Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ali Struthers

@dralistruthers.bsky.social

3.6K followers 500 following 1.9K posts

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · Apr 30

New #SchoolTasking article in the Journal of Further & Higher Education is now available open access.

It discusses why early intervention is so important in outreach (at a time when many universities are moving in the opposite direction) & why gameful design has been key to the project's success.

School tasking in UK primary schools: widening access through early intervention and gameful design

School Tasking is a successful, university-led primary school outreach programme in law based on the format of the hit television show, Taskmaster. It borrows the fun, interactivity, and gentle com...

www.tandfonline.com

3 6 18

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 4h

I've just written a book chapter about things that have gone wrong in a very successful project that I run.

It's a case study in a book I'm co-authoring & there are already plenty of 'all the things that went right' chapters about the project elsewhere. Time for the shit show of all the disasters 😂

Catherine E. de Vries @catherinedevries.bsky.social · 8h

Every academic career is built on rejection, but we don’t show it.
 CVs list publications, grants & awards, not rejected manuscripts, unfunded proposals, or failures.
 But those invisible rejections shape us more than our successes ever do.

👉 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/fail-bette...

🧵

Fail Better: Why Your Rejections Will Shape You More Than Your Publications

The Art of Learning from Rejection

catherineeunicedevries.substack.com

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 4h

Halloween really does get all the attention.

Today, for example, is, amongst other things:

Be Bald & Be Free Day
National Dessert Day; &
National I Love You Day

Why aren't we changing our usernames for any of those?

Total Halloween favouritism.

Reposted by Ali Struthers

Oisín McGann @oisinmcgann.bsky.social · 9h

‘96% of healthcare professionals said the model helps to reduce children’s anxiety, and 46% reported a lesser need to use sedation after the children played with the set.‘

‘Lego doesn’t sell the sets and instead has donated more than 10,000 of the kits to hospitals around the world.’

Carceral Abolition @carceralabolition.bsky.social · 10h

How Lego MRI scanner sets are reducing anxiety in children undergoing medical treatment www.cnbc.com/2025/10/13/l...

How Lego MRI scanner sets are reducing anxiety in children undergoing medical treatment

Lego's MRI scanner play sets, which launched in 2023, are significantly reducing anxiety and the use of sedation in children, according to new research.

www.cnbc.com

4 150 360

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 1d

Agreed, and that's really the fundamental problem in all aspects of 'sharenting': young children can never 'consent' in terms of understanding what that means.

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 2d

Best TV show ever made...

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 2d

People often give very little consideration to their children's privacy when they post about them online.

An acquaintance once shared a photo on Facebook of her taking a selfie in the bathroom with her daughter on a potty in the background saying 'no such thing as privacy anymore!' Erm...

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 2d

Parents who film their children crying for clicks should take a good look at themselves | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Toddlers have big feelings. But sharing their tantrums and pain on social media is not a ‘teachable moment’. It’s cruel, says Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

www.theguardian.com

1 2 6

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 2d

...or, indeed, girl.. 😉

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 3d

If I had to select a specialist subject for Mastermind, I reckon the geographic spread of these guys across the UK would now see me to victory.

A productive afternoon with littlest family member ahead of her party tomorrow 🎩

Marshmallow top hats: petit four case, chocolate, marshmallow, more chocolate and a Smartie on top.

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 3d

Aaaaaand…knackered.

A golden retriever half asleep lying on the floor.

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 3d

There are definitely worse ways to spend a Saturday than puppy sitting.

A golden retriever puppy sits and looks at the camera.

8 4 120

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 4d

Ah, amazing! Thanks! What were you talking about?

Reposted by Ali Struthers

Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 4d

The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 has been awarded to Venezuelan democracy activist María Corina Machado.

The Nobel Committee recognised her “struggle to achieve a just & peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

In other words, exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing to the United States.

39 240 820

Reposted by Ali Struthers

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 4d

UK Universities cut 12,000 jobs, more on the way.

40% of Unis in financial crisis.

Major exporter destroyed by successive govts

Obstacles for foreign students.
Low fees in England, lack of govt funding.
£267bn student debt.
Home student numbers down.

How will the UK compete with other nations?

Thousands more university jobs cut as financial crisis deepens

University workers will vote on national strike action this month over a 1.4% pay offer made in the summer.

www.bbc.co.uk

14 120 220

Reposted by Ali Struthers

Lost in History 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🇺🇦🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦 @devonianmatthew.bsky.social · 4d

"Pro Life"

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 4d

An artificial heart for children with congenital heart defects was almost finished. Families had waited for years it.

Then, Trump canceled billions in grants for universities — including the grant for this device.

The cruelty is endless. www.npr.org/2025/10/09/n...

This 4-year-old's heart is failing. A federal grant that might help him was canceled

A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.

www.npr.org

1 17 42

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 5d

Haha! Our Head of Administration put it there, which is very sweet, but it does require a *lot* of explaining.

"Is that like an extra degree or something?"

"Ah, no. No it's not."

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 6d

Checklist for meetings with 1st year personal tutees:

- Academic issues;
- Pastoral issues;
- Signposting relevant university services;
- Explaining why it says 'Little Dr Ali Struthers' on my office door.

1 6

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 6d

Also, interestingly, in my mailbox today...

It's like Outlook saw your show and has planned its communication accordingly.

Email from Photobox with the header 'You're about to lose your photos'.

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 6d

'...PLEASE, Ali...anything...'

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 6d

@watsoncomedian.bsky.social

What was that you were saying about needy companies sending you emails...?

An email from Weird Fish with the subject heading 'Ali, it's been a while...'

2 1

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 7d

A Labour Prime Minister being quoted in the news bulletin of the most listened to radio station in the UK telling university students that they absolutely should not get involved in peacefully protesting an ongoing genocide is really quite something.

1 5

Reposted by Ali Struthers

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 7d

Mourning those murdered by Hamas isn't incompatible with mourning those murdered by the Israeli state.

Demanding that the hostages return isn't incompatible with naming & demanding an end to genocide.

Naming the power imbalance & impact thereof doesn't desecrate those murdered two years ago today.

19 370 1.5K

Reposted by Ali Struthers

Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 7d

It is my momento mori style obligation to remind you that this is not just coming to the uk but is it is already here.

Mark Faulkner @markfaulkner24.bsky.social · 8d

Recommended viewing: Storyville: The Librarians, BBC4, Tuesday, 7 October. Explores how librarians across the US are risking their safety to defend free speech as book bans and censorship threaten democracy from within. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Four - Storyville, The Librarians

Documentary about the US librarians who are risking their safety to defend free speech.

www.bbc.co.uk

2 30 63

Reposted by Ali Struthers

Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 7d

Henceforth the red robes will only be worn as an away kit when the Canadian Supreme Court is playing the US one.

Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 7d

Tragic news from Canada where the Canadian Supreme Court has gone from the official dress on the left to the one on the right

Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in bright red wooly gowns, with a beige trim. It looks sort of like a Santa robe

The Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in black gowns with a bright white kravat, and two thin red vertical lines on the side of the robe

14 95 530

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 7d

Here is a perfect example of what is wrong with the world.

Me: bought books from a gorgeous, independent bookshop for a university project. Generous discount was applied for quantity bought; books were signed.

Finance at the university: "Are these books not available from Amazon?"

1 7

Ali Struthers @dralistruthers.bsky.social · 8d

three people are hugging each other in a kitchen .

Alt: Friends cast hugging.

media.tenor.com