I have a position to fill as soon as possible for a DFG funded PhD project on optical modulation of MOF-glasses. If you are interested please send me your (non-AI generated) documents and describe your experience. An official job opening is coming later this months.

Delighted to be hosting the latest edition of the LGBTQ+ STEMinar at Queen Mary later this year. Abstract submissions are still open – we really want to hear from you, so don’t miss out!

LGBTQ+ STEM@lgbtqstem.bsky.social · 2w ago

Final countdown for Abstract Submissions! Submit your abstracts for your presentations for the STEMinar! Deadline 31 July! Find all the registration forms here: sites.google.com/view/lgbtqst...

First they came for the languages. In the hope that no one would have the words to say what was happening. 1/9🧵

University of Aberdeen's plans to cut modern language degrees were 'rushed' - review

The University of Aberdeen says it accepts there were "missteps" in its process in 2023.

bbc.co.uk

Very good, if extremely depressing, piece by Stefan Collini to explain what has been and is being done to this country’s universities. If interested to find out, I recommend reading it.

Stefan Collini · Squadrons of Pigs: Bonfire of the Universities

The problems with Britain’s universities are systemic and deep-rooted, not just local or contingent. Yet political and...

lrb.co.uk

Academic departments deserve to be saved, supported, resourced, allowed to grow even if they're not "best in the country," "first in the REF," "top-ranked," "at a Russell Group uni," or whatever other austerity-brained nonsense senior managers have been using to flimflam you out of solidarity

It's always cool to see amazing people get attention for their awesome books (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/s...

A Physicist Who Thinks in Poetry From the Cosmic Edge

nytimes.com

The Rosen Group at Princeton University is accepting applications for a postdoctoral researcher interested in developing and applying machine learning interatomic potentials to model the dynamics of inorganic, solid-state materials. Apply at apply.interfolio.com/186022 if interested!

“Someone who cannot criticise the actions of the Israeli government without suggesting that British Jews should be punished for those actions is, at a basic level, incompetent.” Hear, hear @stephenkb.bsky.social as.ft.com/r/a0177a88-e...

Row over Green candidates’ comments lays bare party’s real danger

Criticism of social media posts will not decide elections — but the quality of vetting matters for competency

as.ft.com

We know, but I'm typing anyways: Doing well in the REF will not save our programmes. Being good at teaching students will not save our programmes. Being diligent and agile employees will not save our programmes. Merging into the intellectual equivalent of hospice care will merely delay matters.

Richard Carr@richardcarr.bsky.social · 3mo ago

2014 REF: 2026: closing UG History

I'm not getting any less convinced that the main current driver of British politics, showing up in various ways and to various extents across the spectrum, is people's desire to be told "Here is a category of human beings whom it is legitimate for you to hate".

.@jewishnews.bsky.social has just published polling done by @moreincommonuk.bsky.social. While it's important to focus on the (relatively) positive, as the headline does, I would urge readers not to miss this deeply, deeply disturbing statistic in the polling. www.jewishnews.co.uk/uk-voters-mo...

'Rather than a lack of effort from individual universities, the report identifies a “structural gap” – there is no effective system to coordinate action across a region, leaving institutions to tackle shared problems in isolation.' Well, marketise the system and it will try to work like a market.

‘Unaddressed’ cost pressures undermining university access work

London-based institutions failing to respond to risks outlined by regulator and setting fewer access-related targets, report finds

timeshighereducation.com

'In a social media post on 27 April, UKRI said that from 2028 to 2029, “funding will focus on fully open-access publishing and will no longer be available for hybrid open access”.' If releasing such major changes on LinkedIn is @ukri.org 's new comms policy, we need to talk about 'open' comms.

Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

UKRI to phase out funding for hybrid open access. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-o...

How To Live A Good Life #oldknees

mind boggling response from a Labour MP. She either: does not have a clue how important universities are to the local economy; knows but doesn’t care because of some sort of ‘anti-elitist’ brainworm; or knows but is too worried to admit it lest it upset Reform voters. none reflect very well on her!

(1) An entire generation of HE leaders are drenched in the language of markets and competition. They will destroy everything else to protect their own bottom line. That can't be changed overnight. (2/4) observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Why saving universities is far more than academic

Modern Britain needs young people with degrees – here’s how to make sure they still have somewhere to study them

observer.co.uk

It's remarkable how most of the world's English-speaking democracies seemed to have gotten together and decided "let's destroy the main thing that led us to unprecedented prosperity: our systems of higher education."

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 4mo ago

News I'm hearing from across universities is disastrous. The sector has been falling apart for months, but the process is now continuously speeding up. Outside a small handful of institutions, HE as we've known it has basically zero future. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I grew up in this community and I have a few thoughts I want to share. A short thread. www.jewishnews.co.uk/breaking-hat...

Hatzola ambulances set alight in Golders Green arson attack

CCTV footage circulating on social media shows three men approaching the vehicles and then fleeing the scene as flames appear

jewishnews.co.uk

Use of the word "ethical" - e.g. "the ethical use of genAI" - does not magically make the use of genAI ethical. See also: adding the word "strategic" to every sentence does not magically turn your document into a strategy. #CommsLife

This recent RCT of an "AI stethoscope" claims the technology "shows promise" for diagnosing cardiovascular conditions. It does not. It is a textbook example of the risks of conducting unprincipled 'per protocol analyses'. Once again, peer review at a major medical journal has failed. 🧵 1/

The Lancet@thelancet.com · 5mo ago

AI-enabled stethoscopes show promise for improving diagnosis of cardiovascular conditions, UK trial finds. Explore the research: spkl.io/63326AsjJ8

Bridget Phillipson on Kuenssberg is saying she wants student finance to be fairer, which is odd given Labour has just made it much less fair. She also says she wants to improve access for people from poor backgrounds, which sits badly with bankrupting the universities those students typically go to.

This is causing despair in academe. (1) We were forced to close during Covid. We had no choice! (2) We're not service providers like a restaurant, we are institutions of state. (3) We did everything we could. (4) This will cripple current students' education. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The students claiming uni Covid compensation 'for the principle'

Dozens of universities have received legal letters over what students say they missed out on during Covid.

bbc.co.uk

When people talk about the idea that some universities must go under, there’s a certain tendency to behave as if these smaller local campuses are negligible- regrettable casualties perhaps but not ‘real’ universities. This report does a great job of illustrating why that’s wrong.

Alison Stenning@alisonstenning.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Everything in this report reflects on what we value, for communities, for peripheral places, for young people, for education, for the future - and it looks like we’ve got it all wrong.

In which we learn what happens when you combine the effectiveness of online learning with the efficiency of UK government, the academic rigour of management consultancy, and the fundamental honesty of purpose of ChatGPT.

Andrew Cherry@kolektiv.xyncro.com · 6mo ago

I think I might take one of these "under 20 minutes" AI skills courses the UK Govt. seems very keen on everyone doing and live-post it here... Maybe we can all learn something together! The press release sends me to aiskillshub.org.uk/aiskillsboost/ - let's go and see!

Despite frequent remonstrations from digital archivists, Persephone never accepted that she could not photocopy a whole book in one go.

In my case, this painstaking labor in the process through which the science gets done. Science isn't measuring stuff in a lab. It's thinking deeply, extracting the heart of idea from the soup of thoughts running through my mind, molding it, and finding a way to communicate that idea to others.

And to me, the question here isn't how Jews feel about this, but how do you feel about it? As a British person, how does it make you feel that one of the smallest minorities in your country needs armed guards to celebrate its holidays? Are you aware of this? Are you comfortable with it?

Bondi attacks show old hatreds are flourishing again on.ft.com/4s2YVsE | opinion

Bondi attacks show old hatreds are flourishing again

A permissive environment has been created in which Israel is conflated with all Jews, everywhere

on.ft.com

The first blessing on the first night of Hannukah is for the mitzvah of candle lighting; the second is for God's miracles; but the third is שהחיינו - "blessed be God for saving our lives, and for keeping us, and for letting us come to this time." 2,000 years of that, motherfuckers.

Rachel Cunliffe@rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Some thoughts on Bondi Beach, the sliding doors surreality of knowing my sister could have been there, and how it feels to be lighting candles tonight to celebrate our resilience www.newstatesman.com/world/2025/1...

all academic applications should have consolation prizes. doesn’t have to be much, like a mug that says “i applied for leverhulme 2020” or a t-shirt “UKRI reject 2023”