"To be of a place is to know the stories of the land. Whether they’re about heroes traversing imaginary worlds, or the complexities of knowledge tied with the shifts of wind or cycles of the fish..." Jamie Tahana on climate change, global responsibilities & Indigenous sovereignty.

We wrote this paper a while ago and since then OpenAI has claimed plans to be "core infrastructure" of education, Google has rammed Gemini into schools via its education platforms, and AWS showed it underpins most edtech platforms... 1/

1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad 2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices. www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...

Save Geography at the University of Leicester. The University of Leicester is proposing to dissolve Geography into a School of Chemical, Earth & Environmental Science. All research-active human geographers are at threat of redundancy. Add your voice to keep #Geography whole! c.org/sbYBqcwrhC

Really great trip yesterday telling the story of the management on the River Hull, from top to bottom. Amazing remeandering work on the beautiful and rare chalk rivers at Driffield Trout Stream!

Excellent #fieldtrip yesterday looking at #RiverManagement across the Hull catchment, from headwaters to the Humber estuary. Organised & led by @geoskinner.games, with insights from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Natural England & Hull City Council. And the weather stayed dry for us!

Often overlooked, small water bodies - streams, damp ditches, small bogs, ponds - support more rare species compared with larger habitats while high-quality ponds support about 2/3 of all freshwater plant + animal species in a landscape. 🧵 1/4 freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/start-w...

Geography in the service of the imperial state: Putin speaking at the Russian Geographical Society emphasising the political utility of mapping and geographical knowledge

On language, AI and the loss of embodied knowledge and intuition. "...we are now feeding AI outputs back into training data. The result is linguistic patterns amplifying themselves, detached from embodied experience."

“Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic and made way for parks, people-streets and bike-lanes.” Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability and quality of life. Common sense. Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.

9-year-old's letter to BBC Children's programme: Blue Peter (1973) Hollander is now Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Impact and Professor of StemCell Biology at Liverpool University #highered #science #medicine #surgery #edchat #education www.liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/w...

Education & politics, in Aotearoa & internationally. "...if you control the curriculum, you can erase histories and languages. Education is not and has never been a neutral space, it either strengthens the status quo or challenges it” (Tina Ngata).

I wrote about the stupid white paper. In summary, with these people in the driver's seat and apparently unbothered by consequences, we're so cooked.

Good to see this from my former Geography @worcesteruni.bsky.social colleagues Albert Mvula, Alan Dixon & Ian Maddock www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

JOB: Lecturer in #geography, expertise in #geomorphology & #hydrology. Full-time, permanent. Deadline 04 Nov. Come and join a small, highly collegial team! #academicsky #HEjobs #UKHE jobs.yorksj.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

Many thanks to @richardfisher.bsky.social for this lovely article on my #urbangeology rambles! www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

Oh, such a fabulous piece: on education, the Proclaimers, and the power and limitations of maps... "I think it is sad that you would come to college to be told where to go. I think it is sad that you would go to college and follow a map written by someone else." #academicsky

Great to see this research into an important aspect of rural health, led by my former colleague Nick Evans @worcesteruni.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Today I managed to be both early and late for the same meeting. Early bcs I put the event in my calendar while in Finland, & Outlook 'helpfully' adjusted it to UK time. I turned up 2 hours early. Late (5 mins) bcs I was then concentrating and didn't notice the time. 🙄 How's your day going?

This is what climate scientists have been warning about for decades. We were told, by people sprawled on their fainting couches, that the scientists were just fear mongering. Many of the world‘s largest cities are coastal. It won’t just be towns, but cities that will have to be abandoned. 🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

This is so idiotic. Students get exceptional, competent (the vast majority) and mediocre teachers in every single institution. And success depends not on the teacher but on the student and how hard they work

Fabulous couple of days at the Philosophy of Geography conference for doctoral researchers, University of Oulu, organised by Dr Johanna Sitomaniemi-San, Prof Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola & Dr Marika Kettunen. The university's botanical gardens were the perfect setting. 1/2

A super first day at the University of Oulu, Finland. Honoured to be the opening speaker for the Geography Research Unit's inaugural Philosophy of Geography conference for PhD researchers. Discussion time raised lots of big questions about the nature of geography. A bit of sightseeing a bonus!

As a primatologist, Jane Goodall was a huge inspiration to me. I admired the way she describes chimpanzee behavior with such detail and empathy, and she’s inspired so many people and advocated for chimpanzee conservation and welfare. However, I'm dismayed at what her narrative leaves out (1/10)

YSJ Geography is marking Black History Month by celebrating the work of Black geographers past and present on our blog. With thanks to colleagues, esp Olalekan Adekola, Tokunbo Olorundami & Jamie Arathoon. 1/2 #BlackHistoryMonth #Geosky #Geography blog.yorksj.ac.uk/geography/20...

And so starts semester 1 and the Geographical Thought module. Feeling more excited than usual this year, trying something new. Each week I introduce a different approach to research: positivist, structuralist, phenomenological, poststructuralist etc. 1/4 #AcademicSky #Geography

A super piece by John Horton (Northampton) on gentleness in the anything-but-gentle academy. Ever felt nervous about public speaking? Conferences cause existential angst? Wonder whether you fit in as an academic? You're not alone. #AcademicSky rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

YES! THIS on GenAI! Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins: "An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

On Cook, commerce, and the valuing of coastal sands.

Anyone know what happened to Syracuse geographer Farhana Sultana? It's been nearly a week since her bsky account disappeared after her K**k posts, and she doesn't appear to have a web page at Syracuse anymore... In fact no one below 'leadership' does. @rgsibg.bsky.social @geographers.bsky.social ?

Good to see this in print. Health & safety has potential for making dull reading, but co-authoring this with Matt Bellew, the uni's Health and Safety Advisor, made it the most fun thing to write. 🙏 Congrats to Dan & Naomi for making the book happen! #fieldwork #Geosky

Glad Science collected this data (though the results are entirely unsurprising). GenAI cannot accurately summarize scientific papers, sacrificing accuracy for simplicity. And shame on publishers who are pushing genAI summaries on readers. Great way to accelerate an epistemic apocalypse.

Folks, get off of Academia[.]edu. Delete your accounts. Put your work on a faculty webpage, on hcommons, on your own webpage. But not on Academia[.]edu. www.academia.edu/terms

Hello, #AcademicSky! We are the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) at KU Leuven. Our senior and junior researchers focus on #logic, #epistemology & #philsci. We’re here to share our work and connect with logicians and philosophers of science worldwide—help us spread the word! #philsky

Grim reading. Research culture is about "making sure universities are a happier place," according to one 'sector figure'. Bcs time to read & think, discuss with colleagues etc. makes no difference to the actual research, does it? #academicsky #UKHE www.timeshighereducation.com/news/could-r...

#Geosky #hazards #EarthScience 🧪⚒️

#Academicsky #science ⚒️🧪

This is an excellent article critiquing the adoption of 'AI' in academia. A rigorous, comprehensive analysis. Well worth a read. ##academicsky

On Pacific #geopolitics. #geosky

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars. OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

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

So is just me or does anyone else see a pliosaur (head) with a fish between its jaws? ⚒️

“Any attempt to encourage people to treat AI systems with respect should be understood as an attempt to make people defer to corporate interests. It might have value to corporations, but there is no value for you.” lareviewofbooks.org/article/life...

Sometimes it's interesting to know more about what's in your backyard. Fortunate to have a colleague who teaches ecology & biogeography, and suggested I try one of our bat-detectors. 🦇💚🖤

This looks like one for the library... 💦🌐 #wetlands #environment #geography #hydrology #socialscience ⚒️🧪

Fascinated by Pavegen technology at Uni of B'ham, generating electricity for phone charging from foot traffic. Location would obviously be busy when the academic year is in full flow. Wondering how well it works: spotting it made me walk back & forth (novelty), but are the charging points used?

Another super #RGSIBG25 session: 'Art-science collaborations in the geosciences' organised by @hywelgriffiths.bsky.social & Caroline Clason. Lots of ideas to take away, things to think about for both research & teaching. And @dominoajones.bsky.social 's comics are fabulous!

Still on a high following this morning's conference session, 'The scientific nature of geomorphology?'. Huge thanks to co-convenor Brendon Blue, all speakers and to the audience for such a great level of engagement. So much to think about! ##RGSIBG25 @hywelgriffiths.bsky.social

Fascinated by the edible cups at #RGSIBG25 (having forgotten to bring my re-usable cup 😔). What does it taste like? A dog biscuit, IMHO. Good to see people munching away on them though.

Some good advice for #RGSIBG25 here, e.g. this tip from Nancy on networking: “Networking can feel intimidating. I’ve found that the most valuable connections often come from casual, authentic conversations, whether during coffee breaks, poster sessions, or smaller group meetups." Well said. 👏