Katherine Stiles

Katherine Stiles

@katherinestiles.org

Current issues in Higher Education · Digital Education · Artificial Intelligence Biomedical Science · Neuroscience · Research · Graduate Careers · Culture 🌐 katherinestiles.org 👁️ @katherinestiles.bsky.social 👁️𝕏𓅫 https://x.com/_K_Stiles

3.4K followers1.5K following4.7K posts

Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

The 41% of international students who remain in the country of study after graduating will generate US$1.7 trillion in economic output over their lifetime, with the majority of it, US$1 trillion, generated in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. @uniworldnews.bsky.social #academicsky

universityworldnews.comInternational graduate ‘stayers’ generate US$110bn a yearThe 41% of international students who remain in the country of study after graduating will generate an eye-watering US$1.7 trillion over their lif...

Katherine Stiles reposted

Chemistry World
@chemistryworld.com

A microorganism has – for millions of years – been organising supramolecular structures called metal–organic frameworks with excellent conductivity, transporting electrons over several centimetres & helping the bacteria survive harsh seafloor environments. www.chemistryworld.com/news/bacteri...

chemistryworld.comBacteria discovered to be synthesising metal–organic frameworks with ‘extraordinary conductivity’Biosynthesis of MOFs observed for the first time and could inspire the design of sustainable electronic structures
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

UCU Briefs · @profstevenjones.bsky.social · #AcademicSky · #EduSky Making Governing Bodies More Accountable to Students and Staff

Katherine Stiles@katherinestiles.org

“UCU believes that university governance is failing the institutions it is meant to protect. Governing bodies should be accountable to the whole university community, not just to the sector regulators and financial auditors. The current funding and jobs crisis is, in part, a failure of governance.”

Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

“The operational crisis unfolding within university governance is not a bureaucratic footnote. It is a structural failing that fundamentally threatens the working conditions of staff, the learning conditions of students, and the civic mission of the sector.

Steve Jones@profstevenjones.bsky.social

#UCUBriefs inform debate on #highereducation workplaces and wider #education sectors. I've contributed one on #universitygovernance: "Making Governing Bodies More Accountable to Students and Staff". Feedback welcome! #UCU #AcademicSky #PhDSky #UKHE #governance educationitsours.org.uk/home/ucu-bri...

educationitsours.org.ukUCU Briefs - Education. It's oursUCU Briefs: the key evidence, analysis and policy proposals to make education truly ours.
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

· #AcademicSky · #EduSky · “A programme of state-sanctioned marketisation has systematically reshaped higher education institutions into quasi-corporate entities.”

Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

“UCU believes that university governance is failing the institutions it is meant to protect. Governing bodies should be accountable to the whole university community, not just to the sector regulators and financial auditors. The current funding and jobs crisis is, in part, a failure of governance.”

Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

· #AcademicSky · #EduSky ·

Katherine Stiles@katherinestiles.org

“The FT has revealed that one in 10 full-time undergraduates are now taught by for-profit companies after a rapid rise of franchise arrangements, under which courses are subcontracted to private providers.”

Katherine Stiles reposted

Dr Keith 🎃 Wilson
@keithwilson.eu

“The harsh reality is that State funding per student is now over 30% lower in real terms than in 2008. This country ranks 36th out of 37 OECD countries for investment in higher education as a share of GDP” #HigherEducation #Ireland #SpeirGorm

RTÉ News@news.rte.ie

Universities are to tell an Oireachtas committee that they are at capacity and teetering on a cliff-edge unless the Government addresses a funding gap in higher education.

rte.ieUniversities warn funding gap leaves sector at cliff-edgeUniversities are to tell an Oireachtas committee that they are at capacity and teetering on a cliff-edge unless the Government addresses a funding gap in higher education.

Katherine Stiles reposted

Lex Bouter
@lexbouter.bsky.social

This 4th update of my preprint Academic novels on research integrity contains descriptions of 5 additional novels. lnkd.in/eSFQHhhV Please let me know about novels on research integrity I should consider to add.

Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

· #AcademicSky · #EduSky · #AI · Three reasons why AI is not conscious and perhaps never will be

Katherine Stiles@katherinestiles.org

“we’ve spent decades studying consciousness from diverse scientific perspectives: experimental neuroscience, theoretical neurobiology and philosophy of mind. On the basis of this work, we feel that consciousness in AI is extraordinarily unlikely, at least in the digital, silicon-based systems…

nature.comThree reasons why AI is not conscious and perhaps never will beLarge language models can mimic thought and feeling with uncanny skill. But evidence from neuroscience suggests that intelligence alone is not enough for subjective experience.
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

“Universities that do not pass teaching assessments will have their ability to recruit UK students automatically cut by 10 per cent and face losing their degree-awarding powers if they do not improve under a new regime put out to consultation on Thursday.” #academicsky #edusky

ft.comPoor-quality degrees ‘tarnish’ reputation of English universities, regulator warnsOffice For Students warns outcomes were worse than for students attending sponsoring institutions
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

“The FT has revealed that one in 10 full-time undergraduates are now taught by for-profit companies after a rapid rise of franchise arrangements, under which courses are subcontracted to private providers.”

Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

⮛ #AcademicSky · #EduSky · #AI ⮛

Peter K. G. Williams@pkgw.bsky.social

Likely the most important thing I've ever written — if you're an academic and the AI mania unsettles you, here's my best shot at presenting some intellectual tools that might help you articulate why. arxiv.org/abs/2610.27251

Katherine Stiles reposted

Peter Howitt
@peterhowitt.bsky.social

Without a testable basis for consciousness, it's all assumption. Confident assumptions about who can feel pain, e.g. newborns, animals, black people have been wrong. The question isn't whether AI is conscious. It's that we have no objective test & until we do functional equivalence is the best avail

Anil Seth@anilseth.bsky.social

1/2 Three reasons why AI is not conscious - and perhaps never will be. New in @nature.com with Ned Block @neddo.bsky.social and Giulio Tononi www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.comThree reasons why AI is not conscious and perhaps never will beLarge language models can mimic thought and feeling with uncanny skill. But evidence from neuroscience suggests that intelligence alone is not enough for subjective experience.
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

“we’ve spent decades studying consciousness from diverse scientific perspectives: experimental neuroscience, theoretical neurobiology and philosophy of mind. On the basis of this work, we feel that consciousness in AI is extraordinarily unlikely, at least in the digital, silicon-based systems…

nature.comThree reasons why AI is not conscious and perhaps never will beLarge language models can mimic thought and feeling with uncanny skill. But evidence from neuroscience suggests that intelligence alone is not enough for subjective experience.
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

“Employers are hiring for the things that AI can’t do. They’re putting a premium on judgment, critical thinking, communication and adaptability. They value those skills you gain by getting degrees.”

Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com

Survey: 48% of Employers Say AI Will Make College Degrees More Important And most employers prefer to hire workers with a college degree, even if the job doesn’t require one. https://bit.ly/4sg4vrR #AcademicSky #EDUSky #HigherEd

Katherine Stiles reposted

Jon Cohen
@cohenjon.bsky.social

A prominent scientist once asked me what I thought made for a good story. I listed a bunch of things--significant, interesting, new info, conflict, characters, narrative, surprise. He said I was missing a key thing that drove scientists: curiosity. Here's to that: www.science.org/content/arti...

science.orgHow scientists domesticated a killer bacteriumGenome analysis shows how decades of lab cultivation turned C. botulinum, the canned-food killer, into a potent tool for medicine and the beauty industry
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

· #AcademicSky · #EduSky · #BrainOrganoids · #BiohybridComputing · Encoding tactile stimuli for Braille recognition with organoids Interesting study that may lead to more energy-efficient computing, published in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence 16 October 2026

frontiersin.orgFrontiers | Encoding tactile stimuli for Braille recognition with organoidsThis study proposes a transferable encoding strategy that maps tactile sensor data to electrical stimulation patterns, enabling neural organoids to perform a...
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

· #AcademicSky · #EduSky · #AI · “[Undergraduate students] recognize that they are subjects in a worldwide experiment in turning over vast swathes of human thinking to machines whose inner workings we barely understand.”

Cameron Buckner@cameronbuckner.bsky.social

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

insidehighered.comUniversities Have Gone on an AI Philosopher Hiring SpreeArtificial intelligence is raising existential questions about knowledge and humanity—and creating exploding demand for philosophy professors equipped to investigate them.
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org
Katherine Stiles@katherinestiles.org

· #AcademicSky · #EduSky · #AI · #AIdetector · 💬 First, we create AIs to write for us. Then, we scramble to create AIs to detect whether AIs have written instead of us… Now, researcher have come up with a new idea: IdeaLens.

Katherine Stiles reposted

Elizabeth Gibney
@lizziegibney.bsky.social

China is producing an extraordinary amount of AI talent. Thousands still flock to the US each year, but increasingly researchers are opting to stay In my latest I look at what it's really like to work in AI in China, how it differs from the US & what's holding it back🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.comChina’s AI research is booming. Where is it headed?Nature speaks to analysts and researchers about what it’s like to work in AI in China.

Katherine Stiles reposted

Corey Hutchins
@coreyhutchins.bsky.social

"College journalism is thriving at schools that don’t teach it": splc.org/2026/10/coll... "Hundreds of college newspapers publish at universities that don’t offer journalism majors — and that’s no problem for the students."

splc.orgCollege journalism is thriving at schools that don't teach it - Student Press Law CenterHundreds of college newspapers publish at universities that don't offer journalism majors — and that's no problem for the students.

Katherine Stiles reposted

D. Parker Kelley, PhD
@sequencemyneuro.bsky.social

Are psychedelics anti-inflammatory!? I am beyond excited to present the first systematic review and meta-analysis of the immunomodulatory effects of serotonergic psychedelics! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.comAre psychedelics anti-inflammatory? A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the immunomodulatory effects of serotonergic psychedelicsSerotonergic psychedelics are promising treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders, and their immunomodulatory effects may contribute to their clinical…
Katherine Stiles
@katherinestiles.org

#NHS #AcademicSky #EduSky Regional universities are vital to solving the NHS staffing crisis Worth noting: The East of England has ~22% fewer doctors per head than the England average, and ~36% fewer doctors per head than the EU average, while its population is growing faster than England’s average

timeshighereducation.comRegional universities are vital to solving the NHS staffing crisisHospitals have a shortage of specialist training places, but we need new medical schools in regions with the fewest doctors, says Irene Ctori