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Pauline Couper

@paulinecouper.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.1K following 287 posts

Prof of Geographical Thought & Practice, York St John Uni, UK. Philosophy of geog, epistemic pluralism, geomorphology, higher ed., fieldwork, outdoors FRGS, PFHEA, CGeog.

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Reposted by Pauline Couper
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.
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E-Tangata @etangata.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
“For Te Awa Tupua to be more than a bicultural compromise, it must become a platform for the genuine exercise of Māori authority over ancestral lands and waters.” — Hemopereki Hoani Simon.
e-tangata.co.nz
The limits of legal personhood | E-Tangata
“For Te Awa Tupua to be more than a bicultural compromise, it must become a platform for the genuine exercise of Māori authority over ancestral lands and waters.” — Hemopereki Hoani Simon.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Important work by Alex Moulton, Agostinho Pinnock and colleagues in/from Jamaica. They are looking for other #Jamaican scholars to add their voices to the conversation. #Academicsky #Jamaica kiskadeewatch.com/opinion/dias...
kiskadeewatch.com
Open Letter to the Government of Jamaica: The accumulation of unbearable humiliations
Editor’s Note: This open letter was drafted in June by Jamaican academics regarding a series of recent incidents that demonstrate rampant state
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I've known a student feel guilty citing Hicks et al's 'ChatGPT is bullshit'. They're going to really struggle with this one. 👀
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Had a beach to myself this morning. Mappleton, East Yorkshire.
View of a beach from a clifftop. Eroding cliffs of the Holderness coast, East Yorkshire, on the right. A strip of sand separates the cliffs from the blue sea on the left. About 3 hours before low tide. Ground-level view of the empty beach, with coarse sediment in the foreground and the sandy beach beyond. Eroding cliffs on the right, sea on the left. Blue sky with a smattering of white clouds.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Good to see such a clear position on genAI and scholarship from @proghumgeog.bsky.social 👏👏👏
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I've never tried a writing retreat. This looks like a good time to give it a go.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
"People should not die because of their work. They should not be vilified or ridiculed. They should never be bullied, much less subjected to a media onslaught. Full stop. None of this actually matters. It. Does. Not. Matter. The stakes are simply not this high."
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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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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
What I've learned today: if you want likes and reposts, repost about stop-motion animation, not academic stuff. 😁 Totally outside of my expertise but I've always loved animation.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Fascinating piece. Stop-motion animation blending fantasy with real actors.
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David Storey @davidstoreygeog.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Nauru to Naoero: What's in a name? share.google/lRzFEs5Zk2wH...
share.google
Nauru officially changes its name to Naoero
Pacific nation is latest country to signal a shift away from its colonial past with return to its traditional name
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David Storey @davidstoreygeog.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Thread from @patmcgovern.bsky.social on external examining and what is, in effect, the exploitation of goodwill- same arguments apply to undergrad externalling
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
On media narratives of wildfire and climate change, by @dougspecht.bsky.social
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David Storey @davidstoreygeog.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
The socio-economic, academic and geographic implications of university course closures and redundancies 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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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
"...great powers care little for our humanity." A powerful piece on decades of military testing in the Pacific.
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David Storey @davidstoreygeog.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Trump"shows a clear understanding of the larger role that place names play in social life.He is clearly using naming as a 'technology of power,' a weapon for conferring legitimacy &public visibility on a particular ideological-political agenda" @derekgeographer.bsky.social www.rte.ie/news/analysi...
rte.ie
What's in a name? Florida airport renamed for Trump
Palm Beach International Airport is set to get a new name and call sign - move over PBI, here comes DJT.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
York Walls in Bloom offering urban infrastructure for pollinators. A hot day for a Year 10 summer school field trip. 🥵
 Alongside York's historic city wall, a swathe of multicoloured flowers extends from the foreground to the distance. Shame about the big blue bus at the far end: unfortunate traffic timing.
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Claire Boardman @claireboardman.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
This is great news! The @britishlibrary.bsky.social EThOS (E-Theses Online Service) platform, referencing 650K PhD theses, is available again following systems restoration work.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
'Notably, a record 88.1 per cent of students who completed the NSS are positive about the quality of teaching on their course – with 93.6 per cent agreeing that teaching staff are good at explaining things.' 1/3
wonkhe.com
The NSS shows us that students still seem to like higher education
The 2026 NSS results bring evidence that most students are happy with their academic experience, and particularly appreciate the skills of their academic staff
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Great to see someone identified as a geomorphologist in the news - and a female too! #geomorphology #geoscience #geography #geology www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Tyrella beach: How beachgoers are turning snaps into science
Scientists hope to learn more about the impact of climate change on coasts through people's photos.
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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 02/07/2026
"He’s bypassing barricades, crushing fences, lying on roads and bashing into at least one parked car." “He’s broken fences, he’s harassing people’s cars ....” There is a 1-tonne seal, named Neil, that is the deliverer of chaos and destruction to Tasmania. An excellent character.
theguardian.com
A 1,000kg mammal is wreaking havoc in Tasmania – and Neil the seal is loved for it
The elephant seal has been crushing fences, blocking traffic and bashing into parked cars, in what experts say is play-fighting behaviour
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Peter Whitewood @pwhitewood.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Great letter in the LRB on the managerial university and its consequences.
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David Storey @davidstoreygeog.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Football, identity and stories of migration open.substack.com/pub/gijsbert...
open.substack.com
On 24-25 June, Two Football Matches Will Tell You Everything About Migration:
And Nobody Notices
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Interesting piece on the deskilling effects of AI. But this is not just about technical 'skills', it's also about judgment, i.e. expertise.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Football, dreams, and the power of one person who believes in you.
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
At the end of the term I asked my college creative wriing students to submit anonymous thoughts on AI. No real surprises: Mood ranges from resignation to despair, capitulation from embittered erosion of standards to total, feelings of betrayal from deep to furious. 1/
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Ian Betteridge @ianbetteridge.com · 14/06/2026
There is nothing that the rich will not try and steal from us.
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Rev. Dr. Liz Gloyn @lizgloyn.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
You lovely people have got me up to 190 responses, so I'm going to keep going to 200! If you're an academic in UK HE who's had pastoral responsibility for students in the last 5 years under any title, please take 10 mins to share your thoughts about that work. Please do share to widen the pool.
surveymonkey.com
The Role Of Interpersonal Relationships And Care In Personal Tutoring Within UK HEIS
Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.
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Brian Phillips @brianphillips.lol · 28/05/2026
Here's the serious bit for anyone who'd rather skip the 4000 words of jokes
Because the truth is, tech doesn't have an image problem. It doesn't have a message problem. It has an intention problem. What's wrong with the axe murderer who broke into my house is not that he hasn't successfully persuaded me to buy into his narrative. What's wrong is that he's trying to kill me with an axe. Similarly, when you launch a product that's designed to put millions of people out of work, block access to sources of verifiable truth, replace human creativity with slop, and lower the barriers to every sort of atrocity, the problem isn't that you haven't told the public a good story about those things. The problem is that you are trying to do them. (
There are things in the world that are more important than money. The fact that you seem not to believe this, that you seem to think any motive beyond ruthless acquisitiveness is fake, dishonest, or childish, is the heart of your problem. Your attitude is not by any means unique to tech, but the
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David Storey @davidstoreygeog.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
We need to "transform our conception of higher education-pivoting away from the idealization of knowledge & truth toward developing young people’s conceptual, critical, affective & practical capabilities that better equip them to nurture rather than destroy human & non-human life & the planet"
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
In sampled HEIs (in a sample of unstated size [it's over 140] and % of sector), 38% are making compulsory redundancies, 79% voluntary redundancies, 31% cutting research, 44% are cutting courses. Link to the UUK report on the survey, which is open access, is below. 2/2
universitiesuk.ac.uk
Two in five universities consider joining forces through 'multi academy trust' style models or mergers, new survey shows
A new Universities UK survey of more than 140 universities reveals the steps they are taking to respond to funding pressures and ensure they continue to deliver world-class education now and into the ...
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
'Resources'. Continuity in the inequalities & injustices of resource extraction, connecting local to global scales.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
A gem of a Google AI hallucination from a few weeks ago. Sounds like we have more to look fwd to. I'm increasingly using DuckDuckGo.
Screenshot showing a Google query: can I get kahawai in the UK? The AI overview response: "You cannot typically get fresh Kahawai (New Zealand Sea trout/salmon) in the UK, as it is a Southern Hemisphere species. While it is rarely found in fresh markets, you can find Bestway Hydroforce inflatable Stand Up Paddle Boards for between £17.99 and £400+ at various UK retailers."
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The Philosopher @philosopher1923.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Sunday read: "Market" Jessica Whyte challenges the idea that markets are "natural," arguing that modern societies subordinate democracy, freedom, and collective decision-making to competitive economic systems. #Philosophy #Economics www.thephilosopher1923.org/post/the-new...
thephilosopher1923.org
Market
Jessica Whyte’s essay explores how neoliberalism transformed the market from a tool of exchange into the dominant force shaping political and social life. Challenging the idea that markets are “natura...
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
So geologists are...nice but disposable? 🤔 Struggling to think of any films with a geographer in. There must be some? As for geomorphologists...probably even less likely?
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Hester Parr @hesterparr.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
"Nature connection, belonging, and wellbeing of Black and Black-mixed heritage walkers’. Are you from a Black or Black-mixed heritage background? Please fill out the survey or pass on. If you have any questions, please email the researcher: Ceara Webster 2920900w@student.gla.ac.uk
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Dr Chris Skinner FRGS @geoskinner.games · 11/05/2026
Dear Labour Party. Stop treating the role of Prime Minister like a football manager.
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Azadeh Akbari @azadehakbari.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
🧵My paper on "Uneven Datafication" just came out! It draws on literature on coloniality, uneven development and dependency. Uneven datafication operates through three interrelated dynamics: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Screenshot of the paper's title and abstract called uneven datafication, for the journal Dialogues in Digital Society
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
A novel approach to navigating the academic prestige economy. Medals, prizes, awards are all inventions. This is just missing the 'social' element: they're supposed to be awarded by someone else.
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Jack C.M @foxmental.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
City birds appear to be more afraid of women than men, and scientists have no idea why. Via @scientific_american #Conservation #WildLife #Zoology #Nature #Ornithology 🪶
scientificamerican.com
City birds appear to be more afraid of women than men, and scientists have no idea why
“I fully believe our results, that urban birds react differently based on the sex of the person approaching them,” said a co-author of a study that made this finding, “but I can’t explain them right…
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
This poem ⬇️🔥 #academicsky #education #AI
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
I want a movie about the poor untenured archaeologist who has to cover Indiana Jones' teaching and do his marking while he fucks off to do 'fieldwork'.
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Claire Boardman @claireboardman.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
This certainly is well-articulated. I was writing last week (different context) about tacit knowledge, and the continuous shift between information and intuition, being a hallmark of subject mastery - hence the decades of 'grunt work' required.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
AI and digital learning platforms furthering the alienation of knowledge from knower. I remain astonished at Lyotard's foresight (The Postmodern Condition, 1979).
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Robert Mahon @bedform.org · 29/04/2026
More of this - if your platform steals, "AI summarizes' (plagiarizes), and re-digests someone else's journalism work, you need to be paying for it. A lot. www.npr.org/2026/04/29/g...
npr.org
Australia moves to tax Meta, Google and TikTok to fund newsrooms
Australia is proposing to tax Meta, Google and TikTok a proportion of their revenue to pay for news reporters. The government intends to introduce the draft legislation to Parliament by July.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
My lesson for the day: when visiting another uni & giving an after-lunch seminar talk, don't choose the falafel wrap with sweet chilli sauce. 😳 On the bright side, the blue & white patterned shirt hid some of it, and it has come clean in the wash. 😌
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
A highlight of my week: @jamiearathoon.bsky.social spotting this on the university library's student feedback board. #Geography rocks / #Geography is the best ❤️🌟🥰
Photo of a dark green board with pinky/orange handwriting saying  "Geography Rocks / is the best" surrounded by hearts and stars.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Excellent piece on knowledge as practice. AI as having exposed, not caused, a problem. "What must be recovered is not an old curriculum for its own sake. It is a truthful relation between knowing and doing." The piece is focuses on Art & Design but it's relevant to all disciplines.
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Pauline Couper @paulinecouper.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
On AI and 'epistemological pollution'. "...these zombie references call into question the accuracy of the papers that cite them." ➡️ Don't cite anything you haven't read. ✅️ But: structural inequalities shape vulnerability to AI slop. ❓️How do we (the 'research community') address those inequalities?
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