30 Ex.phil. papers graded

The last couple of days I have graded 30 papers in Examen Philosophicum at Department of social studies (University of Stavanger), stepping in for my substitute. Paid as overtime.

Google Scholar: 401 citations, h-index 11; tenfold increase since 2013

According to Google Scholar my academic work has by now attracted 401 citations (cf. my Google Scholar profile). This is up 15 since November. My h-index is 11, meaning that 11 of my texts have been cited at least 11 times each. This is up 1 since November. My h10-index is 13, which is down 1 since November (an additional six papers have 8 or 9 citations and are this close to reaching 10 plus each).

2019 stands with 47 citations. This is only my fifth-best year.

Here is an overview of year-end accumulated totals (closest date recorded in same year):

2013 (28Apr): 38

2014: n/a 

2015 (30Sep): 88

2016 (6Dec): 155

2017 (19Dec): 261

2018 (22Nov): 351

2019 (26Dec): 401

Autumn´s last (half) writing day; 27.481 words written this autumn

Today I had half a writing day, with some 3,5 hours devoted to revising my hybrid natures article. This brings the total number of article writing days this autumn up to 32, with some 27.481 words written.

Council for animal ethics´ statement on oil fund ethical guidelines

Here is the statement (in Norwegian) from Norway´s Council for animal ethics to the Committee to review the Guidelines for Observation and Exclusion of Companies from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), which was drafted by me.

 

Half writing day

Today I have had half an article writing day devoted to revision of my hybrid nature article. This brings the total number of writing days this autumn up to 31,5.

RCN application got grade 3

My research application sent to Research Council of Norway, "Assessing human and animal welfare in the Anthropocene", got grade 3 (scale 1-7) from the expert panel. Not a good result at all.

Ethics council statement drafted

On behalf of Norway´s Council for animal ethics, I have drafted the council´s statement to the Committee to review the Guidelines for Observation and Exclusion of Companies from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), which will be submitted later today.

Virtual issue in honor of Jesper Hoffmeyer published

Biosemiotics has published a virtual issue in honor of Jesper Hoffmeyer. The virtual issue consists of the editorial "Jesper Hoffmeyer´s biosemiotic legacy" and all his Springer Nature publications (6 articles and 8 book chapters), which are freely accessible online for a period of 8 weeks.

Half writing day; work with hybrid nature article

Today I´ve had half an article writing day, bringing this autumn´s number of writing days up to 31. I spent some 3 hours revising my hybrid natures article for Biosemiotics. I added some 100 words, looked over use of number punctuation and citation marks etc., and changed the title to: "Current human ecology in the Amazon and beyond: A multi-scale approach".

One last meeting this autumn

Today I attended the appointments committee meeting at Faculty of social sciences, with my 4-year old son sitting next to me making drawings.

AHAWELL not funded by RCN

Today it was announced what research projects got funded by the Research Council of Norway following the April 10th deadline this Spring. My research project application "Assessing human and animal welfare in the Anthropocene" (AHAWELL) was not among them.

Two meetings

Today I have attended the faculty leadership group meeting at Faculty of social sciences, where we mostly discussed action plans for 2020, including action plan for research (drafted by me). I have also chaired the second meeting of the new ph.d. committee in the ph.d. programme in social sciences.

Four meetings

Today I have attended four meetings: a faculty leadership budget meeting; a work lunch on prospective Norwegian-Baltic research collaboration; a planning meeting for the faculty´s upcoming Fagdag (academic day), and an appointments committee meeting related to the position as Head of department of Department of media and social sciences.

Plans for publishing English-language scientific monograph on CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement

I have received a letter of intent from Universitetsforlaget (Scandinavian University Press) for the planned publication of an English-language scientific monograph work-titled Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. Tentative publication year is 2021.

Half writing day

Today I had half an article writing day devoted to revision of my article "Human ecology in the Amazonas and beyond: An ecosemiotic analysis". I deleted some 260 more words than I wrote. This brings total number of writing days this autumn up to 30,5.

Faculty leadership meeting; action plan for research drafted and discussed

Today I attended the faculty leadership meeting at Faculty of social sciences. At the meeting we discussed my draft for action plan for research in 2020.

EiC teleconference call with Springer

Today I have attended an introductory teleconference video call with two fellow Editors-in-Chief and our new Springer Publishing editor contact, Emi Kirilova.

Three meetings as Vice-Dean of research

Today - now back in Stavanger - I have attended three meetings:

* a meeting with people working with the regional plan for Jæren in the Rogaland county administration

* a meeting related to Network for welfare research and two related program areas for research

* a dialogue meeting with two representatives for UIS doctoral community

MC meeting; leaving Paris

Today I attended the second half of the Management Committee meeting of the COST action GroupHouseNet, at FIAP in Paris (I am a deputy representative for Norway). I was also there for a planned Working Group meeting which for most of those present did not materialize due to concerns over our trips home given the ongoing political strike affecting pubic transportation.

Laying hen ethics article presented at final GroupHouseNet congress in Paris

Yesterday I presented our article "The ethics of laying hen genetics" at the Final Congress og the COST action "Synergy for preventing damaging behavior in group housed pigs and chickens" (Grouphousenet), at FIAP in Paris. 15 minutes of fame. Some 100 people from 20+ countries attended the congress.

1,5 more writing days; revision of "What can be known about future Umwelten" finished

In the process of completing the revision of my article "What can be known about future Umwelten", submitted to The American Journal of Semiotics, I had half an article writing day on Monday (day before yesterday) and a full article writing day last evening. And complete the revised article I did, at 01.30 or so. This brings the total number of article writing days this autumn up to 30.

Autumn´s 28,5th article writing day

Today I had an article writing day, with some 6 hours devoted to work on revising "What can be known about future Umwelten?" I have made three more figures, namely "The minimal Umwelt generally", "Umwelt prediction" and "Umwelt scenarios" (the two latter improvements of earlier attempts, now that I am using Google Drawing), and added some 600 words to the text. 

This brings the number of article writing days this autumn up to 28,5.

Two meetings

Today I have attended the faculty leadership meeting at Faculty of social sciences, and a meeting with UIS´ Vice-Rector for research in relation to research strategy.

27,5th article writing day; revision plans; book plans

Today I have had half a writing day, with some 2,5 hours devoted to various academic writing work. This includes planning for the revision of "Current human ecology in Amazonas and beyond: An ecosemiotic analysis", and for the book project Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism (see previous post about recent acceptance). I also wrote some 200 words on "What can be known about future Umwelten?"

This brings the total number of article writing days this autumn up to 27,5.

Book proposal "Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism" accepted by Springer Nature

Today I was notified that our book proposal Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism has been accepted by Springer Nature with plans for publishing the book in their Biosemiotics book series. Planned publication is in 2021. Alexei Sharov is first author, whereas I am second author for the book.

One and a half meeting

Today I attended the appointments committee meeting of the  Faculty of social sciences - but only two people with voting rights were present. We had our say about some cases, awaiting written input from other members, and decided that one case is to be rescheduled for the next meeting.

I also attended a planning meeting related to Network for welfare research (workshop plans and efforts to establish the steering group).

Annual UIS research ethics seminar chaired

Today I have chaired the annual seminar in research ethics of University of Stavanger, arranged by the UIS research unit in collaboration with the faculties-initiative Forum for forskning. The topics were publication ethics (lecture by COPE council member Frits Rosendaal) and handling of sensitive personal data. Some 90 people attended, at Måltidets hus.

Two and a half meeting

Today I attended the rector meeting at University of Stavanger (for the second time - standing in for Dean at Faculty of social sciences Gro Ellen Mathisen), the Forskningsutvalget (research committee) meeting, and the first 15 minutes of the Vice-Dean for research meeting chaired by Vice-Rector for Research Merete Vadla Madland.

Keynes essay submitted to Samtiden

I have submitted my essay "Vårt salige bestemmelsessted" to the Norwegian general interest journal Samtiden.

Editorial "Jesper Hoffmeyer´s Biosemiotic legacy" published online

Our editorial "Jesper Hoffmeyer´s biosemiotic legacy" was published online in Biosemiotics on November 22nd. Read it by following this link: https://rdcu.be/bX1YN

Reference:

Tønnessen, Morten, Alexei Sharov & Timo Maran 2019. Jesper Hoffmeyer's Biosemiotic Legacy. Editorial. Biosemiotics 12(3). Published online November 22nd 2019. DOI: 10.1007/s12304-019-09369-5.

"The ethics of laying hen genetics" published online; reference; abstract

Our article "The ethics of laying hen genetics" was published online (Open Access) in Journal of agricultural and environmental ethics November 22nd. Already 332 downloads. Link for reading (and download): https://rdcu.be/bX1XR 

Reference:

Mia Fernyhough, Christine J. Nicol, James Yeates, Michael J. Toscano & Morten Tønnessen 2019. The ethics of laying hen geneticshttps://rdcu.be/bX1XR. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. Published online November 22nd 2019. DOI: 10.1007/s10806-019-09810-2.

Abstract:

Despite societal concerns about the welfare of commercial laying hens, little attention has been paid to the welfare implications of the choices made by the genetics companies involved with their breeding. These choices regarding trait selection and other aspects of breeding significantly affect living conditions for the more than 7 billion laying hens in the world. However, these companies must consider a number of different commercial and societal interests, beyond animal welfare concerns. In this article we map some of the relevant dilemmas faced by genetics companies in order to outline the scope of opportunities to improve welfare under current market conditions. This includes identifying cases where different animal welfare concerns conflict. We discuss the moral responsibility of laying hen genetics companies and the welfare implications that derive from the choices they make and the policies they follow. In addition to evaluating a selection of predominant current practices and breeding goals, we outline different angles from where to assess the moral legitimacy of various industry practices and policies. We discuss specific issues such as injurious pecking, bone health, induced moulting, chick culling and the circumstances of breeding stock.