I just finished a three-year term as an editor at an international relations journal. I began at the start of the LLM era but ended right in the middle of it. Our volume of submissions tripled and our desk reject rate rose to 75%. I have some thoughts. open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...

New study: On #Myanmar’s urban outskirts, ward administrators often told me they had one job—‘Don’t cause trouble.’ They certainly weren’t talking about following the law, though. They meant: don’t attract attention, trigger inspections, or make the ward visible to higher authorities. 1/4

Revising a manuscript is realizing that parts of it work and parts don’t yet, and being very grateful a reviewer caught the obvious oversights before production.

An observation on how #AI is shaping student work: almost none of my students this year included page numbers when citing books or articles in their final essays. Despite repeated reminders, page numbers seem to be disappearing. A troubling shift in how students now engage with reading materials.

I have an article in the Journal of Contemporary Asia on the nationwide university boycott in #Myanmar after the 2021 coup. Drawing on literature on youth and waiting, I explore how students spend their time while rejecting military-controlled education. Free copy here: tinyurl.com/3wmkff3x

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

Urgent help needed: how do I turn off the #Copilot feature in MS 365? After restarting my Mac yesterday, the Copilot icon now shows up in Word (bottom right + Home panel). I don’t want it and can’t find any setting to disable it.

Small-scale land speculation on Mandalay’s outskirts reveals how everyday actors—not just developers—reshape peri-urban space and contribute to displacement in the global South. By Francesca Chiu 📖 www.ijurr.org/article/beyo...

The 2025 National Games are happening and #HongKong is hosting a number of events including #handball. This brought to mind a research project I worked on before my PhD. The project was about electoral representation in the sports and arts functional constituency: doi.org/10.1080/2327... 1/8

My article on land speculation in #Myanmar is featured in the latest @ijurresearch.bsky.social. I show how even without developer mega-projects or evictions, small-scale speculation in Mandalay still leads to urban displacement and inequality. Open access: tinyurl.com/24z2yr48

It’s no secret the academic job market has become increasingly precarious. Many early-career researchers are struggling to find stable positions, and this challenge is global. In Asia, things have recently become more complex due to defunding of Western universities. 1/6

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

Students killed at Myanmar boarding school as junta escalates air war reut.rs/47Kc95I

It's our fucking job to present students with uncomfortable facts and challenge their worldviews. The point isn't to change their beliefs but to ensure that they can better defend whatever positions they take.

My first book, Socializing Land: Plantations, Dispossession, and Resistance in Laos (University of Hawai'i Press, 2025), exists in this world! Check it out at: uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/social... 1/4

In Opinion In the 1,000 days since ChatGPT’s release, it has disrupted the university approach to learning, meant to stop students from relying on A.I. “We, of course, do not want our students to fail, but we don’t want them to fail to learn, either,” Clay Shirkey, a vice provost at NYU, writes.

EDUCATION IN A WAR ZONE: Karenni Alternative Schools Defying the Odds to Give Kids a Better Life open.substack.com/pub/mizzimad...

An important question not asked in this incident: why is the government still buying bottled water instead of installing filters, which are more eco-friendly and cost-saving?

Thrilled to share my latest open-access article for @ijurresearch.bsky.social! I dig into what drives so many people to spend their life savings on informal claims to urban land in places so quiet and remote many municipal officials barely know they exist. Please read and share!

At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, I was walking into the immigration hall when a staffer took one look at me and yelled: “You don’t have a US passport.” They hadn’t even checked my documents. This is how US immigration operates these days. No check. No question. Just assumption & racism.

Nearly half the world’s supply of heavy rare earths is extracted from mines in Kachin State, including those north of Bhamo, a strategically-vital garrison town. They are then shipped to China for processing into magnets english.dvb.no/why-chinas-u... #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #rareearth #kachinstate

As an early-career researcher, I hope senior colleagues remember what it felt like starting out. Advocate for us, use your voice to help where we can’t, and challenge the systems that once held you back.

People often say #HongKong landlords are greedy for not lowering rents, and sure, some are. But there’s another side to the issue we rarely talk about: many landlords actually can’t afford to lower rent, even if they want to. 1/x hongkongfp.com/2025/06/24/h...

I have a new open-access article about #Myanmar in @ijurresearch.bsky.social examining how small-scale land speculation drives intimate displacement and social stratification in urban peripheries. Please read and share! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...