iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by David Roberts

HigherJobz @higherjobz.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Prehistoric Archaeology Researcher – University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy Prehistoric Archaeology | Landscape Archaeology | Puglia 24-month research contract focused on prehistoric landscapes and archaeological reconstruction higherjobz.com/prehistoric-... #Acadhiring #Academicjobs #Archaeology

higherjobz.com

Prehistoric Archaeology Researcher - University of Bari

Apply for the Prehistoric Archaeology Researcher position at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy. PhD qualification required.

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Victoria County History @vch-home.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

NEW JOB! We are pleased to share news from our friends at VCH Hampshire who are advertising for a contributing editor to edit, research, and write work towards the county's first #BigRedBook for over a century. Applications close 1 October. #Skystorians #LocalHistory

jobs.ac.uk

Contributing Editor at Victoria County History Hampshire

Recruiting now: Contributing Editor on jobs.ac.uk. Click for details and explore more academic job opportunities on the top job board

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Matthew Collins @matthewcollins.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

There is fun to be had in *not* reviewing a manuscript. @pciarchaeology.bsky.social @cos.io #openaccess

Thank you for your invitation to review a manuscript. While I value the scholarly community's efforts to disseminate research, I have growing concerns about the publishing model many commercial publishers, including Springer Nature, employ. In my view, the current system heavily relies on taxpayer-funded research, often conducted at public institutions, yet places the resulting work behind expensive paywalls. This practice limits access for scientists and the general public in the Global South, who often cannot afford subscription fees or open-access charges.

To put this in perspective, Springer Nature's most recent financial results (for the fiscal year ending December 2025) show total revenue of €1,926.4 million, adjusted operating profit of €543.6 million, and net income of €356 million. The Research division, which includes its journals, generated €1,517.2 million of that revenue. Shareholders received dividends of approximately €25.9 million, a significant increase from the previous year. These figures show that the current model is highly profitable, but much of that profit goes to investor returns rather than making research accessible to the global scientific community.

I have worked unpaid for you in the past, but this unpaid labour, combined with publicly funded research, generates enormous profits for a publishing industry that gives back relatively little to the public or to scientists in under-resourced regions. I do not believe this is fair or sustainable. I therefore have become a champion of Diamond Open Access and an editor at PCI.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The recent European Research Council grant starting grant results shows the real strength of UK social science and humanities. The UK won 18% of the SSH starting grants, compared to 8% of physical sciences and engineering and 7% of the life sciences grants erc.europa.eu/news-events/...

erc.europa.eu

ERC Starting Grants: €705 million to back Europe's next generation of researchers

The European Research Council (ERC) has today announced the winners of its latest Starting Grant competition. The funding, worth €705 million in total, will go to 421 early-career researchers across E...

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Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Turns out that if you are an old lady with a banner supporting Palestine, the government arrests you on charges of terrorism. If you are a masked white male thug bringing a national port to a standstill, the government does absolutely nothing, and the media covers it like some lads on a day out.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

“The original sin was the abolition in 2012 of taxpayer support for the arts, humanities and social sciences,” said [Nicholas Barr]...referring to...Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition [reforms] which saw direct government funding for teaching cut and the tuition fee cap rise to £9,000.' 1/3

timeshighereducation.com

Axe threshold freeze to ‘show loan reform intent’, ministers told

Burnham government seen as more likely than Starmer to act on growing calls to relieve pressure on young graduates

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Wiltshire Museum @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

This Friday we are continuing our #FindsFriday work experience selection. In July we asked work experience students to pick their favourite item from the museums display, so today's Finds Friday is The Marlborough Bucket.

The smaller fragments of the Marlborough bucket. It shows the top part of a face with the bottom half missing. There is the back end of a horse and the last section shows parts of two figures coming together

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Dr Susan Greaney @suegreaney.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

My uni have just withdrawn Geography, History & Geography and Politics & Geography undergrad courses run from our Penryn campus. Terrible for Cornwall. How did the staff find out? When UCAS clearing opened at 8am 😡

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National Heritage Science Forum @nhsf.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

📢 #HeritageScience job alert! Here's the breakdown: ⭐ Conservation and Heritage Science Assistant ⭐ Cardiff University ⭐ Full time, fixed-term contract (until 31 March 2031) ⭐ £33,951-£36,636 per annum ⏰ 16 August 2026 Learn more and apply: buff.ly/UTzdFZ1 #NHSFmembers #HScommunity

cardiffuniweb.eploy.net

Conservation and Heritage Science Assistant in John Percival Building | Internal & External Website

View details and apply for this Conservation and Heritage Science Assistant vacancy in John Percival Building. Conservation and Heritage Science Assistant School of History, Archaeology and…

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Between the 1970s and 1990s the UK state made a strategic bet to expand Higher Ed. They poured in untold billions of your money. Now it's been handed over to private creditors to burn in a furnace. Then they just laugh at you: at all the taxes you've ever paid or will ever pay. True story. (2/2)

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

The sheer scale of the closures and job losses in UK HE are plain today. Departure posts and lifeboats visible across all of HE Linkedin, lots here too. In what is now an annual exercise, I tap the sign, which reads: "This has nothing to do with how 'good' these depts or staff are, or were."

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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Beyond sick of the inaction and head-in-the-sand from this government on HE.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Good piece from @allymcgovern.bsky.social showing how R&D, innovation and universities as regional economic anchors have to be key to achieving the new Govt’s economic and social goals www.ft.com/content/7916...

What connects all these areas is the final ingredient: research, innovation, education and training. The UK's successful cities are homes to our universities and all the
potential they create. In every Jobcentre I visited as minister for employment, people wanted better quality work. Not just engineering apprenticeships but the kind of jobs created by companies in knowledge-intensive businesses, from modern modular housing to bringing Minecraft to consoles.
Our centres of learning are all over the UK and can support new growth.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

So a key question now is whether the new @andyburnham.bsky.social led administration will take the higher education funding crisis seriously as a threat to his aspirations around regional growth and skills…

"Universities will be central to achieving the regional growth aspirations of our new prime minister, but they are suffering a major financial emergency," Shah said.
"The result is greater inequalities, fewer opportunities for students and the gradual erosion of the world-leading research our economy, democracy and global standing rely on.
«The alarm bells are ringing, and policymakers should treat these findings as a wake-up call before more lasting damage is done."

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

‘Thousands of university job cuts in humanities and social sciences are creating widespread cold spots for languages, classics and theology degrees, the British Academy has warned’ www.theguardian.com/education/20...

theguardian.com

Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities

Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year

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'Rewilding' Later Prehistory Project @rewildarch.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Wander back through time on Knepp’s 'Wilding With Archaeology' safari 🌿 Thursday 23 July |11:00-13:30 Part of the @archaeologyuk.bsky.social #FestivalOfArchaeology, join Knepp ecologist Tony Whitbread and the ‘Rewilding’ Later Prehistory team. More information here: shorturl.at/PZ5Bq

shorturl.at

Wilding With Archaeology: How past human practices shape wilding now

<p>Knepp’s inspiring wilding journey over the last 20 years has been shaped in surprising ways by the past. Take a journey back in time to unearth the extraordinary archaeological details that u...

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Reposted by David Roberts

Rachel Pope @prehistorian.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

The heritage sector generates £15 billion for the economy. If we cut archaeology as a subject, we lose the engine that helps generate it. We also lose our knowledge of past societies. We lose any grasp of who we are, who we’ve been, and who we might yet be.

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Rachel Pope @prehistorian.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Likewise archaeology and the heritage sector, planning, museums/tourism. Our expertise *is* the economy.

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Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 07/07/2026

History books by women are also available

Screenshot of Facebook post from Magdalen College reading:

Whether you’re coming up to Oxford, going to another uni, or just thinking about applying to study history, these books should help!

If you are studying at Magdalen from October, please note that this is not the official reading list, just some suggested summer reading, although there may be some overlap.

Here’s the list:
1) the Past and the Present by Lawrence stone - a thematic collection of essays that explore how history as a discipline has evolved, coving traditional methodologies and new social science approaches

2) history and social theory by Peter Burke - an interdisciplinary text looking at the relationships between history and the social sciences - looking at what social theory can offer historians

3) A History of Histories by J W Burrow - a whirlwind tour through 2500 years of historiography looking at how epics, chronicles, monographs, and professional histories have shaped cultural memory and identity

4) The Pursuit of History by John Tosh - is one of the most widely used introductions to historiography, it’s an accessible yet comprehensive guide to the fundamental questions, methods, and evolving practices of historical scholarship.

5) Studying History by Jonathan Black and Donald MacRaild - a well respected guide to studying history at university.

As well as reading these, which should help you study history, you should read as much as you can about anything that excites you. Ask yourself “what’s my Roman Empire”… is it the Roman Empire? Is it the relationship between fashion and politics? Is it the enclosure act, or the Russian royal family? Whatever it is, read as much as you can about it.

Happy reading!

#magdalencollege #oxford #bookstagram #historystudent

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William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

I genuinely believe that university education is one of the few real levers of social mobility and, well, here we are

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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

I don’t ever ever ever ever want to hear one more ignorant person saying “hurp durp more vocational training”. If nursing ain’t that then nothing is. This Labour government do not want our young people educated. Period.

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Laleh Khalili @lalehkhalili.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

How higher education is vandalised in the UK. Here is our last published annual report (www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/univ...) containing info about "a year of continued financial stability with operating cash generation of £48m and an increase in cash of £11m to end the year with balance of £211m."

Performance
We are pleased to report a year of continued financial stability with operating cash generation
(EBITDA) of £48m and an increase in cash of £11m to end the year with balances of £211m. This surplus of income over expenditure, despite the challenging environment, is the result of significant hard work across the University following another challenging international recruitment round and continued economic pressures. Total income increased by 2% to £681m through growth in research grants and contracts income (+£8m, 6%), capital grants (+£3m) and donations (+£4m) bolstered by strong commercial income performance.
Tuition fee income maintained the historic high of £350m achieved in the prior year. The University saw continued strong interest from Home Undergraduate (UG Home) and Postgraduate students, but this was offset by contractions in Undergraduate and Postgraduate International.
These contractions were compounded by increased levels of scholarships, resulting in international fee income seeing a 2% year on year reduction to £135m, representing 38% of teaching income and 20% of total University income.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 25/06/2026

The last three years have seen over 30,000 jobs lost in UK Higher Ed. Acting as if this doesn't grievously impact the economy, and the nation's future prospects in all areas, is, at this point, nothing short of wilful self-harm / purposeful vandalism.

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Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 25/06/2026

Petition against redundancies at Exeter. Humanities and Social Sciences staff are hardest hit, with 25% of posts in subjects including History, English, Modern Languages and Politics slated to be cut.

c.org

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

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James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Oh, it me!

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Dr Geoff M Smith @geoffreymsmith.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Feel free to contact us about the position which closes in 2 weeks.

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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

It's now forecast to be 40 degrees here on Thursday. Our average daily high temperature for this time of year is 18. So angry for all of the people who're going to be unnecessarily harmed by this. So angry for our ecosystems that have not remotely evolved for this.

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Guy De Launey @guydelauney.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Is binning expert correspondents in eastern Europe a good idea at a time like this? Disinformation on the rise, Russia interfering in many countries, threatening several and actually at war with one? Well, BBC News management seems to think so. It's disposing of me and 4 of my colleagues.

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Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

It seems a good day to remind people that in the UK 3 times as many people work in Indian restaurants or for McDonalds as in the whole coal and steel industry. 5 times as many are academic staff at universities. If Labour does not understand its electorate, there is no way to appeal to it.

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Rachel Cubitt @thepostexcox.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

This week: an evening at Society of Antiquaries, London, for a celebration of the Low Ham publication as part of their summer soiree. Here's us authors (@davidrobertsarch.bsky.social, Roger Leech and me) posing with the hard copy from Pen & Sword books but it's also open access - link in comments 👇

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 03/06/2026

1. How common is LLM use in scientific publishing, and how does it vary across field, publisher, journal prestige, author demographics etc.? @kylesiler.bsky.social has new paper in PNAS that addresses this question on a massive scale: 7.3 million papers from Elsevier, PLOS, MDPI, and Frontiers.

pnas.org

The diffusion of large language models in published academic articles | PNAS

Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly changing academic research, raising questions of who is adopting these tools and under what conditions. Th...

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Adam Golberg @cash4questions.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Work for a UK university? Want to see how below-inflation settlements have eroded your pay? @bparsia.bsky.social has produced a handy tool. Put in your spine point, starting date... then get angry all over again about how even this massive, sustained pay cut hasn't been enough to keep sector afloat

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 01/06/2026

Today Microsoft moved all its GitHub copilot subscribers to token-based billing. If you want to see what happens when people have to pay the actual costs of AI, the day is finally here. It's obvious that every customer sees the deep, meaningful value and isn't angry at all.

r/GithubCopilot • 11m ago
Could not check
Confident-Hotel1700
Just one prompt and I got 50% of my whole month credits using Claude Sonnet 4.6.
General
This is hilarious. For context I used the Copilot Orchestrator that has Condutor, Planning, Implementator and Code review agents. But with the new "usage based pricing", seems like this is not an ideal setup anymore?
Anyone has the same experience here? I am on Copilot Prot. This is so expensive.

r/GithubCopilot • 6h ago
Future-Lead-1432
Love the new Copilot token system
General
Last month I used ~60% of my quota in an entire month.
This month I've already used 25% on day one.
What an amazing improvement.

r/GithubCopilot • 14h ago
Could not check
ImpossibleMuffin8791
Time to ditch Github Copilot
•..
General
First day of the new pricing model, I tried one prompt to just refine one of my existing change proposal, basically a conductor with few sub agents to update the existing change spec, architecture, test plan, prototype, tech spec and implementation plan.
About 20-30 mins task, ends up burning 16% of my monthly credits in one shot.
Bye.
↓
V Todos (15/15)
XE
create udla mouet oucumentalon
Draft implementation plan and technica...
Create test plan
Write deployment notes
Document operations notes
Copilot Pro
Credits
16% used
Upgrade
Resets Jul 1 at 10:00 AM
Inline Suggestions >
Enabled
A
d
1
V
U
R

r/GithubCopilot • 3h ago
Proper_Community 199
I just canceled my GitHub Copilot Max plan
General
You've cancelled your subscription to GitHub Copilot Max. This plan change will take effect on 2026-06-21.
Licensing
Current Copilot plan
GitHub Copilot
Your Al pair programmer
You've cancelled your subscription to GitHub Copilot Max. This plan change will take effect on Jun 21, 2026.
You can get a seat from one of your organizations. Go to Copilot settings to request a seat.
Active subscription
Copilot Max
Monthly payment
$100.00
Next payment
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You can upgrade your subscription at any time. Read billing documentation for more details.
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Undo
It's too expensive for me. In just one day, I used 4,000/20,000 credits, which means I would end up paying $600 a month.
Copilot Max
ね
Credits
17% used
Resets Jul 1 at 8:00 AM
Inline Suggestions >
Codebase Semantic Index O
Disabled
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 28/05/2026

How do we enhance the engagement of history students in their degree programmes? A new article - 'Rethinking Engagement: Insights from UK History Departments' - bit.ly/4viEKru, by Sarah Jones and Simon Peplow offers discipline-specific proposals. Latest Open Access article in 'Transactions' 1/2

Front page of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society article: 'Rethinking Engagement: Insights from UK History Departments', by Sarah Jones and Simon Peplow.

Full abstract: 'This comment examines the shifting landscape of student engagement in UK history departments, drawing on research conducted at the universities of Bristol and Warwick. Moving beyond narrow definitions of engagement as attendance, the study explores the complex interplay of workload pressures, relationships and community, and the cultures and environments of learning that shape students’ everyday experiences. Student testimony highlights how financial precarity, mental‑health challenges and competing demands on their time profoundly influence how (and indeed if) they engage. At the same time, factors – ranging from staff/student interactions to seminar atmosphere and assessment design – are powerful determinants of whether students feel able and motivated to participate fully. While acknowledging the broader socio‑economic forces that constrain both staff and students, the comment proposes a set of principled, discipline‑specific approaches centred on reflection, communication, adaptability and compassion. It argues that, although no single solution can resolve the problem of engagement, history departments can meaningfully support students by cultivating inclusive, responsive and relational learning environments.'

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

A long account in @lrb.co.uk by Stefan Collini of the causes of what feels like a death spiral for UK Universities. Recent estimates are that UK HE contributes >£130Bn annually to the UK economy, resulting in >750 000 jobs across all regions of the UK lordslibrary.parliament.uk/higher-educa...

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William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Good summary. One interesting nugget is that there are currently around 2.8 million students, which seems to me a staggering number and yet more proof of the importance of the ‘industry’. If the solution to the crisis is more collaboration I’m not sure how it happens with that scale in mind.

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Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

If you work in development-led archaeology in England, whether it's curatorial advice, consultancy or running projects, Historic England and Reading University would welcome your feedback on HE's guidance on the Palaeolithic 🦣🏺 Please follow this link to access a short online survey: bit.ly/3PcKMul

historicengland.org.uk

Curating the Palaeolithic | Historic England

The importance of the English Palaeolithic record in its Pleistocene context and best practices for protecting it through the planning process.

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Tom Hulme @tomhulme.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Note: relatively stable institution; HAPP's a supportive (even harmonious) School; there's another Ancient History colleague; and pay at Queen's is now relatively high (starting salary is junior; post confirmation-in-post, lecturer starts c. £52k, SL starts c. £66k). www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRP030/l...

jobs.ac.uk

Lecturer in Ancient History at Queen's University Belfast

Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Lecturer in Ancient History on jobs.ac.uk!

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Dan Tappin @oitappin.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Timid librarian in plea to save my workplace from making a huge mistake. A whole floor of Cardiff University's main library is under threat of being repurposed to teaching facilities with the removal of 7km of shelving holding valuable books. Pls share x you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...

you.38degrees.org.uk

Save the second floor of Cardiff University's Arts and Social Studies Library (ASSL)

Dear current patrons, past patrons, and future patrons of Arts and Social Sciences Library (ASSL) at Cardiff University. On Friday 17th of May, library staff of the ASSL were informed by University Li...

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Working Classicists @workingclassicists.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

FULLY FUNDED MA IN CLASSICAL STUDIES! 🧵 2026 Leventis MA Studentships @openuniversity.bsky.social The Leventis Foundation/ Open University are offering paid studentships for candidates who meet one or both of the following criteria:

The Leventis studentships
The Leventis studentships consist of a grant of £9,000 to cover the full cost of the tuition fees for the MA, with the remaining balance available to assist with the following:

purchases of books or resources, or attendance at events relating to the study of the MA;

(in the case of the schoolteacher studentship holders) the acquisition of resources, including books, for teaching classical subjects in the studentship holder’s school.

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David Roberts @davidrobertsarch.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Tomorrow night I'll be in Taunton, celebrating the release of the Low Ham book with a joint talk with co-authors Roger and Rachel. Great to be able to tell the latest story over the mosaic which has become emblematic of the site. Still a (few) free tickets left: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/low-ham-ro...

eventbrite.co.uk

Low Ham Roman Villa: Celebrating a New Publication

Join us to celebrate a new publication telling the story of the Low Ham Roman Villa.

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

This is obvious and has been so for some time now, but then I'm a historian so I would say that. A working world of low-quality derivative slop places a premium on genuine, original, articulate, and critically conscious employees. That is the literal type of graduate the humanities produce.

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Kayt Hawkins @kayth.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Come back to us @romanpalace.bsky.social we miss you!! Has curator Rob gotten lost in his own hypocaust?? Do we need to send @durotrigesdig.bsky.social to find him? @sussexpast.bsky.social

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Cambridge University Press - Archaeology @cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org · 02/05/2026

📣 @antiquity.ac.uk is flipping to #openaccess for research content! ✅ All research content published in the journal from January 2027 will be permanently and freely available to read, download and share around the world 🌍. Find out more! 🔗 cup.org/4cvNjZj #archaeology #SAA2026SFO

The image announces that starting January 2027, the publication "Antiquity" will be open access for research. It features an open access symbol and abstract red design in the top right corner.

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