For folks considering grad school in ML, my advice is to explore programs that mix ML with a domain interest. ML programs are wildly oversubscribed while a lot of the fun right now is in figuring out what you can do with it
So, what *is* the @ecir2026.eu Information Retrieval for Good track? by Maria Heuss and Bhaskar Mitra:
https://bhaskar-mitra.github.io/posts/2025/09/01/what-is-ir-for-good/
๐จ New paper alert ๐จ Using LLMs as data annotators, you can produce any scientific result you want. We call this **LLM Hacking**.
Paper: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.08825
Curious about my PhD research?
โถ๏ธ Watch a 10-min talk + my defense: lnkd.in/ej_MWDtt
๐ Read the dissertation: lnkd.in/efBW97WB
๐ฐ Or read the short news article: lnkd.in/eizZg5VN
Amazing co-authors broadened my perspective and made me a better scientist. Thank you so much for that! ๐
Also to my doctoral committee: @damiantrilling.net , Annette Hautli-Janisz, reshmi G Pillai, @Khalid Al Khatib & Antal van den Bosch: thank you for your thoughtful (and fun!) questions.
And huge thanks to my incredible paranymphs @urjakh.bsky.social and Selene Baez Santamaria ๐ฏโโ๏ธ. From Zoom rooms to the stage, our journey has been full of growth, laughter, and mutual support. โค๏ธ
In fact, all PhDs from @cltl.bsky.social were a great community of support. ๐
Last week, I defended my dissertation "๐ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด: ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ" at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. *the* moment: #PhDone! ๐โจ๐
I couldnโt have asked for better supervisors than Antske Fokkens & @suzanv.bsky.social ๐
Its the final countdown ๐ถ๐ค (I am re-reading my dissertation for my defense next week), and actually I realized I had some fun findings hidden in some papers that I myself forgot about! ๐ I donโt know if thatโs a good or bad sign for my defense.. ๐