Christopher Smith

@christophersmith.bsky.social

3.9K followers 1.4K following 1K posts

University of St Andrews; Executive Chair, Arts & Humanities Research Council; International Champion and Creative Industries Sector Champion UK Research and Innovation

All views my own, but none of the poetry.

Videos

Christopher John Smith, FRSE, FSA, FRHistS, is a British academic and classicist specialising in early Ancient Rome.

Source: Wikipedia

History 56%

Art 25%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Tim Bale, Christopher Smith, Lesley A. Hall

Jim Dickinson @jimdickinson.bsky.social · 9h

NEW on Wonkhe: Jim Dickinson explores the growing evidence that AI isn't just changing what students produce – it's changing what their brains are ready to do, and asks whether HE can redesign itself around a question it has been avoiding for decades buff.ly/uHtisNU

Reposted by Christopher Smith

Wonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 19h

Last week on Wonkhe: Tony Hickson's review into university-investor links is out and James Coe finds much to like on how culture, capital, and coordination can fuel the economy

The Hickson review on university-investor links makes the case for commercialisation as a team sport

Tony Hickson's review into university-investor links is out and James Coe finds much to like on how culture, capital, and coordination can fuel the economy

buff.ly

Reposted by Susanne Foellmer

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 19h

"an institute dedicated to our physicality would be McGregor’s most ambitious and impactful project yet.. not everyone is a dancer, but everyone has a body. Everyone inhabits the world physically. Everyone needs some form of physical intelligence."

www.newstatesman.com/culture/the-...

Choreographer Wayne McGregor: Art should not fear technology

The Royal Ballet innovator talks about his bold idea for the age of AI: physical intelligence

www.newstatesman.com

Reposted by Christopher Smith, Juan Cole

Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 20h

Rodin’s Egypt reveals the profound influence Egyptian art had on Auguste Rodin’s work and the advent of modernity in European sculpture.

Out now!

Learn more about this richly illustrated book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

#AncientWorld #Art #AugusteRodin
Bénédicte

Rodin’s Egypt, edited by Bénédicte Garnier

Reposted by Charles West, Karin Wulf

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 1d

"a failure to uplift the humanities, not just as critical underpinning for STEM research and technologies, but as essential to every feature of the research enterprise, has been part and parcel of this catastrophe"

@kawulf.bsky.social absolutely 💯 right.

Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 2d

“The problem is that we have accelerated into a consuming and exclusive narrative about science in the national interest.”

Some day I’ll stop sharing my v personal perspective on how devastating humanities has in fact devastated science. Not today.

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/06/26/d...

Did My Father’s World Die with Him? Grieving the Incalculable Costs of “STEM.” - The Scholarly Kitchen

Grieving my father's death feels inextricably tangled with grieving the catastrophe overtaking the whole of our research infrastructure.

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org

Reposted by Christopher Smith, Catriona Seth

Ulla Rajala @ullamr.bsky.social · 1d

I created a PRIVATE Facebook group 'Non-permanent MCRs in Humanities' at www.facebook.com/groups/14504...
This is a temporary measure and aims at carrying out a survey among the MCRs and offering initial peer support and advice while gathering together those with 7+ years from PhD... #MCRNetwork

Fresco from Pompeii with a woman and man with writing equipment

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 1d

perthmuseum.co.uk/inside-the-m...

"I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning... . The bearer of this letter and his companions.. will testify to my conduct at my last hour... a queen who has borne the title Most Christian, and who dies a Catholic, stripped of all her possessions"

The Last Letter of Mary, Queen of Scots

Opening 23 January 2026

perthmuseum.co.uk

Reposted by Dave O’Brien, Christopher Smith, Jack Stilgoe

Richard Jones @richardaljones.bsky.social · 2d

The biggest upheaval in UK science policy since the 1980s is currently underway, with the creation of a much more direct & explicit link between UK government priorities & £9bn/ yr of R&D funded by the agency UKRI

My attempt to explain & set in historical context
softmachines.org?p=3252

UK science policy in transition – Soft Machines, by Richard Jones

softmachines.org

Reposted by Christopher Smith, Charles West

Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 2d

Did My Father’s World Die with Him? Grieving the Incalculable Costs of “STEM.” - The Scholarly Kitchen

Grieving my father's death feels inextricably tangled with grieving the catastrophe overtaking the whole of our research infrastructure.

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org

Reposted by Christopher Smith

School of Advanced Study, University of London @sas-news.bsky.social · 3d

📢 A major new study led by the University of Stirling with an international team including our Dean, Professor Claire Gorrara, has been awarded £1.5m from the AHRC to explore how healthy language-learning cultures are built and sustained across the Celtic nations.

👉 www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Major new study will pave the way for better language learning across the Celtic Nations

A major new study involving the University of London and led by the University of Stirling will explore how healthy language-learning cultures are built and sustained.

www.sas.ac.uk

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 14d

A great historian, and a great friend of @bsrome.bsky.social, passes from us.

David Abulafia 1949-2026

www.cai.cam.ac.uk/news/david-a...

David Abulafia (1949-2026)

Professor David Abulafia CBE has died. He was 76.

www.cai.cam.ac.uk

Reposted by Christopher Smith

University of St Andrews @uniofstandrews.bsky.social · 15d

O Wert Thou In The Cauld Blast by Robert Burns - read by Professor Peter Mackay, Scotland's Makar – our national poet. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Happy #BurnsNight from everyone at the University of St Andrews.

#EverToExcel

Reposted by Christopher Smith, Annette Yoshiko Reed

Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 15d

'The editors of this volume have laid down a challenge, nothing less than the promotion of a new late antiquity: Eurasian Late Antiquity... the continental regions of Eurasia were subject... to forces bringing them together... a “hidden grid” of linkages connecting them.' Averil Cameron, p. 419

Reposted by Christopher Smith, Margot C. Finn

The Mary Rose Museum @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social · 16d

Did you last visit when the ship was covered in ducting and visible through small windows?

Time for a return visit...

maryrose.org/Visit

A view along the lower deck context gallery, with the ship sort-of visible through a smallish window. It's also covered in ducting, which isn't ideal.

The Mary Rose from the lower deck context gallery now, with full views of the ship.

Reposted by Christopher Smith, Holger Nehring, Margot C. Finn

Cambridge University History Faculty @camhistory.bsky.social · 19d

Prof @petermandler.bsky.social will give the James Ford Lectures 2026 @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social

Peter Mandler will chart the spread & use of the language of social science into everyday life in 20th-century Britain.

Thursdays, 5pm
Weeks 1-6 Hilary Term

🔗 www.history.ox.ac.uk/james-ford-l...

The James Ford Lectures in British History

The Language of Social Science in Everyday Life - Peter Mandler (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge)

www.history.ox.ac.uk

Reposted by Dave O’Brien

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 19d

Good news from @ukri.org for creative industries and the cultural economy

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Regions set to benefit from new creative industries funding

Minister Murray encourages regions to bid for funding in next wave of the Creative Clusters programme, which has boosted Liverpool’s music innovation sector

www.gov.uk

Reposted by Christopher Smith

Scottish Poetry Library @byleaveswelive.bsky.social · 20d

Congratulations to Karen Solie on winning the TS Eliot Prize for her most recent collection Wellwater, published by @picadorbooks.bsky.social

Karen Solie teaches for half the year at St Andrews University and lives the rest of her time in Canada. Karen is part of @northseapoets.bsky.social group.

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 27d

Sad news; I worked with John Wallace to establish higher degrees at RSAMD, now the Royal Conservatoire of Music, validated by @uniofstandrews.bsky.social . He was funny, determined and passionate about music and education. RIP.

Royal Philharmonic Society @royalphilsoc.bsky.social · 28d

A great light has gone out. John Wallace – the brilliant musical polymath who did so much for music education, brass music, and music in Scotland – has sadly died. We were so pleased to present him with RPS Honorary Membership (pictured here) last year.

John Wallace (centre) holding his RPS Honorary Membership certificate at a concert by his ensemble, the Wallace Collection, in August 2025.

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 28d

Wonderful to see a shout out to Hay Castle, run by the excellent Tom True, in this super piece.

Reposted by Christopher Smith

Thangam Debbonaire @thangamdebbonaire.bsky.social · 28d

Very much this!

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Art could save your life! Five creative ways to make 2026 happier, healthier and more hopeful

Engaging in creativity can reduce depression, improve immunity and delay ageing – all while you’re having fun

www.theguardian.com

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 28d

Somewhere, in the middle of the song,
people held hands, the hall turned Blue.

Sean Scully

ropac.net/online-exhib...

Sean Scully | Blue

ropac.net

Reposted by Diane Coyle, Dave O’Brien, Christopher Smith , and 1 more Diane Coyle, Dave O’Brien, Christopher Smith, Kate Bradley

Reposted by Christopher Smith

Royal Philharmonic Society @royalphilsoc.bsky.social · 28d

Reposted by Christopher Smith

Thangam Debbonaire @thangamdebbonaire.bsky.social · 28d

Can’t write much about what I’m reading till we’re done on the judging of @womensprize.bsky.social for non fiction - but here’s something I wrote on Substack. The process helped me make sense of how much of my reading, and my life, has been shaped.

open.substack.com/pub/thangamd...

Why I can’t walk past a tiny second-hand bookshop: a romance

The first one set the template for this romance.

open.substack.com

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 29d

Anyone interested in #AI and #libraries should also have a look at the superb and balanced overview published by the Conference of European National Librarians CENL, arising from a meeting @natlibscot.bsky.social
www.cenl.org/artificial-i...

Reposted by Christopher Smith

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 29d

Adoption of artificial intelligence in academic libraries: A systematic review of current practices, challenges, and research opportunities www.sciencedirect.com/science/articl… #AI #libraries

Text Shot: The results showed that the most prominent use of AI in academic libraries is for reference and information services. Furthermore, it was found that 48.28 % (14) of the articles cited Funding as the major institutional challenge to AI adoption in academic libraries. A cluster of studies included in the review emphasized the need for more user-driven research on AI applications in academic libraries. This study reflects the importance of retraining librarians to develop new competencies in managing AI-enhanced communication tools, including chatbot integration and prompt engineering.

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 29d

Robin Lane Fox is spot on. @rbgkew.bsky.social 's work is vital both at Wakehurst and in the Herbarium and Library.

www.ft.com/content/691c...

The Millennium Seed Bank’s restoration quest is more urgent than ever

As its collection rises to nearly 2.5bn, there are signs it is making progress in its ambition to preserve the world’s flora — and restore endangered species

www.ft.com

Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 29d

Well well...

www.ft.com/content/5e25...

@britishacademy.bsky.social @eicathomefinn.bsky.social

How to AI-proof your job

The data suggests soft skills more than quantitative competency equal success in a rapidly changing labour market

www.ft.com

Reposted by Christopher Smith

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · Jan 5

'Limited use of metrics in the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF)’s revamped environment section has raised concerns about how it will be consistently evaluated.'

Or, 'Two men make some comments about SPRE, with a bit of reference to the PCE pilot report released in December 2025.'

‘Inconsistency’ fears after REF retreat on environment metrics

Clear guidance needed on how narrative-based submissions will be graded to avoid accusations that judgements are overly subjective, say experts

www.timeshighereducation.com

Reposted by Christopher Smith, Michael H. Whitworth

Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · Jan 3

A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris, 1907-09, painting by Welsh artist Gwen John.

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