Excellent piece on knowledge as practice. AI as having exposed, not caused, a problem. "What must be recovered is not an old curriculum for its own sake. It is a truthful relation between knowing and doing." The piece is focuses on Art & Design but it's relevant to all disciplines.

On AI and 'epistemological pollution'. "...these zombie references call into question the accuracy of the papers that cite them." ➡️ Don't cite anything you haven't read. ✅️ But: structural inequalities shape vulnerability to AI slop. ❓️How do we (the 'research community') address those inequalities?

"FERNS ARE THE ULTIMATE MENTORS...They have survived multiple mass extinctions...They survived the evolution of flowering plants...Ferns are patient. They have nothing but time." orionmagazine.org/article/cons...

“When the river bursts its banks, or drains are popping manhole covers, that’s the river talking to us. It’s telling us: Hey, you’ve constrained me, you’ve constricted me, and I’m screaming and shouting about that.” — Dan Hikuroa.

"Contrary to what some educators assume, the early stages of invention, such as brainstorming and idea mapping are not extraneous activity that’s fine to farm out to machines before getting to the “real work” of drafting." 👏 Interesting piece by Carla Arnell on LLMs and higher ed.

Looking to enhance your geography teaching? Explore our Higher Education resources for innovative teaching approaches, practical guidance, and best practice 🔗👇 https://www.rgs.org/research/higher-education-resources?filter=teaching-7536

It seems it's time to play.

Sadly, the post Covid attitude shift never happened. "Low Carbon Research Methods explores the epistemological & equity impacts of high-carbon research as well as the potential gains made possible through a transition towards slower, less mobile, & more collaborative forms of inquiry and exchange."

I don't see this said enough: the widespread use of generative AI is not only making our jobs as educators harder logistically, but also emotionally. It is genuinely sad to be suspicious of students when you have spent so much time building a pedagogy based on trust and not being a cop. It sucks.

What is the public purpose of the #University in an age of #AI everywhere? I had a go at answering this whopper of a question in the latest issue of the Journal of the British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social #democracy #discernment doi.org/10.5871/jba/...

"There is such a stark divide between those who understand scientific complexity and those who urgently need or want to." Your secret weapon? The humble metaphor. 2nd plug for my latest blog post from yesterday #AcademicSky occamstypewriter.org/mindthegap/2...

Striking geographical insight from Salman Rushdie (1988).

On the impossibility of resisting being eaten by the monster* you already sit in. *academia decolonialdialogue.wordpress.com/2026/03/27/i...

This story really takes the biscuit! @rgs.org www.linkedin.com/posts/the-re...

The politics of publishing: On the ethics of academic co-authorship @uniworldnews.bsky.social www.linkedin.com/redir/redire...

I'd noticed that much university marketing is about "delving into" subjects lately. It seems researchers are doing it too. How LLMs have changed word use in biomedical publications. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"The world is held together...by the love & the passion of a very few people. Otherwise, of course, you can despair. Walk down the street of any city, any afternoon, & look around you...You could be that person. You could be that monster... you have to decide, in yourself, not to be." James Baldwin

mill's dedication: this is a jointly authored work a century & a half of male editors: mill exaggerated out of a sentimental fondness for his wife mill's letters: no, really, most of "my" work was partly by her, i really could not be clearer on this

I feel seen. A history class when I was 12, something on the French Revolution. Teacher raised a question about voting: what would we do if ppl knocked on our door & told us how to vote? Picked on me. I paused, & she says "I know, you'd say yes, shut the door & do exactly what you wanted." 1/2

I met with AI data labelers in Kenya who are organizing their colleagues to fight the brutal working conditions and horrible pay given to the workers at the "bottom of the AI supply chain." They believe the NDAs they've signed are unenforceable so are speaking out: www.404media.co/ai-is-africa...

Everyday science communication matters: single-image representation of the day's weather forecast driving behaviours and spending. #scicomm www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"References to anthropogenic climate change are disappearing from earth science departments. Historians are being told that they can only teach primary sources, with all second-order reflection on those sources — what we used to call “history” — being stigmatized or even banned."

"Higher education has a choice. We can continue to treat technology as a series of technical problems to be solved in a vacuum, or we can recognise that place and the solidarity found within it still matter. Knowledge is not a cloud-based commodity. It is a grounded, political and collective act."

Last semester I experimented with addressing AI with students. Won't go into detail here but I learned a lot, ending up with more questions and concerns than answers. Now finding much food for thought in @carlbergstrom.com's work, so for anyone who hasn't come across them... #academicsky #HigherEd

"Mountains are more than scenery: They are ecosystems, cultural landscapes, and homes. Treating them as empty canvases for spectacle normalises commodification and erases both fragility and meaning" blog.geographydirections.com/2026/02/17/c...

"More academics left roles than started them in 2024-25 for the first time ever.....About 60 per cent of Universities UK members saw a fall in academic staff numbers last year" @timeshighered.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/number-...

"Assessment that is both authentic and accountable cannot be implemented through anonymous submission and blind marking alone. It requires relational engagement between students and assessors." Interesting piece on assessment in an age of genAI. #HigherEd #AcademicSky

I think “floaty boats murder monster” is how I’m going to refer to all bears from now on

I have some bad news. One, if you need to use ChatGPT for your graduate application letter, you are not ready for graduate school. Two, no, not "everyone is doing it" and those who don't do it aren't "losing out." ChatGPT is not an advantage.

Geology matters in Olympic curling. 2-minute video on the source of the stones. ⚒️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

When AI was added to a tool for sinus surgery: “Cerebrospinal fluid leaked from one patient’s nose. In another… a surgeon mistakenly punctured the base of a patient’s skull. In two other cases, patients suffered strokes after a major artery was accidentally injured” www.reuters.com/investigatio...

What a morning. Module intro session of my new MSc module, 'Research Design & Practice'. The level of student engagement was off the scale. Several students standing up shouting at each other simultaneously across the room; all entirely good-natured, focused on topic. Amazing energy in the room.

Critical Perspectives on “AI” in Education – a free, one-hour, Zoom interview series starting Monday Feb 17, 12 noon PT / 3pm ET / 8pm GMT, continuing Tuesdays from Feb 23. Come and chat with us! 🧵 🧪💙📚 🗃 #earlymodern #histsci #education #politics #AcademicSky #technology #AI 1/

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

📢 Call for papers and discussion participation: Into the Wild Conference & Discussion Meeting - 21st & 22nd May 2026, Glasgow. Multidisciplinary event of interest to researchers, practitioners & policy makers. Deadline: 2 March 2026. Details: tinyurl.com/8twry2zc Please share 🙏

Epstein managed different networks. The UK media has rightly centred the powerful pedophile ring. It has maintained an uncanny silence about the global, anti-democratic, far right political network. Farage is up to his neck in it. If it weren’t for unprecedented double standards it’d be career over.

📖 What if land isn’t property, but relationship? Using Maasai pastoralist struggles in Tanzania, this paper contrasts colonial ways of knowing land with Eramatare, a Maasai inhabitation mode that reimagines nature. Toward decolonial ecological transformation. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Anyone fancy a new university league table? Laundry costs causing a local stir here in York. YSJU's social justice ethos in practice. @yorkstjohn.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Here's a curious thing. I'm able to say quite categorically that I've never received payments totalling $75,000 from anyone (excluding work, of course). Not "I have no recollection"... 🤔

On narratives of discovery and ethical use of LiDAR

1. The thing about science that these jokers don't understand is that science cannot be vibe-coded. Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.

The old test in moral philosophy ‘what if everyone did that?’ is coming back to haunt us. LLMs only work because the information they are sucking up was not generated by LLMs. But as they drive more and more real researchers out of business they are building layers and layers on their own quicksand.

#AIHype #enshittification

📢 In 2025, the UK Rights of Nature movement quietly crossed a threshold. Not through a single law or campaign, but through a thriving ecology of ideas, innovations, learning, and practice. Here’s a short summary thread… 🧵 1/5 #ukrightsofnature

Big Bad Wolf attacking Finland from the east. "They suspect that Russian wolf numbers have exploded after hunters were sent to the frontline in Ukraine, driving the predators to search for new territory in Finland". www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Moon over @worcestercathedral.bsky.social

A heartening thing: a student has put a content warning on their essay. 🥹 It's not so much about the content warning per se. I appreciate the consideration, & recognition that staff are human.

My 'hot take' this week (as I'm marking) is that genAI is destroying trust and disempowering students. This 👇 raises a question about how intentional that disempowerment is. Create dependency and then capitalise on it? (@kcross.bsky.social this is what you were saying Weds!)

"Educators, whether in early years, FE, HE or the workplace, share core capabilities: pedagogical reasoning, reflective practice, evidence-informed decision-making and relational skill." The challenge of the UK's regulatory environment & universities' potential to shape it. #AcademicSky #education

"At its best, education refuses to accept the world as presented by the powerful, the financial elite, or the enablers of fascism. It is a practice of critical interruption, a moral and political endeavor" @girouxh.bsky.social & William Paul canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...