153 academic jobs are proposed to be cut at Exeter. Just had the news. Process is going to be quick too. We will be told if we are part of those considered later today

There is a horrible irony to this question but(!): will anyone be doing any research on what work (if any) the thousands of academics that are being made redundant or quietly leaving academia go on to do? Obviously not the first time & won’t be the last, but worthwhile asking the question…

Being an academic in the UK is to be told that your research having a real-world impact is hugely important... only for you to wake up every day with the government announcing a new stupid policy clearly devoid of any fact-based evidence or underpinning research to justify it.

A trillionaire? In this economy? 🤑

'We are clamping down on the harm caused by social media. 'Read all about it on the Nazi pogrom deepfake abuse website'

The ways digitisation and AI impact our lives aren't just related to their outputs; they also profoundly change processes and how we relate to one another. An essay by me about forms and admin and people and how, frankly, working in the library is pretty cool. buttondown.com/justenoughin...

BBC: “So what advice did David Hockney give to you?” BBC Guest: “Fuck everyone.”

Any VC/SMT/Council with the resource and even a small modicum of progressive and strategic sensibility would give this a new home.

What's it actually feel like to live through the decline and fall of mass Higher Education in Britain? Today I've written about this from the inside here... Hope you like it, and hope you find it useful. isrf.org/blog/what-do...

Was "Let's charge exorbitant fees and make universities financially dependent on international students." Then "Let's make international students feel unwelcome in the country." And "Let's cut services and support." Now "Hey, why don't you come any more? Who's going to pay for our universities?"

“19 full-time faculty members, 10 of them tenured, were told… that they’d been laid off… Dozens more have taken early-retirement or buyout offers… Among those laid off Monday was Sanjay G. Reddy, a professor of economics + prominent critic of the university’s financial management.”

The sh*tstorm of negativity continues… a lot to unpack but I can’t help feeling that the way public sentiment is going we will simply be hung out to dry. There will be no help forthcoming. British universities are on our own Third of people say uni degree not worth it www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I’m a climate scientist. Let me fix this headline. “Nearly a century ago, scientists showed that burning fossil fuels warms the planet. Today, we know human emissions account for over 100% of the warming. Yet dark money and disinformation still work to keep Americans addicted to fossil fuels.”

The sun was in the sky, I was in the Dolman stand & Bristol Bears stuffed the team from down the A4, so all in all - a good day 💪🐻

I don’t recommend trying mark in an office above 30 degrees. No idea why I did

Congratulations to this year’s Society medal and award recipients, recognised for their outstanding contributions to geographical research. Learn more about some of this year’s recipients, working across the geography academic community, below 👇

As the summer term kicks off, we're highlighting the valuable work our Research Groups do to support postgraduate and early-career colleagues, including career support and pre-Annual Conference events. Find out more, including recent examples, here 👉https://bit.ly/4tDUZOz

Office media archaeology

If you are a British academic then unless you are one of a very small number of people your job is properly at risk, not hypothetically and maybe not today but it is at risk. I feel like that working assumption is missing from nearly every conversation I hear about uk academia rn.

Blimey

📢 Launch Day! We're delighted to celebrate the publication of Laurie Parsons's new book, 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘺: 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦, in the RGS-IBG Book Series. Read the full #OpenAccess book (LSE Press) ⬇️ https://ow.ly/5OkH50YV4O9

Wes Streeting plays videos on his phone on public transport without wearing headphones.

"An exciting and compelling contribution to how we think about the nature and potential of authority in urban research." — Professor Colin McFarlane, Department of Geography, Durham University Available now via #OpenAccess publishing: https://bit.ly/4aQpxXf @jbrigstocke.bsky.social @rgs.org#OpenAccess

This week on Wonkhe: The peer review system is at risk of being overwhelmed. Bashir M Al-Hashimi calls for a culture shift to address the growing volume of artificial intelligence-enabled research outputs

Each year russia sets up a propaganda event across the river from Estonia 🇪🇪 for victory parade day. Videos, music, military equipment. But can you spot the difference from this year and 2023? Nobody blody showed up! Collapse of russian imperialism even among vatniks!

#JOBALERT: W3-Professur, Fachgebiet Kulturwissenschaft/Sozialgeschichte der Kunst, Theorie und Geschichte Visueller Kulturen, Weißensee Kunsthochschule arthist.net/archive/52415

Preprinted! Been working on this for ~1 year w wonderful coauthors Nancy & Mark: > Understanding Artificial Neural Networks: Mysterianism about Known Mechanism is Mysticism doi.org/10.5281/zeno... Have you noticed many experts say they don't understand AI? What's going on? 🤯 Let us tell you... 1/

We’ve (@jisc.bsky.social) published a new briefing on technical legacy in UK HE. Years of funding pressure and short-term change have created legacy systems that affect cost, risk, security and flexibility. We’re now working with the sector on recommendations. www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/tack...

Register now for Data Justice 2026

Data Power in Action: Urban Data Politics in Times of Crisis

Manuscript DONE / New Book Review Out (DIY, Alternative Cultures and Society)

Delighted that our new paper: 'Offshore geography's Cryptofascist turn: rethinking the Global North' is now published in a journal you most likely cannot access

That list of prohibited course content basically includes most sociological research findings from the past five decades

Not a misstep. Not arrogance. Pretty sure this is a deliberate move aimed at normalising their presence. Next up: a blog post from a Meta lawyer about how useful the stalkerglasses are in accessing briefs and additional documents. Then maybe some placed media commentary from buyable dipshits.

The Antipode Film Project—“The Pixel and the Plot” / “El Pixel y La Parcela”

Umberto Eco, Philosophers, Mythologists and Linguists

Saddened to learn that First Monday will cease publication. It was a quality open-access journal that eschewed the traps of big publishing and promoted innovative thinking & research regarding tech and society. #academicsky firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph...

William Nordhaus received the Nobel Memorial Prize for these flawed economic models, and Bjorn Lomborg built a highly lucrative career on them. They told rich and powerful people what they wanted to hear. While helping to consign us all to catastrophe. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This is good, as far as it goes - but sometimes the only way to avoid burnout and stress is for there to be more staff to do the work. That does not seem something that is of interest to university SMTs at the moment.

Excellent little investigation by Rowland Manthorpe on AI music www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x4H...

Lauren Berlant wrote the book on this and it has nothing to do with AI. It’s the eternal human dilemma - the inconvenience of other people. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

NEW on Wonkhe: With the majority of providers now having published financial accounts for 2024-25, David Kernohan takes an in-depth look at what we can learn buff.ly/sOvupzF

NEW on Wonkhe: We now have a sense of the government’s intended approach to possible university insolvencies. Neil Smyth takes a look buff.ly/Q5OL3dV

Remember when Labour focused on "Education, Education, Education", happy days. Now, with a miniscule proportion of university budgets being provided by the public purse, we will see what's happening in Southend-on-Sea repeated across the country. Shameful.