David George

New 🐧paper with colleagues from @thedeephull.bsky.social and the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at @uniofhull.bsky.social
Thanks for involving me in the project!
www.jzar.org/jzar/article...

(Un)intentionality bias in action observation revisited When observing individuals in action, we often infer their goals and intentions. Yet, in situations where actions are ambiguous and could be either in…

Happy to share our latest study on (Un)intentionality bias in action observation! We found that people perceive ambiguous actions as intentional—especially when posture aligns with the goal. This bias shifts with schizotypal cognitive traits.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Endless restructures ‘make campuses more inefficient, not less’ Surveyed professional staff blame constant restructuring for escalating administrative burden and deteriorating administrative efficiency

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/endless...

On the responsibilities of intellectuals and the rise of bullshit jobs in universities You may never have considered yourself to be one. Why would you? But if you’re reading this, there is more than a likelihood that you are one. If you’re a

academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

NEW on Wonkhe: James Coe comes to the defence of maintenance as undervalued but essential in the success of any university https://bit.ly/41osvMK

This is true. And yet The Royal Society saw fit to make him a fellow, one of the highest honours in science. And they have yet to comment on his role in the destruction of science in the USA

When I worked in UK academia I recall hearing of a Japanese man who was baffled at how Britain had decided to run its universities like firms. “Why? Your universities are excellent and your firms are terrible.”

Love this from Denmark

‘Devastating’: jobs on the line as Edinburgh cuts £140 million Scotland's oldest university said staff cuts will follow as it says voluntary redundancies ‘not enough’ to tackle financial blackhole

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/devasta...

I'm not going to be striking over pay - totally misguided venture, and even the ballot serves to sew confusion and discord

The Guardian view on campus cuts: academics pay a high price for Westminster’s mistakes | Editorial Editorial: The government should not stand aloof as a crisis unfolds in our universities. A new settlement is needed

The Guardian view on campus cuts: academics pay a high price for Westminster’s mistakes | Editorial www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

University cash crisis will get worse despite tuition fee rise, BBC told More than three quarters of universities are expected to face financial problems next year.

“Almost three quarters of universities in England will face financial problems next year - despite tuition fees increasing.”

The sector is at crisis point.

"This is not an isolated problem. It is a nationwide crisis."

Thank you for taking the initiative on this letter, @newcastleucu.bsky.social! And an excellent letter it is too, clear and referenced.

Please everyone who cares about higher education and research, co-sign. #UKHE

Can confirm. Adding the F word to your google searches turns off AI summaries. E.g.:

"how do massively parallel reporter assays work?"
vs
"how do f*cking massively parallel reporter assays work?"

screenshot of a wordpress webpage transcription: Most recent updates (in the past fortnight, approximately; last updated 31 January 2025) Cardiff announced they are seeking to lose 400 colleagues. The university for the Creative Arts ran a Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme and is looking into restructuring The University of Dundee will no longer issue contracts to post-graduate students for teaching in 2025. Durham is planning to lose 200 (!!!) non-academic colleagues and opened a voluntary severance scheme. Kent opened another voluntary severance scheme, but is looking to cut £20million within three weeks… Lancaster is cutting 400 posts over the next two years Newcastle announced they’re making 300 FTE redundancies The Open University opened another Voluntary Severance Scheme Reading opened a targeted voluntary severance scheme, targeting, amongst others, biological engineering, environment, English, languages, education. University of West England: Bristol Old Vic will no longer be accepting enrolments from September 2025.

In case you feel inclined to ask your friendly local UK academic how they are. This has been our past fortnight...
qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...

😵‍💫

A quote from the writer AR Moxon from 2017. He wrote: "Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed. That word is "Nazi." Nobody cares about their motives anymore. They joined what they joined. They lent their support and their moral approval. And, in so doing, they bound themselves to everything that came after. Who cares any more what particular knot they used in the binding?" A.R. Moxon

This.

Scandalous

How can we make sound replication decisions? | PNAS Replication and the reported crises impacting many fields of research have become a focal point for the sciences. This has led to reforms in publis...

Nice read from @pnas.org: "How can we make sound replication decisions?"

York Minster congregation outraged over ‘deeply inappropriate’ concert Gig at cathedral by metal band Plague of Angels would be ‘outright insult’ to their faith, say parishioners

Worth reading at least until the end of the 4th paragraph

Pretty much anything from Bob Rescorla, an exquisite experimentalist.

I may have put on a little weight over Christmas but I'm not sure I appreciate this email from @ordnancesurvey.bsky.social

Morning!
I’d like to follow as many independent bookshops as possible, especially ones who love their children’s books.
Can you help me? If you know a great Indy bookshop on Bluesky please let me know.
We are @halfwayupbooks.bsky.social (I’m Events Manager and Trish is the Owner/Manager).

Cardiff University job losses deeply concerning, says Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens The university has blamed a funding shortfall for its proposals to cut 400 full-time roles and close a number of degree programmes.

For the Secretary of State to actually say 'I hope enough people will take voluntary redundancy to avoid compulsories, in our national flagship university on which the South Wales economy depends' is... very brave. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/jo-s...

Cardiff: University confirms plans to cut 400 jobs Vice-chancellor Wendy Larner says

It was clear right from the start that a marketisation approach that made universities dependent on overseas tuition fees combined with a botched full economic costing model for funding research wouldn't be sustainable in the long run.

Does anyone ever question those two failing concepts?

Nope.