New post at Birkbeck! Lecturer in Digital Media and Creative AI (full-time, permanent, starting Sep 2026). This is a rare opportunity to shape teaching and research in one of the UK's most intellectually distinctive media programmes at a moment of new investment. cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

Our new piece out today in Times Higher Education about the threats to Geography in the UK - particularly fieldwork - please do share. It links to a recent snapshot survey on the challenges being faced in UK HE, which highlights the inequities of the challenges, but also fears of what is yet to come

The UK universities cutting geography have lost their bearings

From climate change to geopolitics, the knowledge, skills and insights of geographers have never been more relevant, say five professors

timeshighereducation.com

You know what, Miro? I do not need a 2025 recap of my use of your fine platform. No, no thank you.

We’ve extended the deadline by a week! More time to send in your abstract for potential inclusion in a special @mediapolis.bsky.social dossier on ‘The Synthetic City’!

ECREA Media, Cities and Space Section@mediacity-ecrea.bsky.social · 8mo ago

EXTENDED DUE DATE for Abstracts: 7 December 2025 Call for Papers: 'The Synthetic City'. We have extended the due date by an extra week, so you still have time to submit your proposals!

REMINDER! CfP: The Synthetic City We’re putting together a special issue dossier for @mediapolis.bsky.social on 'urban AI' and seek short essays, provocations, creative-critical reflections on synthetic urbanism. 📅 Abstracts due: Nov 30 🔗 Details: mediacitytwg.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/c...

CFP: ‘The Synthetic City’ Dossier for Mediapolis Journal

The Synthetic City A Dossier for Mediapolis: A Journal of Cities and Culture Guest Editors: Scott Rodgers, Helena Atteneder, Lou Therese Brandner, Marcos Dias, Diogo Pereira Henriques and Sara Tren…

mediacitytwg.wordpress.com

Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81

Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81

Star of The Harder They Come had hits including You Can Get It If You Really Want and I Can See Clearly Now

theguardian.com

Birkbeck, University of London is seeking an Associate Lecturer in Digital Video and Editing. Part-time, contractual – perfect for creatives who want to share their skills while continuing their practice. 👉 Details & apply: cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/asso...

Join us Nov 25 for Engaging Publics in Media, Cities & Space -free online conference on research impact in media and urban studies. Talks on monographs, journals, podcasts, walking tours + networking, incl. a special session for ECRs. 👉 Full programme & register: docs.google.com/document/d/e...

Two very late nights in a row keeping up with the Jays, and now I’m exhausted

Apropos of this Halloween day, Roger Luckhurst - a colleague in Birkbeck’s School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication - discusses how we lay the dead to rest today, drawing on his new book Graveyards: A History of Living with the Dead (Thames and Hudson 2025): youtu.be/ZPuNR9J9LGI?...

Birkbeck Explains: How do we lay the dead to rest today?

YouTube video by Birkbeck, University of London

youtu.be

2/ We welcome short essays, provocations, and creative-critical reflections that examine how synthetic urbanism is produced, experienced, and theorized across media, design, and everyday life. #UrbanMedia #SyntheticCity #SyntheticData #Synthesis #Cities #Space #Media #ML #GenAI #AI #Mediapolis

1/ CFP Dossier for @mediapolis.bsky.social: The synthetic city as an alternative, multivalent provocation to examine, interpret and forecast the emerging implications of AI and related digital technologies for urban living. 🗓️ Deadline: 30 Nov 2025 🔗 Link: mediacitytwg.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/c...

CFP: ‘The Synthetic City’ Dossier for Mediapolis Journal

The Synthetic City A Dossier for Mediapolis: A Journal of Cities and Culture Guest Editors: Scott Rodgers, Helena Atteneder, Lou Therese Brandner, Marcos Dias, Diogo Pereira Henriques and Sara Tren…

mediacitytwg.wordpress.com

Great to see this CfP "The Synthetic City" #urbanAI for @mediapolis.bsky.social w/ guest editors @scott-rodgers.bsky.social @marcospdias.bsky.social & colleagues. mediacitytwg.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/c... Abstract deadline 30 November 2025.

CFP: ‘The Synthetic City’ Dossier for Mediapolis Journal

The Synthetic City A Dossier for Mediapolis: A Journal of Cities and Culture Guest Editors: Scott Rodgers, Helena Atteneder, Lou Therese Brandner, Marcos Dias, Diogo Pereira Henriques and Sara Tren…

mediacitytwg.wordpress.com

Today’s the day I take the two-stop Waterloo & City line for the first time. It’s gonna be a good one.

Call for Papers: The Synthetic City We’re putting together a special issue dossier for @mediapolis.bsky.social on 'urban AI' and seek short essays, provocations, creative-critical reflections on synthetic urbanism. 📅 Abstracts due: Nov 30 🔗 Details: mediacitytwg.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/c...

CFP: ‘The Synthetic City’ Dossier for Mediapolis Journal

The Synthetic City A Dossier for Mediapolis: A Journal of Cities and Culture Guest Editors: Scott Rodgers, Helena Atteneder, Lou Therese Brandner, Marcos Dias, Diogo Pereira Henriques and Sara Tren…

mediacitytwg.wordpress.com

Laura Mulvey, who recently retired from Birkbeck, to refeive a BFI Fellowship. www.bfi.org.uk/news/laura-m...

Laura Mulvey to receive a BFI Fellowship

The BFI’s highest honour recognises the huge global impact of Mulvey’s work through her groundbreaking writing and filmmaking, including her seminal essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’.

bfi.org.uk

Some snaps from the @birmac.bsky.social / Media & Democracy / Qualitative Methods Group workshop 'Exploring Quali-Quantitative Approaches in Social Media Research', where me, @robtoes.bsky.social & participants explored methods for approaching the messy, contradictory phenomena that is social media

I’d like to see some mainstream journalists put a question like this to Labour ministers. It the logical question to follow.

Finally something to cheer

Marcus 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧@marcusjdl.bsky.social · last yr.

Bring it

I’ve been increasingly using ChatGPT/copilot for various little things here and there. But you know what I’d like? For it not to be so complementary. I mean, be a bit rude and tell me my prompts are terrible, if they are, please.

So sad to hear about the passing of my friend and former colleague Mark Saunders. Some thoughts and memories here: www.publiclysited.com/memories-of-...

The Amiel & Melburn Annual lecture is happening this Wednesday! A stellar lineup discussing how the Left can resist the Rise of the Radical Right, hosted at Birkbeck. @kojokoram.bsky.social, @irrnews.bsky.social @afoggyplace.bsky.social @bethanyrielly.bsky.social @robtoes.bsky.social

With Yu-Shan Tseng, I am co-editing a Special Issue (for Urban Studies, subject to full proposal acceptance) on 'Ordinary Democracy and Digital Cities'. Read the CFP details here: docs.google.com/document/d/e...

New article out in Urban Studies! I examine Google’s urban-tech power from Fiber to Sidewalk Labs and argue that the company is less a cohesive strategist and more a shapeshifter, driven by the speculative ethos of Silicon Valley journals.sagepub.com/eprint/JIJUW...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

The worst happened. We were DOGE’d. Our NSF funding is gone. So now there’s nothing stopping me from sharing Expert Voices Together, a crisis response system for US-based researchers and journalists facing harassment. It's a true passion project. 🧵 1/ expertvoicestogether.org

Rebekah Tromble@rebekahtromble.bsky.social · last yr.

I spoke with Science about scholars—myself included—self-censoring. In my case, my team and I feared losing our NSF funding for Expert Voices Together (expertvoicestogether.org), a program, ironically, built to support researchers and journalists under attack. www.science.org/content/arti...

I'm not 100% sure, but I was just on the phone with a UK bank and it seemed like I was speaking with some kind of automated agent. Either that, or I spoke with a human being who doesn't really seem to listen to what you are saying, and then asks generic questions as it they're a rudimentary chatbot.

Tempting

Sadly this is just before I will be in Copenhagen, so I can't go, but looks very useful www.ssh.aau.dk/mini-confere...

Mini Conference: How can SSH researchers use LLMs in their research

Are you curious about how AI is transforming digital literature and research practices? Join us for an engaging mini-conference where Malthe Stavning Erslev will present his pioneering research on bot mimicry and machine mimesis. Dive into exciting discussions and hands-on activities where you'll reflect on AI's use, explore its pitfalls and potential, and critically assess its role in research.

ssh.aau.dk

CFP ‘Authoritarianism in the Digital Age’ for SI of @dialoguesdigsoc.bsky.social Seeking commentaries (<2,000 words) that reflect on role of digital tech in building & challenging authoritarian rule. Abstracts May 16. Details: journals.sagepub.com/page/dds/cal...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com