to PSF for its decision has given us hope in the sustainability of open science communities. Please consider extending your generosity to our organisation’s fundraising efforts, and help us to reach others aligned to our mission: carpentries.org/support/
Support The Carpentries
We are grateful to the individuals and organisations who provide financial support to The Carpentries. If you are interested in supporting our work, you can learn more about becoming a Member Organisa...
carpentries.org
November 7, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
carpentries.carpentries.org
We are thrilled with the renewed attention that The Carpentries has received for deciding to withdraw a $1.5 million proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF), thanks to a recent similar decision made by the @python.org (PSF) and the generous shout-out they gave us when they announced it. 🙏
November 7, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Toby Hodges
alastairdunning.bsky.social
"Crucially, students will need to develop sufficient expertise to identify when AI systems produce plausible but incorrect outputs — which poses a dilemma because this requires the very skills that AI is starting to replace."

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
PhD training needs a reboot in an AI world
As machines get better at data analysis and writing tasks, doctoral training must evolve to make the most of artificial-intelligence outputs.
www.nature.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:22 AM