iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 1h

Ngl, without ‘real’ tea I don’t think I’d function, or even be up right 😆

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 5h

As an academic I’m used to spam emails from fake journals, but one just now with the subject line ‘Your work in Skin Rejuvenation caught our attention’ is definitely a new one 🤣

280

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Bat Krown 🦇🎃 @katbrownwrites.com · 9h

The irony that the BBC blurred out the Protect the Dolls slogan on a Strictly contestant’s tshirt for their social accounts as “political” but will happily dedicate a two-part doc to the woman who uses her billions to fund lawsuits to persecute transgender people www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

bbc.co.uk

Two-part documentary on J.K. Rowling announced by BBC Factual and BBC Scotland

The documentary will use her life as a lens through which to explore three decades of profound social, political and technological change

462196667

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Hwæt! @hwaet.info · 01/10/2026

"Bro!" Beowulf: A New Translation, 2020 Maria Dahvana Headley 🇺🇸

073

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Hwæt! @hwaet.info · 29/09/2026

"HEY now hear" Beowulf: A Translation, 2012 Thomas Meyer 🇬🇧

154

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Hwæt! @hwaet.info · 28/09/2026

"Indeed." Grendel’s Mother Bites Back, 2024 Laura Varnam 🇬🇧

042

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Aw, thank you Valarie! (I must say it’s been a strange October, without a deep dive into some spooky stories! 👻)

150

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Thank you very much! It’s very special to be in a position to teach young people & introduce them to such wonderful literature! And in a pretty special location too!! 🤩

010

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Susie Campbell @susiecampbell.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I'm so looking forward to being part of this conversation. If you're in or around Oxford later this month, do come along and join in too!

042

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Lovely freshers dinner last night at Univ! Always a pleasure to meet the new students & get to know them a little before the real work starts in earnest next week!! ✨

1151

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Looking forward to THE FORMS OF CRITICISM seminar as part of my Creating Medieval Criticism Now project! Wed 28 Oct, 5pm, University College, with @susiecampbell.bsky.social, @nikgunn.bsky.social & cartoonist/illustrator Esther McManus. Sign up via Eventbrite! www.guildmedmak.com/events-1-1/c...

1144

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Great questions!! (My poetry sequence in Primers Volume Seven is called ‘Grendel’s Mother Bites Back’!)

021

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

IIRC the one called The Travelling Hornplayer is excellent.

110

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I absolutely love this book! And other Trapidos too- so good!!

110

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Just finished spring-cleaning my office ahead of teaching starting next week, and it’s so spick & span that a little friend has moved in! 😄

1100

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Really looking forward to hearing your insights, Nik!

110

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Nik Gunn @nikgunn.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Very excited (and a little nervous) to be speaking at this event, where I'll be talking about how creative writing has been an outlet for my medieval interests since leaving academia. I'll be thinking through the sort of intellectual space that opens up when writing fiction set in the Viking Age.

1113

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Susie, Nik, & Esther will reflect on how their creative practice shapes their encounters with the Middle Ages. Next term’s event will feat @jamespaz.bsky.social & @daisyeblack.bsky.social on creativity in the classroom!

051

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

1144

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Met my new freshers at Univ today 🥰 Can’t wait to get stuck in and teach them some Old English! Hwæt!

0241

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

‘’Reading’ is a set of skills that we can and should teach students in class.’ Absolutely! I’ve been thinking even more deliberately recently about the importance of practical close reading (fundamental to the study of English Lit!) in the classroom. Gotta show students the magic in action!!

0182

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The Bodleian in the early evening light ✨

3355

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Happy Michaelmas everyone! (Not quite as sunny here today but this is the energy we’re manifesting for the new term!). Welcome to Univ, freshers! 💛💙☀️

Radcliffe quad at University College, Oxford

0171

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Isn’t it! Such a wonderful project

010

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Pleasure! I bought two as gifts as well, they’re so wonderful!

010

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Treated myself to a postcard of one of Meg Hyland’s amazing Women of 1000 AD, Princess Olith! Meg is a wonderful artist and i find this image so atmospheric @womenof1000.bsky.social Read all about her here womenof1000ad.weebly.com/princess-oli...

Artwork by Meg Hyland, Women of 1000 AD project, Princess Olith

1183

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Can’t wait to dive in! (And then inevitably want to come and visit sometime, haha!!)

120

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Absolutely delighted that my copy of @brianlibby.bsky.social’s book has arrived! Looking forward to learning all about Portland, Oregon!

281

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is SO COOL!!!! 🤩 Super proud of @guildmedmak.bsky.social co-founder Eleanor! 🐺👏✨

190

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thanks to an insta pal for recommending Pop Up Studio jewellery 😂 Excited to add these brooches into the rotation this term 🐉🔥🪡🧵

Dragon brooch that says ‘burn it all down’ and sewing machine brooch that says ‘voila, bitches’

370

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I absolutely loved @joannamillerauthor.bsky.social’s THE EIGHTS! The perfect novel ahead of the new term at Oxford 💖 And got me thinking ahead to our 50th anniversary of Women students at Univ in 2029! ✨

Blurb of The Eights by Joanna Miller, a novel about the first women who could officially take degrees at Oxford in 1920

151

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Katherine Weikert @kateweikert.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Hwaet! Winchester is advertising for a 0.5FTE, open-ended contract in English Lit (pre-1800). Deadline 14 October for applications. Please share this with anyone who might be interested! www.winchester.ac.uk/About-Us/Wor...

winchester.ac.uk

01515

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Ready ... Set...Go!

043

Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

That’s exciting, Grace, congrats!

110

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This kind of historical #WorldWarI research with a mythic spin was an outgrowth of my doctoral thesis project findings (relating to #Tolkien and his mythology -- the earliest version of the #Silmarillion). Tolkien worked in a mythically-minded culture, even during #WorldWarI.

052

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Chris Millard @chrismillard83.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

the number of ethical, privacy-based, and practical problems with feeding grant applications into LLMs for triage without human confirmation is dizzying “a machine can never be held accountable, so a machine must never make a decision” has never been more apt

085

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

Prof Sunny Singh @profsunnysingh.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Short 🧵 After a bookish fundraiser yesterday, a lovely young Palestinian poet from Gaza asked an unexpected question: “why do you teach?” My answer: “to build the future.” To build a different, better, just future from what the Empire allows us.

1216

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky

I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking.

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review. Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage. To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.

40435241

Reposted by Dr Laura Varnam

MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is it. This is what everyone is enabling by humoring genAI: you spend months writing something that took you years to get at, for an opaque algorithm that a few control to spit a number and cut you off right there and then. This is what we're up against 🧪

14410171