Sadly it is official, my current employment contract finishes at the end of March. It has been a fantastic three years at Migrant Voice. If you, or someone you know, knows of job opportunities for an experienced policy, advocacy and comms person, across multiple sectors, please do let me know.

📢 Educators in NI & ROI! FREE 9-week Digital Badge: Using Evidence to Address Educational Disadvantage. Learn to use research to tackle disadvantage & improve outcomes. Starting 7pm 26th Jan. 🔗 T-REX Digital Badge: forms.office.com/e/N2cySfbfxZ #TREX #EquityInEducation

You don’t lose your right to express yourself the day you become a teacher. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/u...

📆Check out the first of our annual reviews . It brings together some of the top posts on the theme of AI, research and higher education we published in 2025 #AcademicSky #AIresearch #HigherEducation

📢 Educators in NI & ROI! Learn research skills to investigate & address educational disadvantage. FREE 9-week Digital Badge starts 26th January 2026. 🔗 forms.office.com/e/N2cySfbfxZ #TREX #ResearchSkills #EquityInEducation

Congratulations to all of the members, past and present, of #Newbridge Town FC on their successful application to join the new FAI National League. A club at the very heart of the local community, which continues to promote youth football in #Kildare #speirgorm

A Dallas church has swapped the traditional stable for chain-link and barbed wire, forcing a raw look at what a modern-day Nativity really looks like.

Gaza's tiny Christian community tries to capture the holiday spirit during the ceasefire

'The proliferation of references to fake articles threatens to undermine the legitimacy of institutional research across the board.' www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

Meet the 4-year-old Countdown genius: ‘I want Rachel Riley’s job’. Acer Gibson can solve the numbers round in 15 seconds and reel off square numbers up to 60. How far can his talent take him? ⬇️

How compassionate spaces – like a graduate teaching assistants reading group – can help build community, develop teacher identity and foster genuine support in precarious roles: https://ow.ly/CSNO50XKq9u #HigherEd #AcademicSky #EduSky

The best seat I've ever had at a conference 😍☕️

𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 - The Edit! Right here: YouTube - buff.ly/cmZ09ON Spotify - buff.ly/j6IdKGI This Week: 📕 The 4-day week 📆 📘 Ofsted’s Annual Report 📝 📗 Hero Leaders 🦸 #EdTech, #Education, #HigherEd, #K12, #Curriculum, #Teaching #EdChat #STEM #EduSky #AcademicSky

Authorities in Ireland are considering whether to introduce a social media ban for all children under sixteen, following the introduction of a similar law in Australia. The proposal comes amid growing concern about young people being exposed to harmful content online. #VMNews

Don’t forget to join us tomorrow for #LTHEchat, which will explore Staying active researchers after graduation with @aimiebrennan.bsky.social on Wednesday 8-9pm GMT. Read the blog post at: shorturl.at/wFm9z

That's not my job!

If an academic blog disappears, that knowledge is permanently lost, leaving a gap in the historical record of how research and ideas were shared in the digital age, via @lseimpactblog.bsky.social #AcademicSky

If you're in ireland and have kids in primary school or soon to be, please fill out this survey on preferences re religious involvement in schools, and whether people prefer single-sex or co-ed. It takes < 1 minute and will inform future provision. #speirgorm www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

Delighted to be delivering a presentation tomorrow at @qubhistory.bsky.social Please share with anyone interested in attending. Likely to be of interest to those with a passion or dislike for Thatcher

Why the Social Sciences matter now more than ever? On the 10th anniversary of #SocialScienceMatters, ten of our authors reflect on why social science research is essential for understanding our complex world and addressing urgent challenges. bit.ly/49EflAN#SocialScienceMatters #SocSky #AcademicSky #ResearchPublishing

A national conversation on Ireland’s education future is about to begin, a chance to dream big, rethink everything and create something inspirational. Hopefully with equality and student voice at its core.

If you're doing a PhD or looking for an academic career you'll have to get used to multiple variations on this from a whole host of anonymous referees. #AcademicSky #PhDSky #PhDChatter

Long overdue but a much welcomed development.

UK Supreme Court rules that the North's religious education & collective worship in schools is unlawful because it lacks objectivity and pluralism. A major human-rights victory ensuring childrens' rights to education respects their own beliefs.

Fascinating talk by Prof. Kris Grimonprez, KU Leuven, on EU Citizenship Education and the use of case studies in teaching and learning.

🌿 Join Bitesize Biodiversity — a 15-min CPD every Monday at 4pm! Boost nature engagement, wellbeing & literacy. 💻 Register once, use the same link weekly: eckildare-ie.zoom.us/webinar/regi... More CPD: www.issn.ie/new-page-2 🌱💚

Lovely food and welcome at Olive #Palestinian 🇵🇸 Restaurant in Brussels. Thoroughly recommend a visit.

Good morning Brussels 🇧🇪

Absolute #scenes 🇮🇪

A photograph that stirs many emotions. From 'The Irish Farm in Colour' by Michael B. Barry and John O’Byrne. www.gillbooks.ie/irish-gift/i...

📚 New Research Alert! Fostering teacher leadership for inclusion: the role of school-university partnerships and professional learning communities 50 free eprints: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PPSFW... @dcuresearch.bsky.social @inclusivepedagogy.bsky.social @mauracoulter.bsky.social

Social media boosts your academic visibility – but at what cost? Larisa Yarovaya unpacks the tension between a curated professional image and oversharing: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/are-academics-becoming-overexposed-linkedin #HigherEd #AcademicSky #EduSky

I took @Opinion.bloomberg.com’s AI-dentity quiz. My AI-dentity is the Pragmatist. What’s yours? www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Teaching about life in Nazi Germany in Junior Certificate History today, focusing on the lives of women and young people. Happened to have a real Mother's Cross to bring the topic alive. #history #speirgorm #edchatie

Oireachtas Education Officer, Conor Reale's recent doctoral research: ‘A Different Sameness’: Exploring the multifaceted identities of politics and society teachers in Ireland – offers fascinating insights into the role of PolSoc teachers. Detailed summary here: ipen-network.org/exploring-th...

Great to be in the company of passionate Politics & Society teachers this weekend at the PASTAI annual conference in Athlone. Excellent presentations by Coimisiún na Meán, The Ombudsman for Children, The Electoral Commission and Financial Justice Ireland. Huge thanks to the organisers!

The UK Government has confirmed that Citizenship education will become statutory from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4. Meaning students will gain a strong foundation in media and financial literacy, law, human rights, democracy, government and climate education throughout secondary education.

Updated Registration Guidelines: Teaching Politics & Society (Effective January 2026).

And we have now progressed from data analysis to policy recommendations. I told her that we'd calculate the cash value of her candy haul, that I'd ask her to raid her piggy bank and donate 1/3 the candy cash value to a local food bank, and that I'd add on a 5X match.

🍂Mid-term break over. 📚 Part-time #PhD life #academicsky

This isn't the insult Fox News thinks it is. 😉 By the way social studies teachers, if you don't know the amazing Zinn Education Project, be sure to check them out at: www.zinnedproject.org www.foxnews.com/us/public-sc... #sschat #edusky

In #Kildare Ed Centre next week to kick off a 4-part CPD series of evidenced-based workshops on quality teaching & learning. Unpacking the post-primary subject inspection process by the Dept of Education & Youth Inspectorate. It's more transparent than many teachers think. #edchatie #SpeirGorm

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

🚨 EPSS Belfast 2026 Call for Papers - One week to go! 🚨 Don't forget to submit your paper or panel proposal to the European Political Science Society @epssnet.bsky.social 2026 conference - just one week to go before the deadline: epssnet.org/belfast-2026...

Officially a Teacher in Further Education! Go me!!! #SpeirGorm

The Treaty: The forgotten Michael Collins Film. Fantastic talk by @alisonmartin.bsky.social on my Talking history podcast. Plenty of top historical talks to come from many scholars. If anyone is interested please just let me know and please share with anyone interested. #history

Looking forward to returning to Carlow College this weekend to co-facilate another Politics & Society pedagogy workshop for teachers undertaking the Higher Diploma in the subject area. #PolSoc

I often wonder are we currently living in the 'dial-up internet' phase of AI assistants? www.techradar.com/ai-platforms...

Highly useful new infographic on #NewsLiteracy from the latest issue of @udelaware.bsky.social magazine w/specific & helpful advice and shout outs to @newslit.org, @allsidesnow.bsky.social, @politifact.bsky.social, @netflix.com Smart ideas for savvy consumers of media given our wild info landscape.

Looking forward to meeting teachers and presenting my approach to facilitating student citizenship projects & report writing in PolSoc at next week's PASTAI Annual Conference. This coursework component will be moving from 20% - 40% weighting, meaning the need for more structured student support.