Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
@afrodita-marcu.bsky.social
Social Psychologist, CPsychol AFBPsS, FHEA, doing psychosocial research in cancer at the University of Surrey. Open Research champion. Health inequalities. Risk communication. Qualitative methods. Co-production.
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
New OA article just out on "assetizing academic content" led by @jkom.bsky.social with me, @keanbirch.bsky.social & Klaus Beiter, exploring how academic materials are turned into value-generating digital assets by HE institutions, edtech platforms, and AI companies link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Assetizing academic content and the emergence of the ‘assetizen’: education platforms, publisher databases, and AI model training - Higher Education
Higher Education - Academic content, such as teaching materials and academic publications, has become an economic resource. This has occurred through assetization as the key economic regime in...
link.springer.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:13 AM
New OA article just out on "assetizing academic content" led by @jkom.bsky.social with me, @keanbirch.bsky.social & Klaus Beiter, exploring how academic materials are turned into value-generating digital assets by HE institutions, edtech platforms, and AI companies link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
Is notion of a reproducibility crisis in science "exaggerated"?
After ERC's Maria Leptin suggests just that, @fionamcintyre.bsky.social talks to those studying the issue.
To judge whether there's a crisis, we would need to know "normal" level of reproducibility, says @martmichaelis.bsky.social
After ERC's Maria Leptin suggests just that, @fionamcintyre.bsky.social talks to those studying the issue.
To judge whether there's a crisis, we would need to know "normal" level of reproducibility, says @martmichaelis.bsky.social
February 6, 2026 at 12:40 PM
Is notion of a reproducibility crisis in science "exaggerated"?
After ERC's Maria Leptin suggests just that, @fionamcintyre.bsky.social talks to those studying the issue.
To judge whether there's a crisis, we would need to know "normal" level of reproducibility, says @martmichaelis.bsky.social
After ERC's Maria Leptin suggests just that, @fionamcintyre.bsky.social talks to those studying the issue.
To judge whether there's a crisis, we would need to know "normal" level of reproducibility, says @martmichaelis.bsky.social
@dmaupin.bsky.social Food for thought!
Is science really suffering from a reproducibility crisis?
Experts divided over severity of replication problems, as AI “monster” creates different threat.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-worl...
Experts divided over severity of replication problems, as AI “monster” creates different threat.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-worl...
Is science really suffering from a reproducibility crisis? - Research Professional News
Experts divided over severity of replication problems, as AI “monster” creates different threat
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:50 PM
@dmaupin.bsky.social Food for thought!
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
Four senior UKRI leaders appeared at a press briefing this morning in the wake of RPN stories over the last week about a shake-up to research council funding
Our story that the MRC is expecting to fund fewer grants through applicant-led calls that closed in September last year was confirmed
...
Our story that the MRC is expecting to fund fewer grants through applicant-led calls that closed in September last year was confirmed
...
Medical Research Council ‘will fund fewer applicant-led grants’.
Confirmation from deputy leader comes as council restructures investments, with calls on hold until summer.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Confirmation from deputy leader comes as council restructures investments, with calls on hold until summer.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Medical Research Council ‘will fund fewer applicant-led grants’ - Research Professional News
Confirmation from deputy leader comes as council restructures investments, with calls on hold until summer
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 5, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Four senior UKRI leaders appeared at a press briefing this morning in the wake of RPN stories over the last week about a shake-up to research council funding
Our story that the MRC is expecting to fund fewer grants through applicant-led calls that closed in September last year was confirmed
...
Our story that the MRC is expecting to fund fewer grants through applicant-led calls that closed in September last year was confirmed
...
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
It's also a reminder of the consequences of pandering to the 'legitimate concerns' about immigration of the 'left behind' - not least for 'left behind' areas.
Excellent article but stark reminder that for all the perceptions of universities as ivory towers for elites, they are actually vital hubs in towns n cities supporting local businesses and providing key services as well as education….
‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university?
When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degr...
www.theguardian.com
February 4, 2026 at 10:25 AM
It's also a reminder of the consequences of pandering to the 'legitimate concerns' about immigration of the 'left behind' - not least for 'left behind' areas.
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
🔓NEW Open access (free) textbook
Digital Co-Production of Public Services: Citizens, Challenges and Cases
www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-o...
Digital Co-Production of Public Services: Citizens, Challenges and Cases
www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-o...
www.elgaronline.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:01 PM
🔓NEW Open access (free) textbook
Digital Co-Production of Public Services: Citizens, Challenges and Cases
www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-o...
Digital Co-Production of Public Services: Citizens, Challenges and Cases
www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-o...
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
📢 Webinar - Process evaluations: How do we explain why interventions work or cause harm?
Join Prof Rhiannon Evans (Cardiff University) for a talk on process evaluations, covering causal pathways, implementation, context & key frameworks.
🔗 universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
📅 12/02 @ 1pm
Join Prof Rhiannon Evans (Cardiff University) for a talk on process evaluations, covering causal pathways, implementation, context & key frameworks.
🔗 universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
📅 12/02 @ 1pm
January 22, 2026 at 4:05 PM
📢 Webinar - Process evaluations: How do we explain why interventions work or cause harm?
Join Prof Rhiannon Evans (Cardiff University) for a talk on process evaluations, covering causal pathways, implementation, context & key frameworks.
🔗 universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
📅 12/02 @ 1pm
Join Prof Rhiannon Evans (Cardiff University) for a talk on process evaluations, covering causal pathways, implementation, context & key frameworks.
🔗 universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
📅 12/02 @ 1pm
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
For more than a century, scientific journals have been the pipes through which knowledge of the natural world flows into our culture, @rossandersen.bsky.social writes—now they’re being clogged with AI slop:
Science Is Drowning in AI Slop
Peer review has met its match.
bit.ly
January 22, 2026 at 4:45 PM
For more than a century, scientific journals have been the pipes through which knowledge of the natural world flows into our culture, @rossandersen.bsky.social writes—now they’re being clogged with AI slop:
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
New CfP in Qualitative Research in Psychology:
🔮 "The Future of Rigorous Qualitative Research"
We're inviting papers that address the big question: What does the *future* of good, quality, rigorous qual research look like?
📄 Deadline Sept 2026
💬 Happy to answer Qs
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
🔮 "The Future of Rigorous Qualitative Research"
We're inviting papers that address the big question: What does the *future* of good, quality, rigorous qual research look like?
📄 Deadline Sept 2026
💬 Happy to answer Qs
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Call for Papers: The Future of Rigorous Qualitative Research
Call for Papers for Special Issue of Qualitative Research in Psychology The Future of Rigorous Qualitative Research Special Issue Guest Editors: Dr Madeleine Pownall, Dr Nicki Lisa Cole, Dr Annayah ...
docs.google.com
January 22, 2026 at 9:48 AM
New CfP in Qualitative Research in Psychology:
🔮 "The Future of Rigorous Qualitative Research"
We're inviting papers that address the big question: What does the *future* of good, quality, rigorous qual research look like?
📄 Deadline Sept 2026
💬 Happy to answer Qs
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
🔮 "The Future of Rigorous Qualitative Research"
We're inviting papers that address the big question: What does the *future* of good, quality, rigorous qual research look like?
📄 Deadline Sept 2026
💬 Happy to answer Qs
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
What should we do as editors when a reviewer has clearly used AI to write their peer review?
In my opinion, this is academic misconduct. But it's almost impossible to prove. Should we just ignore the review? Should we report it to their employer? Should we have a blacklist of suspect reviewers?
In my opinion, this is academic misconduct. But it's almost impossible to prove. Should we just ignore the review? Should we report it to their employer? Should we have a blacklist of suspect reviewers?
Saw my first AI-generated #Review today, of a paper in Scientific Reports.
It was like a highschool teacher giving constructive feedback on an essay, with statements from a rubric.
If i see this as editor, your 'review' will be ignored.
If i see it as 1st/last author, I'll write to the editor.
🤷♂️
It was like a highschool teacher giving constructive feedback on an essay, with statements from a rubric.
If i see this as editor, your 'review' will be ignored.
If i see it as 1st/last author, I'll write to the editor.
🤷♂️
January 21, 2026 at 2:06 PM
What should we do as editors when a reviewer has clearly used AI to write their peer review?
In my opinion, this is academic misconduct. But it's almost impossible to prove. Should we just ignore the review? Should we report it to their employer? Should we have a blacklist of suspect reviewers?
In my opinion, this is academic misconduct. But it's almost impossible to prove. Should we just ignore the review? Should we report it to their employer? Should we have a blacklist of suspect reviewers?
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
Saturation in Qualitative Health Research: An Overview and Analysis Through the Lens of Epistemic Injustice
Jackson Loyal and Michelle Amri
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Jackson Loyal and Michelle Amri
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Saturation in Qualitative Health Research: An Overview and Analysis Through the Lens of Epistemic Injustice - Jackson P. Loyal, Michelle Amri, 2026
The concept of saturation was originally developed within grounded theory. It has since been extended and widely adopted as a marker of rigor throughout qualita...
journals.sagepub.com
January 20, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Saturation in Qualitative Health Research: An Overview and Analysis Through the Lens of Epistemic Injustice
Jackson Loyal and Michelle Amri
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Jackson Loyal and Michelle Amri
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
If you think you know what constitutes best practice in #QualitativeResearch methods in #HealthResearch, here's a list that may confirm or challenge your understanding 👇
If it challenges you, perhaps give the full paper a read? link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#academicsky #ImplementationScience
If it challenges you, perhaps give the full paper a read? link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#academicsky #ImplementationScience
January 18, 2026 at 9:49 PM
If you think you know what constitutes best practice in #QualitativeResearch methods in #HealthResearch, here's a list that may confirm or challenge your understanding 👇
If it challenges you, perhaps give the full paper a read? link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#academicsky #ImplementationScience
If it challenges you, perhaps give the full paper a read? link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#academicsky #ImplementationScience
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow
AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots
www.theguardian.com
January 18, 2026 at 9:31 PM
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
"For three years now, we’ve heard arguments about making education and work more purposeful, more meaningful, so students and employees don’t simply offload their thinking to a machine. I’ve made such arguments many times, but I’m also beginning to see how far removed from reality this is."
@marcwatkins.bsky.social gives a list of 10 great scenarios worth discussing and thinking through with higher ed colleagues - I will be using this gift!
marcwatkins.substack.com/p/what-we-gi...
marcwatkins.substack.com/p/what-we-gi...
What We Give Up When We Let AI Decide
Automation Is Easy. Judgment Is Not.
marcwatkins.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:49 PM
"For three years now, we’ve heard arguments about making education and work more purposeful, more meaningful, so students and employees don’t simply offload their thinking to a machine. I’ve made such arguments many times, but I’m also beginning to see how far removed from reality this is."
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
‘If a drug boasted such benefits [as the arts] governments would be pouring billions into it. Instead, funding has been slashed across the culture sector.’
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
January 10, 2026 at 4:37 PM
‘If a drug boasted such benefits [as the arts] governments would be pouring billions into it. Instead, funding has been slashed across the culture sector.’
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
The implication is severe: careless responding on MTurk isn’t rare noise; it’s systematic enough to flip the sign of relationships and generate results that are the opposite of what they really are.
Wow; this is pretty damning.
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
Wow; this is pretty damning.
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
January 8, 2026 at 8:49 PM
The implication is severe: careless responding on MTurk isn’t rare noise; it’s systematic enough to flip the sign of relationships and generate results that are the opposite of what they really are.
Wow; this is pretty damning.
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
Wow; this is pretty damning.
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.
The 2025 British Academy book prize winner is a fascinating read, glad I got it in time for the Christmas break.
December 16, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The 2025 British Academy book prize winner is a fascinating read, glad I got it in time for the Christmas break.
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
A social sciences and humanities reading list on AI in education 🧵
February 9, 2025 at 12:00 AM
A social sciences and humanities reading list on AI in education 🧵
This is an excellent article, summarising my concerns about the uncritical adoption of AI in academia. Worth a read!
If you have only one thing to read today...
"Universities are being retrofitted as fulfillment centers of cognitive convenience."
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
"Universities are being retrofitted as fulfillment centers of cognitive convenience."
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 5, 2025 at 9:36 AM
This is an excellent article, summarising my concerns about the uncritical adoption of AI in academia. Worth a read!
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
Call them “LLeMmings”—the people who outsource their thinking to ChatGPT and other AI products. @lilashroff.bsky.social reports on a new kind of decision making—that could come with a cost:
The People Outsourcing Their Thinking to AI
Rise of the LLeMmings
bit.ly
December 1, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Call them “LLeMmings”—the people who outsource their thinking to ChatGPT and other AI products. @lilashroff.bsky.social reports on a new kind of decision making—that could come with a cost:
Reposted by Dr Afrodita Marcu 🇷🇴🇬🇧🇪🇺
How to eat well at every age…
Professor @janeogden.bsky.social with some advice from her new book, part of the @bpsofficial.bsky.social 'Ask the experts' series with @routledgebooks.bsky.social
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
Professor @janeogden.bsky.social with some advice from her new book, part of the @bpsofficial.bsky.social 'Ask the experts' series with @routledgebooks.bsky.social
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
How to eat well at every age | BPS
Professor Jane Ogden with some advice from her new book, part of the British Psychological Society's 'Ask the experts' series with Routledge.
www.bps.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 8:50 AM
How to eat well at every age…
Professor @janeogden.bsky.social with some advice from her new book, part of the @bpsofficial.bsky.social 'Ask the experts' series with @routledgebooks.bsky.social
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
Professor @janeogden.bsky.social with some advice from her new book, part of the @bpsofficial.bsky.social 'Ask the experts' series with @routledgebooks.bsky.social
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
I wonder why...
Vast majority of academics do not want artificial intelligence used to assess the next Research Excellence Framework, finds study led by @rpwatermeyer.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/most-ac... via @patrickjack.bsky.social
Most academics strongly opposed to using AI in REF 2029
While new technologies seen as ‘game changer’ for national-level research assessment, study finds vehement opposition, particularly among humanities scholars
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 1, 2025 at 10:52 AM
I wonder why...