iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 19/09/2026

**new blog post** My MA dissertation on the closures of Chemistry Departments. My best attempt at explaining what's happening and why it's happening. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/...

michaeloneill.org

Understanding the Closures of UK Chemistry Degrees — Michael O'Neill

My MA dissertation on the political economy underpinning the ongoing closures of Chemistry Departments

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David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Think of the combined CENTURIES of expertise lost here, the creativity, the knowledge, the depth and breadth of cultural learning and understanding, the generations of minds enriched and enlightened, the sheer weight of history that led to the establishment of these programmes. Purged. Destroyed.

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Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 03/06/2026

Not being dramatic, but this probably signals the effective end of Chemistry in English Universities. An *efficient* Department loses something like £2k per Chemistry student per year; this change will roughly double that loss. Universities would be mad to keep teaching Chemistry.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 09/09/2026

Frozen out of cloud services at work because 2G phone masts are being decommissioned, meaning I can no longer multi factor authenticate my way into things like my timetable. What a weird society we have constructed.

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Chemistry World @chemistryworld.com · 09/09/2026

There’s still time to register & to join us for the one-hour webinar today on the challenged facing pregnant chemists & what working safely can look like. Anna Slater & Mary Kate Lane will discuss the support needed for pregnant chemist at 3pm today. #ChemSky www.chemistryworld.com/webinars/wor...

chemistryworld.com

Working safely through pregnancy: a conversation for chemists and lab leaders

How safe is the lab when you're pregnant? Join our conversation on 9 September

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ViCEPHEC Conference @vicephec.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

#ViCEPHEC27 will be in Belfast. To get email updates, fill in this form: forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon...

forms.cloud.microsoft

Microsoft Forms

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

Sincere Q: has anyone tried specific things which improved lecture attendance? I would like more students in the room this year, and would love to hear about what's worked for other people.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

Yes, unless we’re running late. Gotta have cube time.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

I'm not sure if it's effective (does everyone check their emails?), but I hope it shows that someone cares whether people show up? I do also worry that in any big cohort there are going to be people having a Bad Time™️.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

I see the vision. I also maybe hear the sneezing from someone in the back with an allergy?

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

I don't disagree with the model, but there are specific barriers to this in many UK contexts. We are obliged to give about a year's notice before making changes, and the national cost pressures are pushing most Universities into assessing much less. I often envy the freedom I see in other countries!

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

Many are, yes; I think the best data at Liverpool is that about 30% of students are doing a significant amount of part-time work. Are there ways to boost lecture attendance despite this, do you think? I don't want to dismiss the structural problem, but I do want them to attend more.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

5. Offering everyone a chance to hold a 2-inch cube of tungsten, something which you cannot do online.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

4. Office hours in visible locations (outside UG labs on their lab days). Being visible and approachable.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

3. After a week, manually emailing everyone who missed 1+ (of 3) lectures. Not an angry email, just expressing that I think attending is valuable and that I also understand that there are other pressures. Links to student support services etc, too.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

2. Saying hello to everyone by the entrance for 5min before the lecture starts.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

1. Active learning (slides which I annotate as the task in the lecture). This is viewed very positively by students, who get pushed to do a well-scaffolded activity for the whole session.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

Some things I am doing which I think help:

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

I agree that smaller sessions seem to attract higher % attendance. I don't have control over this, sadly - I have to give lectures, so I have a narrow challenge of boosting attendance in lectures specifically. It's tough!

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/09/2026

Sincere Q: has anyone tried specific things which improved lecture attendance? I would like more students in the room this year, and would love to hear about what's worked for other people.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 01/09/2026

**New blog post** reflections on some graffiti I saw in the library toilets. It was in pencil, which I found curious. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/9/1/on-toilet-graffiti

michaeloneill.org

On Toilet Graffiti — Michael O'Neill

Reflections on some toilet graffiti I saw in the library

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 30/08/2026

I think playing still uses the brain a lot, but it is certainly a different use. It changes the conversations, somehow, when the task is making rather than talking?

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 30/08/2026

The Lego was so well received. People love to perform actions and activities while learning, it seems. Someone should look into this.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 30/08/2026

I am educating myself, but to be very honest some of that educating has been about the ankylosaurolus (which some chemists rank as their favourite dinosaur).

Reconstruction of the ankylosaurus, which looks kind of like a flatter armadillo.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 29/08/2026

I liked being offline for the whole conference, too. I will learn nothing from this.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 24/08/2026

“Widening participation may require more intensive teaching, transition support, academic guidance and local infrastructure. These are not peripheral costs. They are part of what it means to deliver higher education well to a broader student population.”

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 20/08/2026

Walked past the LJMU UCU memorial for Jason Arday this morning. Lots of sunflowers, lots of rain.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 12/08/2026

Police sirens blaring. Someone in Liverpool is doing eclipse crime.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 07/08/2026

Chemistry on the front page ❤️

Headline of newspaper front page reads: “every river and lake in England polluted with toxic chemicals”

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 06/08/2026

**New Blog Post** A quick run-down on Bronze, the *real* star of Blockbuster Sensation The Odyssey. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/8/6/bronze-as-seen-in-the-odyssey

michaeloneill.org

Bronze (as seen in The Odyssey) — Michael O'Neill

A short piece on bronze, after watching the recent film about the Bronze Age hero Odysseus.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 06/08/2026

**New Blog Post** A quick run-down on Bronze, the *real* star of Blockbuster Sensation The Odyssey. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/8/6/bronze-as-seen-in-the-odyssey

michaeloneill.org

Bronze (as seen in The Odyssey) — Michael O'Neill

A short piece on bronze, after watching the recent film about the Bronze Age hero Odysseus.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 06/08/2026

Very glad to hear this. A fantastic little museum.

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Sophie Benjamin @benjaminchem.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Just seen that the Elemental Analysis service at London Met is closing! This is devastating for us UK inorganic synthesists. They have been such a great, reliable service. @londonmetuni.bsky.social #chemsky

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/08/2026

Do you think some of this is the questions being asked? I often worry that an education in chemistry doesn’t always equip people to be curious about chemical phenomena beyond exams.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 02/08/2026

Spent the morning making a map of where you can grow #coffee. Simple comparison here uses temperature, elevation, and rainfall to map suitable areas (for arabica and robusta) in the year 2000 and the projections for 2050. It's about a 35% reduction in coffee-suitable land.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 24/07/2026

**New Blog Post** Using the recent RSC report as a vehicle, a reflection on how I've thought about Class when teaching Chemistry in the UK over the last 10 years. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/...

michaeloneill.org

Beyond Access? Class in Chemistry — Michael O'Neill

Reflections on a recent RSC report about socioeconomic status of the undergraduate Chemistry students

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 29/07/2026

only true chemistry understanders will get this, and that's ok

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 29/07/2026

we call it a "molecule" because it is a "little mole" send tweet

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Jim Dickinson @jimdickinson.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

NEW on Wonkhe: With curriculum reform converging on fewer, larger modules across the sector, Jim Dickinson argues that consolidation solves institutional problems while reallocating regret onto students least able to absorb it buff.ly/5xu4GGB

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 24/07/2026

I had a similar experience. I’m still not sure whether it would have helped for 18yo me to ask them or not.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 24/07/2026

michaeloneill.org

Beyond Access? Class in Chemistry — Michael O'Neill

Reflections on a recent RSC report about socioeconomic status of the undergraduate Chemistry students

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

"You are now historians. BUT very few of you will go on to be professional historians - so will you then cease to be historians? This is a question that we, staff at risk of redundancy, are asking ourselves too: will I still be a historian if I’m not at the University of Exeter in September?" 2/

A historian in fetching grey gown addresses a crowd of students in gowns and family members in summery outfits.

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