We've been reviewing the Overton micro-grant applications (www.overton.io/policy-impac...). Short, concrete projects funded up to £5k. A not-insignificant num of people ask for the cost of a new laptop - what's the deal? Is there guidance out there saying "always ask for new equipment in any grant"?

Apply to Overton's Policy Impact Grant 2025/6

Get information about applying to Overton's Policy Impact Grant

overton.io

et tu Notepad :( CVE-2026-20841 - Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide...

Introducing Overton Engage’s NEW Opportunity Matcher… Automatically uncover policy engagement opportunities that are relevant to you. *this functionality is only available with a premium Engage subscription. If you’re already subscribed, it’s going live this week - so keep an eye out!

As a librarian, are you looking for more ways to support researchers, create impact and engage with policy? Well, we have some tips for you…

I don't get the "tech companies are pushing IDs as a route to total gov surveillance" thing. Surely the lesson of the past two decades is that tech *already* makes it easy to track who you are and what you're doing without your opt-in. Not carrying an ID card doesn't make you an untraceable ghost

It’s Global Goals Week! A week of action, awareness, and accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals. We’ll be sharing some discussions and insights around the SDGs, plus how our SDG classifier can help our users understand how their work has impacted policy around each specific goal.

If the UK wants to cement itself as a leader in AI for scientific discovery it should create a text & data mining copyright exception for scholarly abstracts. It's frankly depressing that abstracts aren't by default open and readily available in the first place, but publishers are now rolling back

What's the vibe like at the Royal Society Future of Scholarly Publishing conference you ask? We were told that after 16 years & $100M dollars with the ambition to 'revolutionize' science and win a Nobel prize ResearchGate... is pivoting to working with traditional publishers on journal homepages

When asked about controversial topics Grok 4 sometimes searches for what Elon Musk thinks as background info - not something explictly asked for or necessarily intended by its developers. Fascinating and slightly depressing in equal measure simonw.substack.com/p/grok-4-sea...

Grok 4: searching X for "from:elonmusk (Israel OR Palestine OR Hamas OR Gaza)"

Plus writing x86 assembly with Claude Code and so much more

simonw.substack.com

Counterpoint: new Public First research shows every UK resident working adult (on a full time equivalent basis) is £466 a year better off on average as a result of international students. So let’s just publicise that instead of levying them www.publicfirst.co.uk/calculating-...

Calculating the positive impact of international students on domestic living standards in the UK - Public First

Public First is today publishing the second of two pieces commissioned by the University of York around the impact of international students – this time [...]

publicfirst.co.uk

Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · last yr.

Jacqui Smith: Levy on international student fees ‘would show value of foreign students’ Smith said that if the government went ahead with the levy, it would “really demonstrate that [contribution] in terms of money that could then…be reinvested”. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

I got hearing aids today - it turns out I’ve been moderately deaf since having chickenpox as a kid but our brains just compensate and get used to it. I feel a bit like those babies on Instagram who get their first pair of glasses and can suddenly see faces in focus. But with more farts and snorts

I was intrigued by this, but maybe predictably it looks a bit rubbish in practice (much more 2012 video game cut-scene than licensed deepfake) www.ubs.com/microsites/n... - getting strong Ananova vibes news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/enterta...

Incredibly valuable read in @issuesinst.bsky.social for scientists and academics looking to do more related to policy... 🧪sociology 📉demography policysky polisky 🛟medsky episky

If you're a schoarly publisher not making abstracts freely available then you're failing at your job. Full text - license it. Abstract - open it. It's a straightforward scholary record / infrastructure vs nickel and diming call

Two biggest dangers to scholarly web infrastructure: 1) AI bots 2) Impatient PhD students who've just learned to automate web scrapes True DGAF behaviour

Really incredible story unraveling in this thread, where Amazon and other sites have seemingly been able to sell an academic textbook that was withdrawn in 2021 and never actually printed or published, without the knowledge of the press, editors or contributors. Something has gone deeply wrong!

Lennard J. Davis@lendavis.bsky.social · last yr.

Hi Chloe, This is news to me (and to my editor at Routledge.) I'm shocked to find this out. I assume that this is somehow a pirated edition. Does it include the section on Neurodiversity? Part VIII?

Interested to learn how AI is changing academic search? In this 1.5 hr. "master class", I will share what I have learnt studying this area for the last 3 years. Register at eventregistration.smu.edu.sg/event/AISear... . Please help share!

If you haven't been following the State of Indiana vs Indiana University face-off currently happening (some legislators really doesn't like the sexuality studying Kinsey Institute) - the latest development is mandating "productivity" checks on tenured profs (1/2) eu.indystar.com/story/news/p...

'Complete takeover': Lawmakers exert control over university policy in 11th hour

They appeared near the bottom of the 220-page budget bill Wednesday evening, and rose to the forefront of the heated debate Friday morning.

eu.indystar.com

I'd be super grateful if you could share this vacancy, and tap people on the shoulder if you think they'd be a good fit (e.g. they understand data and REF) and encourage them to apply. www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy...

OK folks - will you please help me spread this far and wide. A really exciting opportunity to be the new Director of Comms at @britishacademy.bsky.social - the national academy for humanities and social sciences. £100k. Lovely team. Reports directly to me micro.green-park.co.uk/thebritishac...

Austin

We're #hiring! Apply to become our Evidence and Impact Manager - you'll lead, shape and deliver AMRC’s work to collect and collate data and evidence to understand, report and showcase medical research charity funding. Find out more ⬇️ bit.ly/41DTN1C

Evidence and Impact Manager

Salary: c. £45,000pa full-time Location: Hybrid working (home and office in central London, WC1) Deadline: 8am, Monday 14 April 2025 About the role This is an exciting opportunity to join AMRC&r...

bit.ly

Academia.edu has finally made it

McSweeney's@mcsweeneys.net · last yr.

“Your article on the suppression of free speech in the early nineteenth century cannot be uploaded to Academia.edu because the journal that published it operates behind a paywall and will not allow you to reprint it elsewhere for seven years.”

Yay! You can now follow @coarassessment.bsky.social on Bluesky! 👇🏻

We sign our new partnership with @overton.io based in the UK, which has the largest database of policies and grey literature! Our shared purpose will be to produce a series of reports exploring the reach and influence of Brazilian science research on decision-making. Isn't that wonderful?

We’ll be in Austin at the ER&L conference in just a few days! Come on by our exhibit to meet @mrstew.bsky.social and find out how Overton can be a key e-resource for your library!

Thanks I hate it

Hacker News Top Stories@hackernewsbot.bsky.social · last yr.

Vibe Coder Front End Developer Discussion

I lovvvved Tharg's Future Shocks. Shamefully, aged 13 or so I handed in some English homework that was, er, "heavily inspired" by my favourite story about a temporal weather report. Things escalated uncomfortably when the impressed teacher suggested submitting it to a short story competition

Arthur Wyatt@arthurwyatt.bsky.social · last yr.

youtu.be/BwTCZ_3SVXg?... this is lovely. @molcher.bsky.social and @punkrokmomjeans.bsky.social discussing Future Shocks, pribably my favorite @2000ad.bsky.social thing.

I'm going to ER&L (libraries conference) in Austin this year and they have an amazing sounding gig planned where every band has at least one librarian in it. Why haven't we done this at STI before and are there any bibliometrician bands already

We started this project in Oct '22 - it proved ridiculously (though maybe predictably) difficult to build something that could be applied consistently across different countries and policy settings. Great work from @kat-hart.bsky.social !

Overton@overton.io · last yr.

Calling Overton Index users—we've made some changes buff.ly/lSOZUJ7, We've just launched a brand new policy source taxonomy. We've built a clearer, more consistent and detailed categorisation structure for policy orgs, that's going to make it significantly easier for you to find and analyse docs👇