Margot Finn

We are pleased to announce the latest cohort of SHAPE Involve and Engage awardees, who will be working with various partner organisations in the GLAM sector to help bring the humanities and social sciences closer to the public. Read more about the projects here: https://bit.ly/4suMO75

What happens when disability becomes a driving subject of intellectual and political inquiry? Professor Dan Goodley challenges the pathologising assumptions embedded in higher education and explores how depathologising the university could help reimagine society: https://bit.ly/4l84dzW

Apply to be supported in what matters most. It's an investment in the discipline and its practitioners. Compared to much 'science' it's cheap as chips. It matters. Just do it.

Totally get that but am also numerate so have done the maths.

A wonderful intellectual event. Reminds me why I do what I do. Such an intellectual and collegial treat. Many thanks @royalhistsoc.org and especially Dr Philip Carter of that place.

Emma Jones, Leigh Day law form: 'added that it was "surprising" that all those interviewed were female, "having considered the accounts of our clients and the details that are already in the public domain".

Quite "surprising", non, ou non-non?

Remind me which century we are all living in? 2/2

Mohamed Al Fayed: Three women interviewed by police on suspicion of sex trafficking The women have been interviewed under suspicion of aiding and abetting rape and human trafficking, the Met Police says.

'Three women have been interviewed under caution over offences including human trafficking and facilitating rape, as part of an investigation into former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed, the Metropolitan Police has said.'

Because let's be frank, women not men are key drivers of sex trafficking? 1/2

Withheld Jeffrey Epstein files with accusations against Trump released by justice department The Department of Justice said the released files had been

'FBI documents summarising interviews with a woman who made unsubstantiated claims of sexual assault against Donald Trump have been released as part of the...Epstein files.'

Might we, in 2026, just have a wee bit of a think about how and why claims of sexual assault might be "unsubstantiated"?

pile of circle stickers that say "Everything is better with footnotes." With a footnote callout to me.

Reordered these. Bc the world.

It’s not just the Epstein files he’s trying to distract from

Many congratulations Mark.

Text reads: I am humbled and excited to be elected the next UCU Vice-President for Higher Education. Now is a devastatingly difficult and challenging time for our sectors and so many workers in post-16 education, but as a union we cannot succumb to despair. We have the skills, knowledge and capacity to help chart a way out of this mess and restore higher and further education. That you have put your trust in me to help do that is a huge honour and responsibility. I do not take this lightly. Thank you to the many thousands of members who voted for me and also to those who did not – we need to build better engagement in our union and part of that is voting, no matter who you voted for. I promised in my election materials to work hard to bring our union together and that is what I will do.

Text reads: Thank you to the other HE candidates Sean and Steve, both committed trade unionists. I know they will continue to fight for members and the future of Higher Education and I look forward to doing that alongside them. Congratulations to those elected to the National Executive Committee and commiserations to those who missed out this time. Your willingness to put yourself forward for election is hugely valued and I know you all will continue to contribute in other ways. So what next? Until the end of May, I’ll be tying up some loose ends and taking some time off to visit family and friends back in Australia. I will take up my role after UCU’s annual Congress at the end of May, this year in Harrogate.

Text reads: For the following three years, I will be lead negotiator for pay and conditions and for USS pensions across UK Higher Education, working with our team of elected negotiators and officials. I will also chair UCU’s Higher Education Committee and HE sector conferences, serve on other national committees and represent you in various forums. In 2029-30 I will become UCU’s President after the excellent Suzi Toole, who has also been elected as Vice-President for Further Education and will spend two years leading on further education matters before becoming President. She will take over from Dyfrig Jones, who succeeds early to the Presidential role for a two-year term this May, due to the casual vacancy that arose last year, replacing Maria Chondrogianni. Maria stays on as immediate past president, rounding out the presidential team. I want to again acknowledge David Hunter who stepped down as President-Elect last year for health reasons and continue to wish him and his family all the best.

A picture of two smiling people (Suzi Toole and Mark Pendleton) wearing UCU beanies. Text reads: That’s a lot of work, and a lot of moving parts, but at the heart of it will be my commitment to build a better union, alongside members and branches, and through that transform our sectors. I am ready and I know from the responses to this election that many of you are too. I’m looking forward to getting to work, together with you all.

UCU’s elections concluded this week and I am honoured to have been elected as the next Vice-President for Higher Education, to become President in 2029-30.

Thank you for all the support.

A short statement about the election and what’s to come after I take up the role in May.

Thanks!

Good discussion started by Kirsty here ..

bsky.app/profile/kirs...

One can understand that researchers are jittery given current turbulence, but boy, the overall impression management (SNAFU) is crazy

Workshop on genetics, eugenics and scientific racism next week! #Philsci #Philosophy #Ethics #HPS #Sociology #AcademicSky
We will be conducting hybrid sessions, you can find the zoom link at www.imseam.uni-heidelberg.de/en/heinzelma...

Young Woman Being Harassed by a Man

This is Judith Leyster's amazing 1631 painting ‘Young Woman Being Harassed by a Man’.

She was well known in her day but SURPRISE! her works were later misattributed either to Frans Hals, her local contemporary, or her husband, Jan Miense Molenaer.
www.thetimes.com/article/f41d...

'Author and researcher Dr Clare Sandford-Couch is part of a group of academics researching the history of women in the prison and co-wrote the book Newcastle Prison: A History, 1828-1925.'

Alternative headline: Why men your age should be signed up for National Service for a few years to grow up a bit before you marry.

'The opportunity, launched on 2 March by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), requires expressions of interest and applications to be submitted by 16 and 31 March, respectively. The successful project is expected to start on 1 May.'

Seriously? Stitch-up or cock-up?

UK talent visas stagnate as MAC review gets under way Influential body to assess effectiveness of routes into country for top talent, as latest figures show numbers have not increased despite government attention

'The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) announced on 5 March that it is launching a call for evidence on the Global Talent and Innovator Founder visa routes.'

Global Talent is up; Innovator Founder is down.

A radical thought: is the MAC pause an opportunity to invest in researchers already in UK?

'“If Labour is to appeal to...younger voters...it’ll be on the question of loans – not least because that group not only includes those who are currently over 18 but those aged 14…and above who are likely to be on the electoral register for an election in two or three years’ time". (Tim Bale) 2/2

Labour resists shift on student migration despite Green pressure Calls to loosen restrictions on international students in wake of shock defeat to left-wing party in by-election may go unheard without leadership change, say experts

'While the UK government’s anti-immigration rhetoric may soften after the Green Party upset the odds to claim a high-profile by-election victory, universities shouldn’t expect major U-turns on student visas or debt, political experts have warned. ' 1/2

'Technology was never historically neutral....In the post-colonial context, the neutrality of an algorithm is a fiction. When we talk about AI in an African context, we are talking about who gets to define intelligence and whose data is harvested to feed it.' 2/2

In post-colonial Africa, the ethical neutrality of AI is pure fantasy If we treat AI as a purely rational evolution of human intelligence, we risk repeating colonial erasure on a digital scale, says Agnieszka Piotrowska

'conversations about AI sound fundamentally different in Africa....There, debates about technocratic issues such as innovation, productivity, regulation and “safety” – the anxieties of the designer and the proprietor – are inseparable from histories of extraction and epistemic violence.' 1/2

It's a real failure of journalism that everything is being boiled down to student loans. He was not calling for a review of loans but for a comprehensive review of higher education including its funding, of which student. Absent too here was his passionate defence of modern language study. 2/2

Vice-chancellor calls for review into student loans for those without A-levels Adam Tickell, of University of Birmingham, says money is loaned to people who ‘are not really capable of graduating’

'Adam Tickell, vice-chancellor of the University of Birmingham, said universities face an “almost existential challenge” and falling public support that requires a radical review of higher education funding.'

Not at all keen on the A level bit, and how selectively the Guardian has spun this. 1/2

Those would be important questions to ask/answer.

UK to delay difficult decisions on AI copyright rules Government goes back to drawing board after its proposals triggered backlash from creative industries

Well, kicking it down the road is at least preferable to kicking copyright for creatives and authors in the stomach.

Join us in March for our lecture with Rosina Buckland who will explore the British Museum’s major new exhibition (on now until 4 May) which examines the centuries-long trajectory of a Japanese icon, the samurai 🎌
Monday 16 March 2026. Find out more 👉 https://loom.ly/XA6T5dw

I thought the actions didn't quite match the text, here.

AI could pollute the open science space, so contribute to open models? (Which could also do so.) AI scrapers are misbehaving, so do the bare minimum of blocking possible?