Ronin Institute

our latest research has just been published in the journal New Phytologist, published by The New Phytologist Foundation. Our team reinvestigated the Late Triassic fossil leaf Furcula granulifer, and discovered that even if it shows a netted, hierarchical venation similar to extant angiosperms, it was probably related to an extinct group of seed ferns, the Peltaspermales. This suggests that angiosperm-like leaves evolved multiple times during Earth's history, with many failed natural experiments before the radiation of flowering plants in the Early Cretaceous. You can check the article for free for more details!

We're putting the final touches on our book "A Guide for Community Stewards" that we have been working on for the past two years! With the launch of our book, we will be hosting a new 8-week learning community this fall based on the topics of the book. There are two ways to participate: -> You can join the learning community session that is open to the public, (https://lnkd.in/gATrCJTV) -> You can bring co-authors Eva Jo Meyers and Arika Virapongse to your site with an in-house session (https://lnkd.in/gJASfxXE) If you want to learn more about this opportunity, please join us for one of our free 1-hour “taster” sessions on August 20 (https://lnkd.in/gMKESzjz) or September 13 (https://lnkd.in/gH_staqA). We know that August and September may seem far away, but we also know that budgets are being planned right now, so it's actually the best time to get plans in place! If you have questions, please let us know so we can give you additional details. #communitybuilding #professionaldevelopment #learning

What constitutes an #interruption? How do we experience interruptions in our conversations, projects, creative riffs, careers, life? Are interruptions 'bad' and to be avoided or could we embrace what they offer? What conditioning shapes our gut response? A refreshingly left-field theme for our #CatalystNetwork check-in with Laurel Haak, US-based biomedical researcher, policy wonk, company leader and not-for-profit board member. Laure is working with Ronin Institute colleague Emily Lankau on a new podcast, We Interrupt This Podcast, exploring the question: 'Is there a way we as humans can learn to listen to more than one thread of enquiry at a time?' That prompt generated a lively/noisy conversation about language, #culture, #ethics, family, schooling, #gender, #neurodiversity and much more. What do we miss in the 'dyadic' conversations many of us have been conditioned to see as polite - 'I speak, you listen'? How are these shaped by invisible power structures at home, #schools, #work and out in the #community? How might we make space for more diversity of ideas and participation? (Lots there for your work, Doug Cronin and Dung Tran). Thanks, Laurel Haak - look forward to seeing how you structure your podcast in the spirit of interruptions... DOMINIC ENTHOVEN Diane T. Finegood Trish Wilson Pete Cohen Lucy Belfrage Donalea Patman OAM Camille Carroll Aria Colton Clare Harding DPhil Marti Spiegelman MFA Kate Spencer Jacinta Whelan Amanda Lamont Thomas Biasetto Dionne Lew Cassandra Gordon Justine Mackey Aaron McEwan Emily Russo, Ph.D Peter Vander Auwera Mykel Dixon Steven Spurr Diana Renner Robert Poynton Carol Corzo Susan C. Dr. Richard Claydon

Been podcasting some more: https://lnkd.in/dNaMFDBx This time with @Trent_STEMpunk on #Futurati. We talk about organisms & algorithms and why we won't get #AGI from the latter. #AI is #AlgorithmicMimicry

As it is Friday, I have some fun news to share: You can now officially write "According to Donald and Duck (2024)..." My sincere thanks to Dr Nicholas Duck for being such a good sport and collaborating with me. Life is Too Short to Be Serious All the Time: Donald Duck Presents Unconventional Motivations for Publishing in Academia William E. Donald & Dr Nicholas Duck GiLE Journal of Skills Development [Open Access] Abstract: In this food for thought article, we introduce the ‘Donald Duck Phenomenon’ to consider ten unconventional reasons for publishing in academia. These include (i) symbolic immortality, (ii) personal satisfaction, (iii) a sense of pride, (iv) serious leisure, (v) cause credibility, (vi) altruism, (vii) collaboration with a friend or family member, (viii) collaboration with a hero, (ix) conflict or revenge, and (x) for amusement. The article was inspired by the lead author’s social media search for a co-author with the surname ‘Duck’. Through LinkedIn, the lead author, Associate Professor William E. Donald, who is based in the UK and specialises in Sustainable Careers and Human Resource Management, found a collaborator, Dr Nicholas Duck, based in Australia and specialises in Organisational Psychology. While the collaboration may appear somewhat ‘quackers’, per one of Donald Duck’s famous phrases, “Life is too short to be serious all the time, so if you can’t laugh at yourself then call me… I’ll laugh at you, for you”. We hope that this article offers some interesting insights, particularly for academics at the start of their scholarly journey, and acts as a way to stimulate conversation around unconventional reasons for publishing in academia. To Cite: Donald, W. E. & Duck, N. (2024). Life is too short to be serious all the time: Donald Duck presents unconventional motivations for publishing in academia. GiLE Journal of Skills Development, 4(1), 141-145. DOI: 10.52398/gjsd.2024.v4.i1.pp141-145

Blight is global....as it has been.

Introducing a sustainable career ecosystem: Theoretical perspectives, conceptualization, and future research agenda William E. Donald, Beatrice van der Heijden, & Yehuda Baruch (2024) Journal of Vocational Behavior [Fresh off the press and open access!] Abstract Our paper advances the embryonic interest of combining the theoretical frameworks of sustainable career and career ecosystem into a sustainable career ecosystem theory by introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a new actor, spotlighting the need for liminality of the relationship between an individual and career practitioner, and presenting a new conceptual model. We begin by providing a brief overview of sustainable career and career ecosystem theories, culminating in a recently proposed definition of a sustainable career ecosystem. Second, using this as our point of departure, we consider the theoretical perspectives for understanding a sustainable career ecosystem through (a) introducing AI as a new actor with the potential to disrupt and transform the (future) labor market and (b) making a case for the liminality of the individual and career practitioner relationship. Third, we consider various dimensions for analyzing a sustainable career ecosystem to offer a new conceptual model. We conclude with a future research agenda. Read/download for free below or access for free via the publisher: https://lnkd.in/eVKG23dG As always, thoughts and feedback are most welcome. Enjoy!

Publishing qualitative articles is often quite a challenging process. That is why it is so lovely to see our (William E. Donald, Yehuda Baruch, and Melanie Ashleigh) article in Human Resource Development Quarterly recognised as one of the most downloaded articles of the last 12 months. Donald, W. E., Baruch, Y. & Ashleigh, M. J. (2023). Technological transformation and human resource development of early career talent: Insights from accounting, banking, and finance. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 34(3), 329-348. DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21491 You can access the article for free here: https://lnkd.in/eHpGbKUk Abstract This paper provides insights into the opportunities and risks that the technological transformation of Human Resource Development (HRD) presents in the context of early career talent in the accounting, banking, and finance sector. Three research questions are explored. (1) What opportunities exist for organizations investing in technology as a talent management strategy for recruiting early career talent? (2) What are the risks or threats to organizations from investing in technology as a strategy for recruiting early career talent? (3) What role do meso-level actors play in recruiting early career talent? More specifically, to what extent do the views of graduate recruiters and career advisors as agents of organizations and higher education institutions align or diverge? Thirty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with graduate recruiters and career advisors. Thematic analysis was subsequently applied, identifying three themes (i) employer branding, (ii) virtual recruitment, and (iii) diversity and social inclusion agendas, each presented opportunities and risks. The theoretical contribution comes from advancing career ecosystems and the new psychological contract as a theoretical framework by focusing on technological transformation and capturing the dyadic relationship between the meso-level actors. Our paper integrates three topic clusters of HRD interventions and outcomes, national HRD, and career development, while manifesting the role and importance of under-represented career actors. Practical implications aim to help shape talent management strategies for recruiting early career talent. Capturing the views of career advisors in this study can help organizations identify blind spots and inform policy.

Better late than never: finally, I'm updating the book again with new chapters! https://lnkd.in/dj_9HTdc #BeyondTheAgeOfMachines The map is not the territory. This latest addition to "Beyond the Age of Machines" is called "Mechanistic Maps." TL;DR: it describes the philosophical baggage of mechanistic science (transcendental laws, no circular causation & laws vs. state) through a quick & dirty conceptual history from Plato to Newton. As usual, this is a first draft. Feedback is greatly appreciated!