Writing on cognition, method and higher education.

AI and cognition

11 October 2026 · 15 min read

Consciousness, Evolution and the Possibility of a Shared Physical Reality

Commentary on psychology and higher education

10 October 2026 · 11 min read

On academic authority, the price of silence, and why caring about an institution sometimes means questioning it

Commentary on psychology and higher education

9 October 2026 · 13 min read

Artificial intelligence, academic identity and the uncomfortable business of discovering who we are without our titles

Commentary on psychology and higher education

9 October 2026 · 18 min read

Artificial Intelligence, Academic Gatekeeping and the Uncomfortable End of Intellectual Scarcity

Commentary on psychology and higher education

7 October 2026 · 19 min read

As generative AI makes scalable knowledge production less scarce, forms of human contribution that resist measurement may matter more — yet the same technology could let institutions capture staff tacit knowledge and reduce their dependence on the people who developed it. An augmentation–extraction hypothesis, recorded in October 2026.

Commentary on psychology and higher education

6 October 2026 · 11 min read

Who were the academics universities chose to reward over the last few decades, and what did that selection do to institutional culture? A reflection on performativity, managerialism, and watching the consequences from retirement.

Commentary on psychology and higher education

4 October 2026 · 8 min read

Universities have become adept at moving students towards measurable outcomes. But where, in that carefully designed route, do we encourage them to question the destination?

Research reflections

4 October 2026 · 12 min read

The replication crisis exposed more than weak statistical practice: it revealed how academic incentives, publishing systems and institutional metrics shape what psychology rewards and recognises as good science.

Commentary on psychology and higher education

27 September 2026 · 12 min read

AI promises to make education more accessible. But what happens if the scarce thing in tomorrow’s university is not information, but sustained human attention?

Commentary on psychology and higher education

25 September 2026 · 6 min read

Generative AI has exposed the limits of written reflective portfolios as evidence of teaching capability, prompting a shift towards professional conversation and authentic assessment.

Commentary on psychology and higher education

19 September 2026 · 6 min read

Managerial language has already flattened academic discourse. AI is now accelerating a problem universities taught it.

Commentary on psychology and higher education

11 September 2026 · 8 min read

This article is not about any specific university, college or educational provider. It is about a wider problem now visible across parts of the UK education sector — what happens when financial pressure, weak recruitment, market competition, online delivery and artificial intelligence begin to pull education away from its civic purpose and towards something closer to a scalable product.

Commentary on psychology and higher education

10 September 2026 · 8 min read

A reflection on how corporate language and managerial priorities are reshaping universities, and why education must still make room for awkward questions, intellectual independence and iconoclasts.

AI and cognition

28 August 2026 · 9 min read

Academic concerns about LLMs flattening linguistic diversity and developer criticism of "vibe coding" may share an uncomfortable common root. This piece asks what is really being defended — and whether small, localised models offer a better direction.

Research reflections

24 August 2026 · 9 min read

Academia is unusually fond of titles and distinctions, yet some remarkable scholars have appeared suspicious of them. What happens when the symbol of accomplishment becomes confused with accomplishment itself?

Research reflections

23 August 2026 · 10 min read

After nearly two decades away from academic publishing, I reflect on why I am returning to public research now — shaped by health, recovery, and a persistent curiosity about psychology and research quality.

Research reflections

12 August 2026 · 6 min read

A working note on why "does offloading harm memory?" is the wrong question, and what a better one looks like when the tool in question writes fluent prose.

Commentary on psychology and higher education

18 June 2026 · 5 min read

Generative writing tools did not break assessment in higher education. They exposed how much of it was measuring compliance rather than understanding.

AI and cognition

2 April 2026 · 4 min read

Large language models produce text with the surface features people use to judge expertise. That mismatch, not factual error, is the interesting cognitive problem.