January 13 update: Well, we're not looking good. We have three rent deadlines in the next two weeks, with the next on FRIDAY, and we aren't seeing movement on these!

ALL these families are moms & kids facing eviction. Let's get each filled up, starting with Mai's, and click "monthly" if you can so they never face eviction again. Let's do it.

🍼 JANUARY 16: Single mom Mai and her three kids, including a newborn. 634/1702. https://chuffed.org/project/help-mai-and-her-family-leave-gaza-before-its-too-late

📚 JANUARY 22: Student Seraj & his family of eight, including his baby sis. 319/475. https://tiny.cc/serajrent

❤️‍🩹 JANUARY 29: Single mom Maha and her two kids. 130/815. https://chuffed.org/project/saving-lives-on-the-frontline-in-palestine-help-maha

@palestine
#MutualAid #Gaza #Palestine #Education #Academia

#openaccess #academia #academicchatter

#openaccess #academia #academicchatter

" #NEH Pours Millions Into Conservative-Aligned Projects."
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/2026/01/20/neh-pours-millions-fehe-network-unc-civic-school-more

PS: I hate see the press fall for the idea that civics and Western civilization are intrinsically "conservative" subjects. Sure, the conservative takes on civics and Western civ are intrinsically conservative. But that's it. The new NEH grants may be going to conservative approaches, but this article isn't careful about disentangling different approaches.

#Academia #AcademicMastodon #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

I love this banner photo from my university website. You can tell it's a real science lab because of the passive aggressive note in the background.
#academia

The War on Science, the arts, and academia rages unabated.

Link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/20/universities-humanities-programs

#Science #WarOnScience #STEM #academia #Idiocracy #ScienceMatters

The War on Science, the arts, and academia rages unabated.

Link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/20/universities-humanities-programs

#Science #WarOnScience #STEM #academia #Idiocracy #ScienceMatters

I love this banner photo from my university website. You can tell it's a real science lab because of the passive aggressive note in the background.
#academia

Been having a paperwork day. Realised I screwed up some paperwork which will probably cost me another couple of hundred euros in not being able to get reimbursements for doing my job.

It was my mistake, but still, feels like the world shouldn't really work like that. Feels like someone like me having paperwork days to wade through this stuff probably isn't doing anyone much good either really?

Feeling small, sighing big.

#academia #histodons #universities

"A concept known as the Szilard point helps to contextualize the issues arising from excessive competition for grants. Named after the Hungarian-born physicist Leo Szilard, who wrote a short story [1] satirizing the bureaucratic nature of scientific funding, this metric describes the threshold at which the total cost of competing for a grant equals (or surpasses) the value of the available funding. These costs are incurred by scientists in writing proposals, by their peers in reviewing them and by the administrative systems that run the process. The question is, which costs more: the research being funded, or the application process itself?"

https://web.archive.org/web/20260115084352/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-04060-x

[1] https://www.gipsa-lab.grenoble-inp.fr/~pierre.comon/FichiersPdf/theMarkGableFoundation.pdf

1/2

#academia #GrantFunding

Trump Administration Orders USDA Employees to Investigate Foreign Researchers They Work With
---

The new directive asks workers to check the backgrounds of foreign nationals collaborating with the department’s scientists for evidence of “subversive or criminal activity.” Their names are being sent to national security experts at the agency.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-usda-foreign-scientists?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #USDA #Science #Research #Academia #USPolitics #Trump

How to fund #research with less bias and lower costs? Use more lotteries!

"Lottery before peer review is associated with increased female representation and reduced cost"

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65660-9

Give that this is only one of many such reports over the last decades, surely, this has become the standard by now? Oh, wait...

"taxpayers will have spent more on the funding process than on the funding itself"

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-04060-x

Looks like #academia really is evidence-resistant 🫣

"A concept known as the Szilard point helps to contextualize the issues arising from excessive competition for grants. Named after the Hungarian-born physicist Leo Szilard, who wrote a short story [1] satirizing the bureaucratic nature of scientific funding, this metric describes the threshold at which the total cost of competing for a grant equals (or surpasses) the value of the available funding. These costs are incurred by scientists in writing proposals, by their peers in reviewing them and by the administrative systems that run the process. The question is, which costs more: the research being funded, or the application process itself?"

https://web.archive.org/web/20260115084352/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-04060-x

[1] https://www.gipsa-lab.grenoble-inp.fr/~pierre.comon/FichiersPdf/theMarkGableFoundation.pdf

1/2

#academia #GrantFunding

When a new book appears in a regionally and chronologically delimited field of research in the #Humanities, it's a really big deal. It doesn't happen very often, and each one is potentially the new standard treatment.

I've been in academic #archaeology now for over 30 years, and the #books I've seen appear and then fail to find traction are stacking up. Forgotten, book-length studies by people I remember as young hopefuls. Gathering dust in the stacks.

#academia

When a new book appears in a regionally and chronologically delimited field of research in the #Humanities, it's a really big deal. It doesn't happen very often, and each one is potentially the new standard treatment.

I've been in academic #archaeology now for over 30 years, and the #books I've seen appear and then fail to find traction are stacking up. Forgotten, book-length studies by people I remember as young hopefuls. Gathering dust in the stacks.

#academia

Does any university have good metrics for measuring and rewarding faculty for research impact (not quantity), mentorship of junior colleagues (faculty, grad, and undergrads), and impact of public engagement? We must change the reward system. #academia #academicchatter #universities #PhD

Does any university have good metrics for measuring and rewarding faculty for research impact (not quantity), mentorship of junior colleagues (faculty, grad, and undergrads), and impact of public engagement? We must change the reward system. #academia #academicchatter #universities #PhD

“After a long career, I am convinced that at every level of learning, it is possible to create an authentic picture of mathematics and convey an impression of how mathematics forms its own world of well-ordered structures with a striking internal consistency, and how this is precisely what makes it so effective in applications.” - Lisa Hefendehl-Hebeker

➡️ https://hermathsstory.eu/lisa-hefendehl-hebeker

#Academia #PhD #SeniorProfessor #MathematicsEducation #WomenInMaths #HerMathsStory

“After a long career, I am convinced that at every level of learning, it is possible to create an authentic picture of mathematics and convey an impression of how mathematics forms its own world of well-ordered structures with a striking internal consistency, and how this is precisely what makes it so effective in applications.” - Lisa Hefendehl-Hebeker

➡️ https://hermathsstory.eu/lisa-hefendehl-hebeker

#Academia #PhD #SeniorProfessor #MathematicsEducation #WomenInMaths #HerMathsStory