Will Allen
@wlallen.bsky.social
Associate Professor in Evolutionary and Sensory Ecology - Swansea University, Wales www.easelab.uk
co-Director @crocus-dla.bsky.social
Senior Editor @ecol-evol.bsky.social
co-Director @crocus-dla.bsky.social
Senior Editor @ecol-evol.bsky.social
The serenity of rolling over crunchy snow on my commute this morning was shattered when I opened my office door and saw water damage everywhere. All my books, artwork, photos ... feeling pretty devastated right now.
January 5, 2026 at 4:02 PM
The serenity of rolling over crunchy snow on my commute this morning was shattered when I opened my office door and saw water damage everywhere. All my books, artwork, photos ... feeling pretty devastated right now.
Matt Sparks presenting his PhD research on fly visual ecology in urban environments #ASABWinter2025
December 16, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Matt Sparks presenting his PhD research on fly visual ecology in urban environments #ASABWinter2025
Currently recruiting PhD students to follow up on this result - please come to have a chat if interested #ASABWinter2025
Compared to warning colouration, camouflage is more affected by the sensory enviro 👀 🦋 #ASABWinter2025
December 15, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Currently recruiting PhD students to follow up on this result - please come to have a chat if interested #ASABWinter2025
Application portal for 59 Crocus PhD project is now open - deadline 12th Jan.
Two studentships also available to BAME candidates.
Two studentships also available to BAME candidates.
The Crocus DLA will soon be open for applications to our Autumn 2026 intake for #PhD research across the environmental sciences with the University of Reading and Swansea University. www.findaphd.com/phds/program...
FindAPhD : Fully-funded PhD studentships with the CROCUS NERC Doctoral Landscape Award at University of Reading
Apply for a PhD: Fully-funded PhD studentships with the CROCUS NERC Doctoral Landscape Award at University of Reading
www.findaphd.com
December 10, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Application portal for 59 Crocus PhD project is now open - deadline 12th Jan.
Two studentships also available to BAME candidates.
Two studentships also available to BAME candidates.
More evidence of the benefits of lottery elements in funding.
'The new procedure required applicants to submit only an expression of interest...before 500 were selected, via lottery, to submit a full proposal for peer review....the number of female applicants increased 10 per cent, while the number of funded projects by women rose by 23 per cent.' 2/2
Lottery before peer review is associated with increased female representation and reduced estimated economic cost in a German funding line - Nature Communications
The authors show evidence from a German funding line that a lottery-first approach followed by peer review is accompanied by increased female representation both at the submission stage and among fund...
www.nature.com
December 9, 2025 at 9:19 AM
More evidence of the benefits of lottery elements in funding.
Reposted by Will Allen
We decided to put this one out before the end of the year "Gene expression and structural differences underpinning black and white colouration in spiders"
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
December 5, 2025 at 1:16 PM
We decided to put this one out before the end of the year "Gene expression and structural differences underpinning black and white colouration in spiders"
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
Reposted by Will Allen
First publication! 🥳 Very excited that my Master’s research project from @royalholloway.bsky.social is out in @ecol-evol.bsky.social this week. Big thank you to @sjportugal.bsky.social for all the support from start to finish.
Please don’t come for me Britney…
Please don’t come for me Britney…
New paper out today in Ecology and Evolution! Link below. Congrats PhD student @smthmpsn.bsky.social, on your first paper. All about how wild birds learn to avoid a novel aposematic warning signal. And a nice nod to Britney Spears in the paper title.
December 5, 2025 at 11:05 AM
First publication! 🥳 Very excited that my Master’s research project from @royalholloway.bsky.social is out in @ecol-evol.bsky.social this week. Big thank you to @sjportugal.bsky.social for all the support from start to finish.
Please don’t come for me Britney…
Please don’t come for me Britney…
🚨Two funded PhDs on the evolutionary ecology of antipredator colouration 🦋 with myself and Iliana Medina.
One in Swansea tinyurl.com/4thtbph6 deadline Jan 12th @crocus-dla.bsky.social
The other in Melbourne - deadline Jan 1st
Please share among potential students!
One in Swansea tinyurl.com/4thtbph6 deadline Jan 12th @crocus-dla.bsky.social
The other in Melbourne - deadline Jan 1st
Please share among potential students!
December 1, 2025 at 2:40 PM
🚨Two funded PhDs on the evolutionary ecology of antipredator colouration 🦋 with myself and Iliana Medina.
One in Swansea tinyurl.com/4thtbph6 deadline Jan 12th @crocus-dla.bsky.social
The other in Melbourne - deadline Jan 1st
Please share among potential students!
One in Swansea tinyurl.com/4thtbph6 deadline Jan 12th @crocus-dla.bsky.social
The other in Melbourne - deadline Jan 1st
Please share among potential students!
Reposted by Will Allen
Thank you bringing your knowledge, enthusiasm, and hope to this year's Winter Meeting at National Museum Cardiff. We hope to see you all next year!
November 28, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Thank you bringing your knowledge, enthusiasm, and hope to this year's Winter Meeting at National Museum Cardiff. We hope to see you all next year!
Postdoc Caitlin Hawley sharing results from our work on Primate natal colouration at #PSGBCardiff2025
November 27, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Postdoc Caitlin Hawley sharing results from our work on Primate natal colouration at #PSGBCardiff2025
Reposted by Will Allen
PhD opportunity: MOVE
Details: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/c...
Deadline: 12/01/26
Supervisors: @shoalgroup.bsky.social, @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social, @wlallen.bsky.social, @nhcooper123.bsky.social, @marinapapa.bsky.social
Apply: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/p...
Details: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/c...
Deadline: 12/01/26
Supervisors: @shoalgroup.bsky.social, @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social, @wlallen.bsky.social, @nhcooper123.bsky.social, @marinapapa.bsky.social
Apply: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/p...
November 20, 2025 at 9:09 AM
PhD opportunity: MOVE
Details: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/c...
Deadline: 12/01/26
Supervisors: @shoalgroup.bsky.social, @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social, @wlallen.bsky.social, @nhcooper123.bsky.social, @marinapapa.bsky.social
Apply: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/p...
Details: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/c...
Deadline: 12/01/26
Supervisors: @shoalgroup.bsky.social, @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social, @wlallen.bsky.social, @nhcooper123.bsky.social, @marinapapa.bsky.social
Apply: blogs.reading.ac.uk/crocus-dla/p...
Reposted by Will Allen
If you like genomics, speciation, and primates, this PhD position is for you! Unraveling the genomic architecture of speciation and gene flow in guenons, a diverse group of African monkeys. Funding through DTP. Do reach out with questions! #genomics #genome_assembly
evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
October 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
If you like genomics, speciation, and primates, this PhD position is for you! Unraveling the genomic architecture of speciation and gene flow in guenons, a diverse group of African monkeys. Funding through DTP. Do reach out with questions! #genomics #genome_assembly
evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
September 25, 2025 at 6:26 PM
📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Will Allen
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
September 24, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...
Reposted by Will Allen
Postdoc job alert! We are hiring a NYU-based postdoc to work on our project on the social and environmental determinants of aging. The 3 year post will be based in James Higham's lab and will focus on endocrine, immune, and inflammatory aspects of aging. Please share! apply.interfolio.com/173938
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
September 22, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Postdoc job alert! We are hiring a NYU-based postdoc to work on our project on the social and environmental determinants of aging. The 3 year post will be based in James Higham's lab and will focus on endocrine, immune, and inflammatory aspects of aging. Please share! apply.interfolio.com/173938
Matt Sparks, my PhD student, and Roger Santer wrote a very interesting article for The Conversation on fly vision, and why understanding it better can help prevent human disease. theconversation.com/how-a-fly-se...
How a fly sees the world – and why understanding its vision can help prevent disease
Flies see things differently.
theconversation.com
September 22, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Matt Sparks, my PhD student, and Roger Santer wrote a very interesting article for The Conversation on fly vision, and why understanding it better can help prevent human disease. theconversation.com/how-a-fly-se...
Reposted by Will Allen
Super happy to share the first chapter of my PhD, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface ✨🐀 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!
Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!
September 17, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Super happy to share the first chapter of my PhD, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface ✨🐀 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!
Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!
Reposted by Will Allen
Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.
September 5, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.
Depressing stich-up by the right-wing press. Rayner is an inspiration to everyone trying to get on in life after a difficult childhood, and for helping others to do the same. I hope she is back in Government soon.
![The Telegraph
Rayner tax scandal - £40k tax dodge - Statement
Angela Rayner dodges £40,000 stamp duty
Deputy Prime Minister reduces tax bill for Hove flat by declaring it as her main residence
[Photo: Angela Rayner pictured at the weekend in Hove, where she has just bought a flat Credit: Dan Charity/The Sun on Sunday]
Robert Mendick Chief Reporter. Amy Gibbons Political Correspondent
29 August 2025 8:57am BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreihe5mm7nwmwvzhtgadmsafyvsaxhrufuai2d2j2rju5zt6g2lytea@jpeg)
![The Telegraph
Money > Property > Second homes
How to avoid tax on your second home
From stamp duty to council tax, shield your wealth from Labour's tightening net
[Photo of houses around a bay - Areas such as Cornwall have added a premium to council tax bills for second homes Credit: iStockphoto]
Fran Ivens Senior Money Writer
29 August 2025 1:21pm BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreieuwgc2vsmyfcctmf4cnpcqckij2pqdk2gmzajpnihrsqyqmzyr5e@jpeg)
September 5, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Depressing stich-up by the right-wing press. Rayner is an inspiration to everyone trying to get on in life after a difficult childhood, and for helping others to do the same. I hope she is back in Government soon.
The genomics of discrete polymorphisms maintained by disruptive selection: Trends in Ecology & Evolution www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
The genomics of discrete polymorphisms maintained by disruptive selection
Disruptive selection can lead to the evolution of discrete morphs. We show that particular
genetic architectures, in terms of dominance, epistasis, and linkage, are likely to
evolve to produce discret...
www.cell.com
September 5, 2025 at 7:53 AM
The genomics of discrete polymorphisms maintained by disruptive selection: Trends in Ecology & Evolution www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
New paper @biolinvasions.bsky.social led by Sarah-Sophie Weil.
Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential?
We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups.
rdcu.be/eD9Tt
Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential?
We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups.
rdcu.be/eD9Tt
September 4, 2025 at 3:39 PM
New paper @biolinvasions.bsky.social led by Sarah-Sophie Weil.
Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential?
We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups.
rdcu.be/eD9Tt
Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential?
We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups.
rdcu.be/eD9Tt
Reposted by Will Allen
@riadsala.bsky.social and I have been spending a long time thinking about modelling visual foraging. v2 model glow up: 1) it can account for individual diffs in lots of summary stats 2) it can deal with 'outliers' really nicely and 3) it should be easier to use! osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
September 1, 2025 at 9:03 AM
@riadsala.bsky.social and I have been spending a long time thinking about modelling visual foraging. v2 model glow up: 1) it can account for individual diffs in lots of summary stats 2) it can deal with 'outliers' really nicely and 3) it should be easier to use! osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Will Allen
📢 New in Ecology Letters: heterogeneity ≠ stability.
🌊🪨 3-yr rocky-shore experiment: 4 cascades canceled the classic heterogeneity–stability link.
📄 doi.org/10.1111/ele.70158
With @thefairchild.bsky.social , @MatthewPerkins, @JamesBull & @jngriffy.bsky.social — thanks to @NERC & @SwanseaUniversity.
🌊🪨 3-yr rocky-shore experiment: 4 cascades canceled the classic heterogeneity–stability link.
📄 doi.org/10.1111/ele.70158
With @thefairchild.bsky.social , @MatthewPerkins, @JamesBull & @jngriffy.bsky.social — thanks to @NERC & @SwanseaUniversity.
September 1, 2025 at 5:49 AM
📢 New in Ecology Letters: heterogeneity ≠ stability.
🌊🪨 3-yr rocky-shore experiment: 4 cascades canceled the classic heterogeneity–stability link.
📄 doi.org/10.1111/ele.70158
With @thefairchild.bsky.social , @MatthewPerkins, @JamesBull & @jngriffy.bsky.social — thanks to @NERC & @SwanseaUniversity.
🌊🪨 3-yr rocky-shore experiment: 4 cascades canceled the classic heterogeneity–stability link.
📄 doi.org/10.1111/ele.70158
With @thefairchild.bsky.social , @MatthewPerkins, @JamesBull & @jngriffy.bsky.social — thanks to @NERC & @SwanseaUniversity.
Sunrise at Refugio Juclar in Andorra. Hiking retreat after ESEB.
August 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Sunrise at Refugio Juclar in Andorra. Hiking retreat after ESEB.
Reposted by Will Allen
Pick an idiom: "more than meets the eye", "beauty more than skin [feather] deep" etc.
In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking!
🧪 🪶 #colsci
In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking!
🧪 🪶 #colsci
Songbirds play optical tricks to make their feather colors ‘pop’
Concealed black or white bands on feathers boost the vibrancy of bird plumage
www.science.org
August 13, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Pick an idiom: "more than meets the eye", "beauty more than skin [feather] deep" etc.
In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking!
🧪 🪶 #colsci
In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking!
🧪 🪶 #colsci