Margot Finn

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?

YouTube video by UK Research and Innovation UKRI opportunities update from Professor Sir Ian Chapman

UKRI CEO announces his plans for communicating research opportunities quarterly and notes upcoming AHRC, ESRC, BBSCR, MRC, NERC, EPSRC and other grant opportunities coming soon. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Oc...

New calls for research funding from the Royal Historical Society: opening in March 2026 - RHS The Society currently invites applications for the following two schemes — open to postgraduate researchers and early career historians — with closing dates of 5 June 2026. For further information on ...

Money for UK-based historians engaged in research and/or public history. #Skystorians

A group of approximately 15 people wearing white hard hats and neon yellow safety vests stand on the rooftop of a construction site for a topping out ceremony. They are posing behind a blue pedestal branded with "Dominus" and "McAleer & Rushe." Above them, a crane hoists a large concrete block bearing the McAleer & Rushe logo. Modern London skyscrapers are visible in the background.

A high-angle wide shot of a multi-story building under construction at 65 Crutched Friars in London. The concrete frame is largely complete, with blue safety netting on lower levels and several blue construction cranes towering over the site. In the background, the iconic "Gherkin" skyscraper and other City of London high-rises are visible under a cloudy sky.

Last month we celebrated a major milestone: the topping out of our future home at 65 Crutched Friars. This was a special construction marker and an occasion to recognise that Britain’s first permanent Migration Museum is now moving from vision to reality!

Photos: Mike O’Dwyer

YouTube video by Andy Tattersall Under Review with Dr Elisabeth Bik - Research fraud detection, papermills and that rat.

I've been really pleased with the reception of my Under Review podcast. Last week's episode with @elisabethbik.bsky.social has been viewed on YouTube almost 800 times as well as a good number on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l254...

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

1/3

Nottingham's council is writing planning guidance for converting student housing into other forms, such as 'co-living' for professionals and young families.

No discussion here of wider economic impact on local economies. 2/2

The student loans crisis hollowing out Britain’s university towns Vacancy rates are rising as undergraduates increasingly choose to stay at home while studying

'The mantra of developers may have been: “If you build it, they will come.” But there’s a problem: increasingly, students are not.'

Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Leicester vacancy rates up as international students discouraged and home students stay at home. 1/2

The majority of UK academic institutions now no longer post on X - LSE Impact For the first time, more UK universities and associated organisations are inactive on X than active.

'Andy Tattersall, a research communications consultant who was previously at the University of Sheffield, has been tracking universities’ use of X since 2022—when billionaire Elon Musk acquired the platform, known then as Twitter.' @andytattersall.bsky.social 2/2

Most UK universities now inactive on X - Research Professional News Tipping point reached as shift away from Elon Musk’s social media platform continues

'Among universities, there are now 76 inactive accounts, compared with 65 institutions still active this year. Tattersall found that in the past three months, 13 universities have ceased posting and five have stated publicly on the platform that they have quit.' 1/2

Strong agree re babies and bathwater. Plus many of the 'solutions' seem tantamount to proposing that babies are best bathed in the shower.

It's worth noting that Philip Augar (former banker, chair of the government's 2019 review of post-18 education and funding), who was on the same panel, expressed much scepticism about the success of mergers, noting that they had a poor track record when the merging institutions merged in crisis. 2/2