As universities cut courses, spending on consultants and contractors nears $2b Consultancies have been accused of infiltrating universities and wasting scarce public funds on questionable advice about cutting courses and jobs.

Australia's universities are spending $1.8 billion a year on external consultants and contractors, while slashing courses and jobs, with students, staff and taxpayers left shortchanged.
Watch ABC Four Corners tonight.
#HigherEducation #auspol #AcademicSky #HigherEd
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Campus Chaos Four Corners is the home of Australian investigative journalism.

Ok, so I knew it would be an anger-inducing and triggering watch, but OMG. Bravo ABC Four Corners, and the brave souls that spoke out on the show. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Birutė Galdikas: The last of the ‘angels’ in primatology’s most extraordinary chapter With Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, Galdikas changed the face of science and opened the world’s eyes to how similar humans are to orangutans and other primates.

Rest in Power, Dr. Birute Galdikas: another ‘Difficult Woman’ who changed the world for us and for the #orangutan!

theconversation.com/birute-galdi...

Happening now @bioanth.org #AABA2026 - a diverse and dynamic celebration of 40 years of the @dentalanth.bsky.social ! Deep bow of thanks to Christina Nicholas for inviting me to share some #TalesTeethTell

Such great energy at the joint @bawmn.bsky.social COD-WIN Happy Hour last night at #AABA2026! Grateful to @bioanth.org for the many years of holding space for our small but mighty grassroots group + our generous donors! All are welcome to join the Steering Committee mtg Sat 7am in the hotel cafe.

Happening now at @bioanth.org #AABA2026 - COD-WIN + @bawmn.bsky.social co-sponsored event with on #Faculty hiring and #DEI

Last day to register if you're on the fence about being part of this one of a kind @bawmn.bsky.social World Cafe!

#AABA2026

The boys’ club: How Epstein’s influence shaped the exclusion of women in STEM In one email, an AI researcher suggested it’s “hard to be brilliant if you are worrying if you look fat or why another woman hates you.”

There were so many of us, exactly when these emails were being written, expressly working to undo the harms of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination in science. And so many people refused to believe us that any of it was real. It was all real.

19thnews.org/2026/02/epst...

Biological Anthropology Women's Mentoring Network Creating Connections and Supporting Women across Bioanthropology

Very excited to be #Co-Leading a World Cafe on Collective Action for @bawmn.bsky.social in Denver in one month - still time to register if you're going to #AABA2026 @bioanth.org!

We're got an awesome program with a workshop, off-site luncheon, and on-site Happy Hour ~ more details here: bawmn.org

Seasonality and water source strategies in the Neolithic Near East (ca. 8,000–5,000 BCE): Insights from multi-proxy isotopic and elemental analyses Previous studies have demonstrated that enamel oxygen isotope values (δ18O) reflect rainfall variability experienced by wild primates and ancient huma…

Excellent start to 2026 thanks to this outstanding study led by @jnavila.bsky.social

TLDR: We can now distinguish diverse water sources used by ancient people in arid regions, as well as predicting drinking water chemistry & rainfall patterns thousands of years ago from #Teeth. tinyurl.com/pnvhhp4n

The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing Academic publishing now shows the same decline that has hit social media and online marketplaces.

Diagnosis for profound scientific malaise: "Enshittification... is a systemic issue that threatens the value and development of academic publishing. Academia has become increasingly guided by metrics. As a result, research quality is judged more by where it is published than by its intrinsic worth."

We miss you - get better soon!!!

Very proud of @emmasudron.bsky.social who just gave a solid talk on detecting physiological #stress from #nitrogen #isotopes in #teeth at @aushumanbiology.bsky.social #ASHB2025! And a shout out to the incomparable @mammalssuck.bsky.social for integral support on #monkey #milk #illness and #stress. 😎

Great keynote by Zaneta Thayer @aushumanbiology.bsky.social #ASHB2025 — while early life environments and experiences shape health trajectories, they do not make poor (or good) health inevitable. Presented fascinating data on negative health aspects of by-passing natural labour processes in Brazil.

Dear @griffith.edu.au Social Media Team - best practice to look up and then tag the person you are writing about in your original post. In this case: @yinika.bsky.social

Every opportunity politicians provide for you to tell them about how chronic underfunding of research in Australia is affecting your particular fields, people, working conditions etc. is extremely important.

Fill out the form here: lnkd.in/g8A_PAZG

Very proud of @emmasudron.bsky.social ~ who spent years mastering the Geomagic Micromill to sample #NitrogenIsotopes from #teeth at a very impressive resolution. She also obtained competitive @ansto.bsky.social funding to run highly sensitive elemental analyses of modern and archaeological samples!

Australia's top universities seek changes to key environmental reform Australia's top universities have aligned themselves with oil and gas producers, miners and developers on a a key piece of environment legislation, drawing the ire of dozens of academics.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

Summers Will Not Finish Semester of Teaching as Harvard Investigates Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.

#BREAKING: Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.

Plus all elemental maps are available here: research-repository.griffith.edu.au/items/50ed65...

New #OpenAccess paper building on studies of
#TraceElements in #Primate #Teeth just out in @archaeometry.bsky.social:

Tace Element Patterns in Juvenile Wild #Chimpanzee Dentitions

#TLDR version: metals are highly variable in wild chimpanzees and dietary sources appear to obscure nursing records

As an English speaking country (with nice beaches to boot) for the cost of a small tax on fossil fuel exports or high incomes Australia could invest in science, recruit researchers fleeing the US and become the knowledge powerhouse of the 21st Century. Instead we're doing this.

MAJOR UNION WIN 🥳 The federal government will implement a new set of university governance principles to strengthen accountability, transparency and public trust following recommendations from the Expert Council on University Governance.

Read more: nteu.info/majorwin
@alisonbarnes.bsky.social

Promotional image from the Australian Academy of Science featuring a portrait of Professor Chennupati Jagadish against a blue background with the text: "Fundamental research is the 'D' without 'R'. Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC PresAA FRS FTSE, Australian Academy of Science.

The Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD) issues papers have failed to address declining investment in fundamental research, instead implying research is only important if it can be commercialised by industry.
Read our response: https://bit.ly/4hhDZZJ
https://bit.ly/4nWaEXu

One of our Research Office staff told me 'unlikely October, hopefully November...'

This week, Australian policymakers heard about the real and growing problem of climate misinformation. Stopping it would mean regulating the PR industry.

👉 theconversation.com/pr-firm...

RIP to Jane Goodall, who opened the world's eyes to our closest relatives. (Photo by NatGeo's Hugo Van Lawick)

Please for a *leisurely* visit to your favourite ex-pat?! With some advance notice I'll pop up a tent for you on 'the farm' and you can glamp with owls, possums and sugar gliders. A big echidna has been visiting lately too and digging up my native tree plantings. 🤨

New #SSRN #Preprint on #OxygenIsotopes and #TraceElements in Ancient #Teeth led by the amazing @jnavila.bsky.social and funded by @griffith.edu.au & #AustralianResearchCouncil #FutureFellowship.

#ArchaeologicalScience #BiologicalAnthropology & #EarthScience for the win!

dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...