Valentin Kiss
@valentinkiss.bsky.social
PhD student at University of Antwerp
Disease ecology - Urban ecology - Ornithology
Currently tracking superspreaders in the belgian urban jungle 🦠🐦🏙️
Disease ecology - Urban ecology - Ornithology
Currently tracking superspreaders in the belgian urban jungle 🦠🐦🏙️
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
Audio long read 🔊 The air is full of DNA — here’s what scientists are using it for
go.nature.com/4wtQmt6
go.nature.com/4wtQmt6
Audio long read: The air is full of DNA — here’s what scientists are using it for
Listen to an audio version of a recent Nature Feature.
go.nature.com
May 12, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Audio long read 🔊 The air is full of DNA — here’s what scientists are using it for
go.nature.com/4wtQmt6
go.nature.com/4wtQmt6
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
➡️ Our researcher Pablo Burraco and his colleagues have visited Chernobyl and the surrounding areas many times over the years.
The BBC highlights some of their findings 👇
The BBC highlights some of their findings 👇
Surviving in a poisoned land: Chernobyl's wildlife is different, but not in the ways you might think
It's 40 years since the Chernobyl disaster. This is what it has meant for wildlife living around the devastated nuclear power plant.
www.bbc.co.uk
April 27, 2026 at 11:18 AM
➡️ Our researcher Pablo Burraco and his colleagues have visited Chernobyl and the surrounding areas many times over the years.
The BBC highlights some of their findings 👇
The BBC highlights some of their findings 👇
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
📢Fully-funded #PhD opportunity with us:
🐦 Quantifying (social) learning and social behaviour in an urbanised world 🐦
Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social
📆29th May deadline
More info: tinyurl.com/yz28s96x
Apply: tinyurl.com/2wpkb64y
#cognition #socialbehaviour #fieldwork #birds
🙏Please Share
🐦 Quantifying (social) learning and social behaviour in an urbanised world 🐦
Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social
📆29th May deadline
More info: tinyurl.com/yz28s96x
Apply: tinyurl.com/2wpkb64y
#cognition #socialbehaviour #fieldwork #birds
🙏Please Share
April 15, 2026 at 6:27 AM
📢Fully-funded #PhD opportunity with us:
🐦 Quantifying (social) learning and social behaviour in an urbanised world 🐦
Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social
📆29th May deadline
More info: tinyurl.com/yz28s96x
Apply: tinyurl.com/2wpkb64y
#cognition #socialbehaviour #fieldwork #birds
🙏Please Share
🐦 Quantifying (social) learning and social behaviour in an urbanised world 🐦
Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social
📆29th May deadline
More info: tinyurl.com/yz28s96x
Apply: tinyurl.com/2wpkb64y
#cognition #socialbehaviour #fieldwork #birds
🙏Please Share
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
Love this new evidence of the cognitive sophistication of cows and hope that it might make a few people rethink whether they want meat on their plates
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
Why a tool-using cow could change how we see farm animals
A pet cow has learned to scratch herself with a broom, showing creative problem-solving skills that make it harder to ignore the fact that these animals have minds, says Marta Halina
www.newscientist.com
January 20, 2026 at 9:56 AM
Love this new evidence of the cognitive sophistication of cows and hope that it might make a few people rethink whether they want meat on their plates
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
We are looking for a new lab administrator (0.5 FTE) - come and join in pushing forward our research and impact in infectious disease! www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
www.cam.ac.uk
January 15, 2026 at 10:03 AM
We are looking for a new lab administrator (0.5 FTE) - come and join in pushing forward our research and impact in infectious disease! www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
Might be worth checking out some of the data on prophage induction and temperature? pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... or journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
The effect of a temperature‐sensitive prophage on the evolution of virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen
Viruses are key actors of ecosystems and have major impacts on global biogeochemical cycles. Prophages deserve particular attention as they are ubiquitous in bacterial genomes and can enter a lytic cycle when triggered by environmental conditions. ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
January 12, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Might be worth checking out some of the data on prophage induction and temperature? pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... or journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
Friendship is magic: male dolphins with close friends age more slowly
theconversation.com/friendship-i...
theconversation.com/friendship-i...
Friendship is magic: male dolphins with close friends age more slowly
Like friendship itself, the slower ageing is more than just skin deep.
theconversation.com
December 15, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Friendship is magic: male dolphins with close friends age more slowly
theconversation.com/friendship-i...
theconversation.com/friendship-i...
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
Keynote nominations are now open for the BOU 2027 Spring Conference on Avian Disease Ecology!
Submit via the conference webpage: bou.org.uk/event/avian-...
Also thrilled to announce that Prof. Dana Hawley (@danahawley.bsky.social) will deliver the Alfred Newton Lecture.
Please share!
Submit via the conference webpage: bou.org.uk/event/avian-...
Also thrilled to announce that Prof. Dana Hawley (@danahawley.bsky.social) will deliver the Alfred Newton Lecture.
Please share!
December 11, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Keynote nominations are now open for the BOU 2027 Spring Conference on Avian Disease Ecology!
Submit via the conference webpage: bou.org.uk/event/avian-...
Also thrilled to announce that Prof. Dana Hawley (@danahawley.bsky.social) will deliver the Alfred Newton Lecture.
Please share!
Submit via the conference webpage: bou.org.uk/event/avian-...
Also thrilled to announce that Prof. Dana Hawley (@danahawley.bsky.social) will deliver the Alfred Newton Lecture.
Please share!
377 #pigeons sampled later, I’m happy to share that the first paper from my PhD is published in One Health Journal
It’s about monitoring #disease in the #urban #landscape and why a one number city-level #prevalence report can be misleading
You can read the full PDF here: doi.org/10.1016/j.on...
It’s about monitoring #disease in the #urban #landscape and why a one number city-level #prevalence report can be misleading
You can read the full PDF here: doi.org/10.1016/j.on...
December 13, 2025 at 12:41 PM
377 #pigeons sampled later, I’m happy to share that the first paper from my PhD is published in One Health Journal
It’s about monitoring #disease in the #urban #landscape and why a one number city-level #prevalence report can be misleading
You can read the full PDF here: doi.org/10.1016/j.on...
It’s about monitoring #disease in the #urban #landscape and why a one number city-level #prevalence report can be misleading
You can read the full PDF here: doi.org/10.1016/j.on...
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
🚨 New Research Alert!
Urban air pollution harms wildlife too. A study in Journal of Hazardous Materials shows yellow-legged gull chicks in Barcelona act as sentinels for air quality. 🐦🌆
🔗 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.140518
#OneHealth
@icmcsic.bsky.social
@jnavarro.bsky.social
Urban air pollution harms wildlife too. A study in Journal of Hazardous Materials shows yellow-legged gull chicks in Barcelona act as sentinels for air quality. 🐦🌆
🔗 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.140518
#OneHealth
@icmcsic.bsky.social
@jnavarro.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 4:58 PM
🚨 New Research Alert!
Urban air pollution harms wildlife too. A study in Journal of Hazardous Materials shows yellow-legged gull chicks in Barcelona act as sentinels for air quality. 🐦🌆
🔗 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.140518
#OneHealth
@icmcsic.bsky.social
@jnavarro.bsky.social
Urban air pollution harms wildlife too. A study in Journal of Hazardous Materials shows yellow-legged gull chicks in Barcelona act as sentinels for air quality. 🐦🌆
🔗 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.140518
#OneHealth
@icmcsic.bsky.social
@jnavarro.bsky.social
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
Half the southern elephant seals on South Georgia Island, one of the major populations, were wiped out by bird flu in the past two years:
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/b...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/b...
Bird Flu Wiped Out Nearly Half of the Females in the World’s Largest Elephant Seal Population, Drone Images Suggest
Scientists recorded a 47 percent drop in breeding females in South Georgia’s three largest elephant seal colonies after bird flu hit. Scaled to the whole island, that’s a potential loss of more than 5...
www.smithsonianmag.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Half the southern elephant seals on South Georgia Island, one of the major populations, were wiped out by bird flu in the past two years:
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/b...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/b...
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
🎓 Funded #PhD studentships in pathogen biology and parasitology
*Cell and Molecular Biology*; *Host-pathogen interactions*
Part of the EastBio Doctoral Landscape Award
Based in the Edinburgh area of Scotland
PhD 1:
bit.ly/Host-pathoge...
PhD 2:
bit.ly/Parasite-sca...
@uoe-eid.bsky.social
*Cell and Molecular Biology*; *Host-pathogen interactions*
Part of the EastBio Doctoral Landscape Award
Based in the Edinburgh area of Scotland
PhD 1:
bit.ly/Host-pathoge...
PhD 2:
bit.ly/Parasite-sca...
@uoe-eid.bsky.social
EastBio: A host-directed approach to identify novel therapeutic targets of infectious reproductive diseases at Moredun Research Institute on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - EastBio: A host-directed approach to identify novel therapeutic targets of infectious reproductive diseases at Moredun Research Institute, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
🎓 Funded #PhD studentships in pathogen biology and parasitology
*Cell and Molecular Biology*; *Host-pathogen interactions*
Part of the EastBio Doctoral Landscape Award
Based in the Edinburgh area of Scotland
PhD 1:
bit.ly/Host-pathoge...
PhD 2:
bit.ly/Parasite-sca...
@uoe-eid.bsky.social
*Cell and Molecular Biology*; *Host-pathogen interactions*
Part of the EastBio Doctoral Landscape Award
Based in the Edinburgh area of Scotland
PhD 1:
bit.ly/Host-pathoge...
PhD 2:
bit.ly/Parasite-sca...
@uoe-eid.bsky.social
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
Now out in @natcomms.nature.com Kudos to @tylim.bsky.social and @jameshay.bsky.social for a huge effort and thanks to all the collaborators for their hard work. See the final version here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 20, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Now out in @natcomms.nature.com Kudos to @tylim.bsky.social and @jameshay.bsky.social for a huge effort and thanks to all the collaborators for their hard work. See the final version here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This week I had the opportunity to present some results from my #PhD project at the #NVG conference. I shared our work on #Chlamydia psittaci prevalence in feral #pigeons within a #OneHealth framework, highlighting why fine-scale reporting is essential when monitoring #disease dynamics in cities. 🏙️
November 21, 2025 at 7:37 PM
This week I had the opportunity to present some results from my #PhD project at the #NVG conference. I shared our work on #Chlamydia psittaci prevalence in feral #pigeons within a #OneHealth framework, highlighting why fine-scale reporting is essential when monitoring #disease dynamics in cities. 🏙️
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
NEW PAPER: how does urban noise, lights, and stress disrupt birds’ sleep? This review shows that our knowledge about this is fragmeneted and calls for direct tests linking disturbed sleep to bird behavior, fitness, and survival.
➡️ vist.ly/4e7dj
#ornithology #birds #urbanecology 🪶
➡️ vist.ly/4e7dj
#ornithology #birds #urbanecology 🪶
November 13, 2025 at 12:27 PM
NEW PAPER: how does urban noise, lights, and stress disrupt birds’ sleep? This review shows that our knowledge about this is fragmeneted and calls for direct tests linking disturbed sleep to bird behavior, fitness, and survival.
➡️ vist.ly/4e7dj
#ornithology #birds #urbanecology 🪶
➡️ vist.ly/4e7dj
#ornithology #birds #urbanecology 🪶
November 12, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
What makes PhD students happy? Good supervision www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What makes PhD students happy? Good supervision
Supervisors who invest in positive mentoring relationships with their PhD candidates also reap the benefits for their own research.
www.nature.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:33 AM
What makes PhD students happy? Good supervision www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
Delighted to see Hannah’s penultimate PhD paper come out today www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Strong evidence against the ‘warmer, sicker world’ hypothesis. Parasites 🪱🦠 and their hosts are just very variable! Another great collaboration with @juliakoricheva.bsky.social @rhulbiology.bsky.social
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
September 30, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Delighted to see Hannah’s penultimate PhD paper come out today www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Strong evidence against the ‘warmer, sicker world’ hypothesis. Parasites 🪱🦠 and their hosts are just very variable! Another great collaboration with @juliakoricheva.bsky.social @rhulbiology.bsky.social
Reposted by Valentin Kiss
Comparing the feral city pigeon with its wild form, Early Career Fellow @willjsmith.bsky.social endeavors to reveal whether feral species are experiencing reverse-domestication or proceeding down a new evolutionary trajectory.
media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/wsmith @uniofnottingham.bsky.social
media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/wsmith @uniofnottingham.bsky.social
September 11, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Comparing the feral city pigeon with its wild form, Early Career Fellow @willjsmith.bsky.social endeavors to reveal whether feral species are experiencing reverse-domestication or proceeding down a new evolutionary trajectory.
media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/wsmith @uniofnottingham.bsky.social
media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/wsmith @uniofnottingham.bsky.social
Perceptions of #pigeons are not trivial. How we see them (either as companions or gross rats with wings) shapes the behaviour and #management policies that structure pigeon populations and the #pathogens they carry.
Mumbai: Pigeon feeding ban sparks debate in India - BBC News
Feeding pigeons is common in Indian cities but is now controversial due to rising numbers and health risks.
www.bbc.com
September 2, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Perceptions of #pigeons are not trivial. How we see them (either as companions or gross rats with wings) shapes the behaviour and #management policies that structure pigeon populations and the #pathogens they carry.
Cities aren’t uniform. Neither is disease. 🦠🏙️
Psittacosis in #urban feral #pigeons shows fine-scale heterogeneity, even a few kilometres can make a big difference. City averages risk hiding the true #hotspots without dense spatial sampling
#DiseaseEcology #UrbanEcology #EOU25
Psittacosis in #urban feral #pigeons shows fine-scale heterogeneity, even a few kilometres can make a big difference. City averages risk hiding the true #hotspots without dense spatial sampling
#DiseaseEcology #UrbanEcology #EOU25
August 23, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Cities aren’t uniform. Neither is disease. 🦠🏙️
Psittacosis in #urban feral #pigeons shows fine-scale heterogeneity, even a few kilometres can make a big difference. City averages risk hiding the true #hotspots without dense spatial sampling
#DiseaseEcology #UrbanEcology #EOU25
Psittacosis in #urban feral #pigeons shows fine-scale heterogeneity, even a few kilometres can make a big difference. City averages risk hiding the true #hotspots without dense spatial sampling
#DiseaseEcology #UrbanEcology #EOU25
Big day for psychedelic assisted therapy and research in the European Parliament! 🇪🇺
Today, was launched:
🔹 PAREA’s MEP Action Group on Psychedelics in Healthcare (relaunch)
🔹 The European Citizens #PsychedeliCare Initiative
#PsychedelicScience #MentalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #EUPolicy
Today, was launched:
🔹 PAREA’s MEP Action Group on Psychedelics in Healthcare (relaunch)
🔹 The European Citizens #PsychedeliCare Initiative
#PsychedelicScience #MentalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #EUPolicy
February 6, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Big day for psychedelic assisted therapy and research in the European Parliament! 🇪🇺
Today, was launched:
🔹 PAREA’s MEP Action Group on Psychedelics in Healthcare (relaunch)
🔹 The European Citizens #PsychedeliCare Initiative
#PsychedelicScience #MentalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #EUPolicy
Today, was launched:
🔹 PAREA’s MEP Action Group on Psychedelics in Healthcare (relaunch)
🔹 The European Citizens #PsychedeliCare Initiative
#PsychedelicScience #MentalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #EUPolicy