Jonathan Pritchard

“Protest is when I say I don’t like this, resistance is when I put an end to what I don’t like”

It’s a tough year for knowing what to tell students that ask about PhDs in the US. So much funding instability…

Repeat later in the year for “Wellness Week”…

Very struck by German museum staff telling a Chinese tourist that China is the future and Germany is the past. More politicians need to articulate the dream of a European future.

Associate Professor of Cosmology at University of Oxford Recruiting now: Associate Professor of Cosmology on jobs.ac.uk. Click for details and explore more academic job opportunities on the top job board

Cosmologists! We have a faculty job going here in Oxford - happy to answer questions. Brief version is that this remains a great & collaborative place to do science and the students are superb. 🔭 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOP628/a...

Between fires and layoffs, it’s been a dark few years for JPL.

‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder Where once people were duped by soft-focus photos and borrowed chat-up lines, now they have to watch out for computer-generated charm. But it’s one thing to use a witty phrase – another thing entirely...

“Chatfishing”. It’s fascinating how people are playing with ChatGPT. Bizarre, but fascinating.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Keep Portland weird.

‘To the men who ran the world, I was just a photo op’: Malala Yousafzai on growing up, getting cynical – and how getting high nearly broke her The global icon of women’s education is ready to tell the full story of her turbulent recent life, from arguing with her parents to being ghosted by the statesmen who were once desperate to be seen wi...

Malala seems a very brave young woman. Still quietly working at making the world better, even when the spotlight has moved on.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

That would be some impressive ego stroking!

'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

UT Austin is hiring faculty in cosmology (Physics department), astronomy, and scientific machine learning (Oden Institute; 2 positions). Feel free to contact me for more details! 🧪🔭☄️

apply.interfolio.com/175261
aas.org/jobregister/...
apply.interfolio.com/174445
apply.interfolio.com/174449

The Army’s Race to Catch Up in a World of Deadly Drones

It’s amazing, and pretty terrifying, how much the war in Ukraine has changed the nature of war. Drones everywhere.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/u...

I keep seeing some variation of
(1) Idea!
(2) ChatGPT!
(3) Fame & Glory!
It’s depressing how easily GenAI produces plausible looking output with no underlying logic.

Yellow barrette or fingerless gloves. Fingerless gloves is a fantastic photo. Feels playful and creative.

Many of my colleagues at Imperial are on strike over pay. Astonishingly part of the issue seems to be College management using incorrect salary comparisons to persuade themselves their offer was massively more generous than the reality.
ucu.imperial.ac.uk/archives/1132

Two years of the most appalling destruction and death in Gaza. Far beyond anything proportionate to the initial violence on this day in 2023. A dark time for both nations that needs to be ended.

Wilhem and Alexander von Humboldt. Amazing figures in science and the development of the university.

Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electri...

Congratulations to this year’s Nobel Prize for physics for QM tunnelling.
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi...

Excited to see what Physics the Nobel Prize committee has selected for us all to learn about today!

I’m delighted to hear it! What a close match and good luck with those to come. I strongly approve of the penguin :)

Spending a couple of day at Harnack House in Berlin for the #LeadNet annual meeting of MPG Research Group Leaders. Fascinating to see how autonomy=diverse in MPI structures and management.

What if Hyde Park was a forest?

I’ve been at the airport for “watching the planes come and go and marvelling at the logistics of it all” long.

Data protection (UK GDPR) Obtain confirmation that Anthology will continue to meet its UK GDPR Article 28 obligations as your data processor throughout the process. Get clarification of sub processor stability (no changes planned; if changes are anticipated, please provide advance notice and details). Confirm that no organisational changes arising from the restructuring will alter how your personal data is accessed, processed, or transferred; if any changes are envisaged, please outline controls, locations, and safeguards.

The situation with Blackboard - now its owner is bankrupt and it's coming under new private equity ownership and control - is serious enough the UK agency for HE tech is advising all affected universities to seek assurances regarding data security inspiringlearning.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/10/s...

NEW on Wonkhe: Jim Dickinson explores how UCL’s oversubscription crisis has left hundreds of international students in limbo - raising fresh questions about whether UK universities are operating within consumer law buff.ly/TBG7zay

The idea that a nation’s military is more beholden to its citizens than its government is a very rare and powerful one.

Imperial staff to strike next week in pay and conditions row Staff at Imperial College London will take ten days of strike action over the next two months in a row over pay and conditions, the University and College Union announced today

NEW: Staff at Imperial College London will strike for 10 days this autumn over pay and conditions.

Jo Grady: “Staff are the backbone of Imperial and deserve an actual pay rise. Striking is a last resort, but members have had enough and are prepared to fight back”

www.ucu.org.uk/article/1421....

Rising UK visa fees have forced research-intensive universities into spending hundreds of thousands of pounds extra to recruit international staff over the last two years—with costs at individual institutions reaching as high as £2 million a year.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Very sad not to be around :(