Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Martin Willis @profwillis.bsky.social · Jul 23

Perhaps you’ve gone beyond study, beyond the department, beyond even the university. Maybe you’ve reached the ultimate: a state of beyondness.

6

Reposted by Martin Willis

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · Jul 20

I used to find this picture - and the whole concept - of a flooded valley quite haunting.
Actually, I still do

Artist: Ronald Lampitt
(Our Land in the Making, 1966)

Illustration divided into two frames. The upper frame shows a cut-through depiction of a flooded village with intact church and stunted trees, green in hue under the water as fish swim past.
Below is an innocuous, conventional scene of a peaceful reservoir in sunlight

53 120 1.1K

Reposted by Martin Willis

Helen Smith @wordsmith.bsky.social · Jul 15

I had not seen this before, and it made me smile...

A flow chart titled 'What to call your Academic Event', poking fun at academic event titles.

1 1 7

Reposted by Martin Willis

The British Society for Literature and Science @thebsls.bsky.social · Jun 3

ECRs and PGRs - you have three days to submit your 4k-5k word essay to the BSLS/JLS essay prize! Tidy up those conferences papers and send them in! Deadline is THIS FRIDAY.

www.bsls.ac.uk/2025/04/call...

Call for entries: 2025 BSLS/JLS Essay Prize – The British Society for Literature and Science

www.bsls.ac.uk

2 2

Reposted by Martin Willis

Douglas Small @drdouglassmall.bsky.social · May 6

In case you want proof, here's an article i wrote years ago about Victorian eugenicists wanting to found a religion centred on "the human body is god". (I'll cheerfully admit that it has a genuinely terrible title. I don't know what I was thinking.) www.literatureandscience.org/wp-content/u...

1 1 2

Reposted by Martin Willis

Liam McIlvanney @liammcilvanney.bsky.social · May 3

Citizens of Glasgow! I will be in the big Waterstones on Sauchiehall St on 3rd July, chatting to the outstanding @lesleymcdowell.bsky.social. Hope to see you there if you can make it…💙📚

Liam McIlvanney launches The Good Father in conversation with Lesley McDowell | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones

Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Liam McIlvanney launches The Good Father in conversation with Lesley McDowell today.

www.waterstones.com

4 11 37

Reposted by Martin Willis

Dr Jordan Kistler @jordankistler.bsky.social · May 2

Very pleased that my article 'Facts and Fictions: Emotional Authenticity and Narrative in Natural History Exhibitions', which close reads the displays of the NHM and the Loch Ness Centre, has been published today!

journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/mas

2 5

Reposted by Martin Willis

Dr Adele Guyton @adeleguyton.bsky.social · May 1

Dr Guyton at last!

On Tuesday I defended my dissertation, "Popular Astronomy: Mediating Outer Space in German and British Periodical Culture, 1890-1950."

#PhDone

The doctoranda pictured in front of slides on the five magazines her dissertation focuses on, moments before a small constrictor attacked for the "snake fight" portion of the defence.

3 2 28

Reposted by Martin Willis

Prof. Liz Oakley-Brown @earlymodlancs.bsky.social · Apr 23

Taking today's date as an opportunity to thank my lucky stars that I was taught "Shakespeare" by the terrific triumvirate of Catherine Belsey, Martin Coyle and Terence Hawkes at @cardiffuni.bsky.social

Always grateful 🙏

3 1 14

Reposted by Martin Willis

The British Society for Literature and Science @thebsls.bsky.social · Apr 10

The first day of the conference is already over - with a fantastic plenary from @profmhwhitworth.bsky.social and two panels of amazing papers. It's #BSLS2025 to follow along!

2 10

Reposted by Martin Willis

Maebh Long @maebhlong.bsky.social · Mar 30

I’m extremely lucky to have an early preview of ‘The Good Father’, the new novel by my brilliant colleague @liammcilvanney.bsky.social. It’s his fault if I’m late for work because I stayed up all night reading…

Hand holding up a copy of The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney against background of living room

1 3 3

Reposted by Martin Willis

Prof. Devin gRiff @devo3000.bsky.social · Mar 14

New album just dropped. Check it. www.publicbooks.org/b-sides-unde...

B-Sides: “Under the Sea-Wind” by Rachel Carson - Public Books

Bill McKibben proclaimed nature’s demise in 1989. But Americans who cared about DDT’s poisonous effect and the extinctions that would follow had been

www.publicbooks.org

2 7

Reposted by Martin Willis

History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · Mar 13

UK universities are in crisis.

Dave Hitchcock (@davehitchcock.bsky.social) on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be approached as an interdependent system.

www.historyworkshop....

A Decade of Crisis

The UK's universities are in crisis. Dave Hitchcock on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be understood as an interdependent system.

www.historyworkshop.org.uk

4 150 220

Martin Willis @profwillis.bsky.social · Mar 8

Great to see the EA offering strategic support to all colleagues in arts and humanities whose jobs are under threat.

The English Association @englishassociation.bsky.social · Mar 7

REF2029: concerns about the implications of decoupling | The English Association : Please read this important joint letter we have written (on behalf of us, our chair @jennyrichards.bsky.social ) along with @ies-sas.bsky.social & @univeng.bsky.social
englishassociation.ac.uk/ref2029-conc...

REF2029: concerns about the implications of decoupling | The English Association

We support the teaching, learning, and enjoyment of English at all levels of education, from early years to further and higher education and beyond.

englishassociation.ac.uk

1 3

Reposted by Martin Willis

Philippa East (Author) @philippaeast.bsky.social · Feb 24

Calling all #literaryagents!
A northern Literary Festival is looking for agents to present and do author one-to-ones.
The all-day event will be at Leeds Trinity University, Sat 6th Sept 2025.
It’s partly to fill the gap in the North of England now that #JerichoWriters have relocated to London.
1/

a kangaroo wearing sunglasses and a red shirt says " someone call my agent "

Alt: a kangaroo wearing sunglasses and a red shirt says " someone call my agent "

media.tenor.com

4 11 14

Reposted by Martin Willis

Prof Julia Steinberger 🌹🌱🌍 #ClimateAction #Fightfascism @jksteinberger.bsky.social · Feb 23

As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity.

TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄

NO CHATGPT Or other artificial stupidity: motivation
First, clarity on distinguishing AIs:
Non-generative: grammar aid, translation, dictionary, text-to-audio (e.g. Natural Reader): no problem
As long as you use the appropriate tools (least intensive in data and server energy use).
Why? Because you provide the content. Your brain is doing the most important work
Generative: ChatGPT & Co.
You only supply the prompt, the AI supplies the content.
Why is this delegation of work problematic?
3 domains: ethical, environmental, intellectual engagement.

(Caveat: generative is probably ok for computer programming, where it can be useful and save time. Not relevant to this class.)

1) AI and ethics
Mass theft of all and everything
«learning» on books, articles, blogs, social media, images, music, cultural production, without permission of authors/creators, and leading to their mass joblessness. Profits are not reditributed to originators.
Permanent destruction of the mental health of underpaid precarious tech workers in the Global South (Kenya, Philippines …):
«correction» to avoid production of violent and pedophile contents etc, tech workers are obliged to watch and correct super violent contents for days on end, leading to extreme psychological suffering and trauma, from which recovery is doubtful. No or little compensation (certainly not at the level of the suffering inflicted).
In short, an industry built on theft of real human creation and sacrifice of real human health, profiting a few megafortunes.

2) AI and (un)sustainability

Massive consumption of electricity, water, server capacity for generative AI.
Outcome: keep fossil fuel companies in business, using up new renewable capacity, without any satisfaction of basic human needs.
Massive misappropriation of the finance necessary for climate and ecological action (renewable generation, efficiency and retrofit for buildings, public transit, infrastructures for cycling etc) towards AI industry.
Overall: undermine climate action, reinforce fossil industry, waste resources necessary for human development.

3) AI and intellectual engagement

First, what learning is (or should be) about:
The goal should not (only) be the reproduction of «correct» knowledge,
But mainly personal engagement and experience of thinking about topics of interest. Personal engagement = using one’s own brain.
The most important activity for learning and intellectual engagement is the experience of making one’s own mistakes, by trial and error, corrections based on new ideas, starting over again. Learning to recognise nuances, knowledge gaps, better explanations
This kind of learning is possible only through using your own brain, not AI.
Also, Ais are not «intelligent». At all.
They simply reproduce pre-existing patterns. They «bullshit», invent false references, false facts, false data, simply because those sound plausible. VERY DANGEROUS.
If you learn how to NOT use AI, and how to research facts and data on your own, this will serve you and your communities for the rest of your life.

240 2.1K 5.6K

Martin Willis @profwillis.bsky.social · Feb 19

2/ “They need ethics, philosophy, language and history to guide them. Universities like ours, cherishing the full range of academic disciplines, will have a vital role in showing how sciences and humanities can inform and strengthen each other.” Words that might be heeded by VCs elsewhere.

1

Martin Willis @profwillis.bsky.social · Feb 19

1/ Lord Hague, speaking as he becomes Oxford University Chancellor: “the pace of change in sciences and medicine will mean we need humanities and social sciences more than ever. New technologies are changing politics and transforming the way culture is developed and communicated…”

1

Reposted by Martin Willis

Ian S. Pumpkins @icpetrie.bsky.social · Feb 12

🚨 A CONFERENCE ABOUT RAIL TRAVEL THAT TAKES PLACE ON A TRAIN!!!!!!!! 🚨

Tim Waterman @tim-waterman.co.uk · Feb 12

Now here's an attractive CFP: Railway Aesthetics: Experiencing Locomotion across Media and Cultures. Takes place ON THE TRAIN Vienna-Bucharest-Istanbul, 10-13 September 2025. Deadline for submissions: May 2, 2025 call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/02/...

View down a well lit railway platform with a sleeper train alongside

5 40 140

Reposted by Martin Willis

The English Association @englishassociation.bsky.social · Feb 11

What can you do with English studies …👀👀⬇️

Jenny Richards @jennyrichards.bsky.social · Feb 11

What can you do with English Studies? Anything! I am sharing @englishassociation.bsky.social Skills for the Future link again, with student stories about the skills they are learning, plus some amazing case studies from the world of work. See 🧵 englishassociation.ac.uk/skills-for-t...

Skills for the Future of English | The English Association

We support the teaching, learning, and enjoyment of English at all levels of education, from early years to further and higher education and beyond.

englishassociation.ac.uk

6 8

Reposted by Martin Willis

Sarah May @sarahmay1.bsky.social · Feb 3

The university facing 400 redundancies, the museum shutting suddenly because cuts have kept them from maintaining the building. Wales is losing key institutions in its capital city. nation.cymru/news/fears-f...

Fears for future of National Museum Cardiff after abrupt closure for maintenance

Martin Shipton Concerns have been raised about the future of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff after an official notice was posted outside saying it was closed indefinitely. The Museum’s managem...

nation.cymru

7 58 120

Reposted by Martin Willis

Charles Forsdick @cforsdick.bsky.social · Feb 5

The deep cultural cost of British university job cuts

Arts and humanities are being hit hardest by cuts in higher education, write Prof Thea Pitman and Prof Emma Cayley

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

The deep cultural cost of British university job cuts | Letters

Letters: Arts and humanities are being hit hardest by cuts in higher education, write Prof Thea Pitman and Prof Emma Cayley, and Dr Ronan McLaverty-Head and another letter writer comment on cuts at Ca...

www.theguardian.com

1 75 110

Reposted by Martin Willis

Jenny Richards @jennyrichards.bsky.social · Feb 5

In a world of diverse cultures and languages you cannot do global humanities with integrity in English only. As the chair of @englishassociation.bsky.social l stand with colleagues in Modern Languages @cardiffuniversity.bsky.social and across the UK.

Emma Cayley 谷曦 @emmacayley.bsky.social · Feb 5

Please help support our colleagues in languages at Cardiff by challenging the decision to exclude them from the category of ‘global humanities’ @ucflangs.bsky.social @artsandhums.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/card...

Cardiff’s closure of modern languages will tongue-tie its humanities

The global examination of culture is not possible without languages at degree level, say Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Charles Burdett and Emma Cayley

www.timeshighereducation.com

1 31 65

Reposted by Martin Willis

Carsten Timmermann @ctimmermann.bsky.social · Feb 4

"Less, but better" instead of "publish or perish".

theconversation.com/fake-papers-...

Fake papers are contaminating the world’s scientific literature, fueling a corrupt industry and slowing legitimate lifesaving medical research

‘Paper mills’ are contaminating the world’s scholarly output with fake papers that hinder research. Lifesaving biomedical fields are especially hard hit.

theconversation.com

8 60 280

Martin Willis @profwillis.bsky.social · Feb 3

Great letter. The cuts at Cardiff include English, history, philosophy, linguistics, creative writing. Reductions not closures, but sadly familiar. English at Cardiff is the home of the late Catherine Belsey, and of Peck and Coyle (of essay writing fame). It’s the destruction of a subject’s history.

2 3