Pete M's Avatar

Pete M

@pbdm

Doctoral college manager. Very occasional poster. Views & posts my own not my institution's. Find me on... Substack: https://pbdm917559.substack.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-mills

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20.08.2023
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Latest posts by Pete M @pbdm

I cannot WAIT to hear how he pronounces "TimothΓ©e Chalamet."

11.03.2026 20:51 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Administration efforts to rig the midterms in direct conflict with their determination to make themselves so toxically unpopular that the voter backlash would overwhelm them anyway.

08.03.2026 22:49 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Verifying awards using HEDD

Speaking in my professional capacity as PhD Academy manager at LSE I can confirm... that degree verification processes are set out below.

info.lse.ac.uk/current-stud...

14.02.2026 11:44 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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This story is what antisemitism looks like ... what has Victoria Sharp's religion got to do with this decision:

share.google/eyq3NQ8NCm0V...

13.02.2026 19:19 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s never too late to read and share it around.

22.04.2025 19:13 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

UCU stands with trans people, today and every day.

The Supreme Court ruling is not just wrong, it’s dangerous.

We will never stop fighting for trans rights and equality.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights #Solidarity

17.04.2025 09:30 πŸ‘ 440 πŸ” 127 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 7

I wrote to my MP today about the recent UKSC ruling, which exposes the incoherence of UK law in this area, as well as Parliament’s failure to respond meaningfully to changing understandings of gender, sex and identity.

Reform that respects and reflects the reality of trans lives is urgently needed.

18.04.2025 13:11 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

plus a venn diagram showing just how many parts of institutions depend on PhDs to do what they need to do!

21.03.2025 09:53 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

i find an "sub-prime mortgage crisis" helpful: many parts of universities rely partly on PhDs, but few in whole. though it's difficult for individual actors (departments, divisions etc.) to gauge the risks, institutional/sector-level underinvestment = meaningful system-wide risks.

21.03.2025 09:51 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Too close to home? Stubbornness, spite, and sheer bloody-mindedness as contributors to perseverance in doctoral study - The Australian Educational Researcher Completing a higher degree is a complex and demanding undertaking for doctoral students. Along with the cognitive demands of study, there are competing personal and contextual factors which contribute...

Is perseverance in a PhD always about resilience?

A new paper say no: stubbornness, spite & sheer bloody-mindedness are just as important, especially those with caring responsibilities.

This really struck me, not just for what it reveals, but for what it demands.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

17.03.2025 21:01 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Respondents foresee all the usual barriers - bureaucracy, tradition and inertia loom large - but 85% of examiners think we need to rethink the viva.

Time for change?

Link here: https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2025.2475062

(3/3)

16.03.2025 23:07 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Support varies on the details, but there’s strong backing for stricter examiner selection, routine training for examiners & chairs, clearer guidelines on expected conduct, better feedback for candidates, and more attention to wellbeing & reasonable adjustments.

(2/3)

16.03.2025 23:07 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Important study just published on doctoral vivas: the findings are remarkable.

Zoe Stephenson & Amy Jackson surveyed 326 UK PhD examiners, and found that a whopping 97% support reform of the closed-door viva. Crisis-level consensus?

(1/3)

16.03.2025 23:07 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

ah the joys of 232 pages of updated ts&cs, review & guidance documentation & impact assessments, published in the middle of term with an 8 month compliance deadline. (call it 5 since most committees don't meet after june.) that's rest of the year's plans up in smoke!

30.01.2025 21:54 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

i feel there's a game to be played here. if you were to create a misleading abstract for one of your publications based on the fleeting and/or tangential appearance of a famous person, what would it be?

02.01.2025 23:36 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

that (i'm more likely to watch films i know he's in) is very likely true, but he's in for approximately 5 minutes!

02.01.2025 22:51 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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01.01.2025 10:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

can't see any audible reviews...

01.01.2025 10:11 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

having resolved to read more in 2025, my first purchase of the year is the 37.5 hour audiobook of stuart eizenstat's book on jimmy carter.

@pkandelic.bsky.social: i will need a rebuttal read/listen in approximately 6 weeks.

01.01.2025 01:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

timely, given my sudden fascination with the english devolution white paper...

31.12.2024 09:56 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

parental deafness is really kicking in. a 10 minute conversation just now centred on #1 thinking they were talking about their U3A french conversation class, and #2 thinking it was about their bell-ringing lessons at the local church.

hilarity did not ensue...

29.12.2024 17:56 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

finally, 'murder most fowl'.

"norbot attempts to solve the core problem of the capitalist economy, according to your average bajillionaire plutocrat."

"what's that granny?"

"other people owning things and earning wages."

29.12.2024 12:49 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Plenty of places to start. Historiography on terrorism highlights a strong link between unmet life expectations and radicalisation, for example.

29.12.2024 11:58 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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my contribution to the annual festive "draw a portrait of a family member on the children's' etch-a-sketch type thing" competition has caused a rift with my mother.

she is aggrieved at being drawn as "a cross between a gallagher brother and the butler from the aristocats."

28.12.2024 20:44 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

next up, a close shave: "a clearly socialist critique in which only collective action can foil the machinations of a greedy capitalist villain who exploits workers (the sheep), profits from stolen resources (the wool), and uses destructive technology for personal gain."

28.12.2024 19:09 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

followed by "the wrong trousers" as parable of public investment in innovation perverted by the profit motive.

28.12.2024 18:40 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

christmas with my lot is very different from christmas with the in laws.

example: granny m is currently using a "my first sewing kit" toy as a pedagogical tool for a lesson to her 3 & 6 year old granddaughters on importance of solidarity on Ts & Cs *as well as* wages in collective bargaining.

28.12.2024 18:28 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

a bit archaic, formal and polite, logical and skeptical: thatcher or heseltine.

28.12.2024 12:30 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

fascinating... i wonder which tunes have been used to amp him up?

27.12.2024 10:54 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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a man in a suit and tie is dancing in front of a flag ALT: a man in a suit and tie is dancing in front of a flag

agreed - man's got rhythm in his bone( spur)s.

27.12.2024 08:26 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0