Christopher Smith
@christophersmith.bsky.social
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.
All views my own, but none of the poetry.
Another week, another new thing at Orkney Library & Archive! 🛠️
Libraries are not just about books and this week we're launching our loanable TOOL collection! 🔧
We have 3 different toolkits available and we'll be adding more items very soon. 🪛
#GreenLibraries #LoveLibraries
Libraries are not just about books and this week we're launching our loanable TOOL collection! 🔧
We have 3 different toolkits available and we'll be adding more items very soon. 🪛
#GreenLibraries #LoveLibraries
November 6, 2025 at 7:56 PM
It's always sad to see a church sold, but maybe this piece will encourage a few new readers of A Scots Quair
@asls.org.uk
www.bbc.com/news/article...
@asls.org.uk
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Sunset Song: Church that inspired Grassic Gibbon novel up for sale
Arbuthnott Church inspired Lewis Grassic Gibbon and is for sale for offers over £45,000.
www.bbc.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:42 PM
It's always sad to see a church sold, but maybe this piece will encourage a few new readers of A Scots Quair
@asls.org.uk
www.bbc.com/news/article...
@asls.org.uk
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Christopher Smith
"I don’t think it’s much of an exaggeration to say that societies are defined by their libraries — by what we hold, what we lend, what we borrow and return, the knowledge we create, the values we defend" placesjournal.org/article/extr...
Extralibrary Loan: Making the Civic Infrastructure We Need
Amid a war on public knowledge, libraries are pushing outward, enlarging the commons through new configurations of civic and creative life.
placesjournal.org
November 3, 2025 at 9:12 AM
"I don’t think it’s much of an exaggeration to say that societies are defined by their libraries — by what we hold, what we lend, what we borrow and return, the knowledge we create, the values we defend" placesjournal.org/article/extr...
amid fascinating work on 12th c. developments in Chinese & Japanese poetic exegesis, there's a really clever suggestion here on the future of #philology
THE WIND THAT MELTS THE ICE: REFLECTIONS ON THE SCALE OF PHILOLOGY - Lurie - @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
THE WIND THAT MELTS THE ICE: REFLECTIONS ON THE SCALE OF PHILOLOGY - Lurie - @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
THE WIND THAT MELTS THE ICE: REFLECTIONS ON THE SCALE OF PHILOLOGY
The global history of philology, like that of writing systems and other technologies, is characterized by diffusion and adaptation. These processes are made more difficult to grasp if we maintain a p...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:32 AM
amid fascinating work on 12th c. developments in Chinese & Japanese poetic exegesis, there's a really clever suggestion here on the future of #philology
THE WIND THAT MELTS THE ICE: REFLECTIONS ON THE SCALE OF PHILOLOGY - Lurie - @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
THE WIND THAT MELTS THE ICE: REFLECTIONS ON THE SCALE OF PHILOLOGY - Lurie - @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Christopher Smith
Nice little report on high performance research culture at an extremely productive chemistry lab churning out major discoveries. Mentions
Hideki Yukawa - an underappreciated figure outside Japan
Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Susumu Kitagawa research mindset | - share.google/MS39nXGW1vHS...
Hideki Yukawa - an underappreciated figure outside Japan
Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Susumu Kitagawa research mindset | - share.google/MS39nXGW1vHS...
Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Susumu Kitagawa reveals Japanese research mindset: 'Don’t switch off the light, even…' | - The Times of India
Science News: Professor Susumu Kitagawa, the 2025 Chemistry Nobel laureate, attributes his groundbreaking work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to a Japanese rese
share.google
November 2, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Nice little report on high performance research culture at an extremely productive chemistry lab churning out major discoveries. Mentions
Hideki Yukawa - an underappreciated figure outside Japan
Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Susumu Kitagawa research mindset | - share.google/MS39nXGW1vHS...
Hideki Yukawa - an underappreciated figure outside Japan
Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Susumu Kitagawa research mindset | - share.google/MS39nXGW1vHS...
and something else was with me in the dark
spirits were in the land, but
no one's ghost
for, had they been there,
out behind the yards,
I would have seen them in their
gloves and scarves
dusted with moonshine and frost
for the Great Beyond
John Burnside for #Halloween
spirits were in the land, but
no one's ghost
for, had they been there,
out behind the yards,
I would have seen them in their
gloves and scarves
dusted with moonshine and frost
for the Great Beyond
John Burnside for #Halloween
October 31, 2025 at 9:37 PM
and something else was with me in the dark
spirits were in the land, but
no one's ghost
for, had they been there,
out behind the yards,
I would have seen them in their
gloves and scarves
dusted with moonshine and frost
for the Great Beyond
John Burnside for #Halloween
spirits were in the land, but
no one's ghost
for, had they been there,
out behind the yards,
I would have seen them in their
gloves and scarves
dusted with moonshine and frost
for the Great Beyond
John Burnside for #Halloween
Reposted by Christopher Smith
I have been thinking a lot about what the future of libraries could be in an algorithmic economy. A real pleasure to share these thoughts and provocations through the fantastic Katina Magazine. Let me know what you think?
katinamagazine.org/content/arti...
#Libraries #FutureofWork #FutureLibrary
katinamagazine.org/content/arti...
#Libraries #FutureofWork #FutureLibrary
Imagining the Future Library
In an algorithmic economy, our understanding of knowledge is changing. Libraries must change too.
katinamagazine.org
October 31, 2025 at 5:33 AM
I have been thinking a lot about what the future of libraries could be in an algorithmic economy. A real pleasure to share these thoughts and provocations through the fantastic Katina Magazine. Let me know what you think?
katinamagazine.org/content/arti...
#Libraries #FutureofWork #FutureLibrary
katinamagazine.org/content/arti...
#Libraries #FutureofWork #FutureLibrary
Reposted by Christopher Smith
We're proud to officially launch ResearchPlus in Parliament today 🎉
ResearchPlus is a collaboration between 10 research focussed unis with a common goal – to advance economic growth, prosperity, and societal wellbeing.
https://researchplus.ac.uk/new-collaborative-of-research-focused-universities/
ResearchPlus is a collaboration between 10 research focussed unis with a common goal – to advance economic growth, prosperity, and societal wellbeing.
https://researchplus.ac.uk/new-collaborative-of-research-focused-universities/
October 28, 2025 at 5:30 PM
We're proud to officially launch ResearchPlus in Parliament today 🎉
ResearchPlus is a collaboration between 10 research focussed unis with a common goal – to advance economic growth, prosperity, and societal wellbeing.
https://researchplus.ac.uk/new-collaborative-of-research-focused-universities/
ResearchPlus is a collaboration between 10 research focussed unis with a common goal – to advance economic growth, prosperity, and societal wellbeing.
https://researchplus.ac.uk/new-collaborative-of-research-focused-universities/
Reposted by Christopher Smith
We are proud to have officially launched ResearchPlus (@researchplusunis.bsky.social) in Parliament, today 🎉
ResearchPlus is a new collaboration between ten long established and highly regarded research focussed universities, of which we are one.
Learn more: ow.ly/R9i050XjfgX
ResearchPlus is a new collaboration between ten long established and highly regarded research focussed universities, of which we are one.
Learn more: ow.ly/R9i050XjfgX
October 28, 2025 at 5:41 PM
We are proud to have officially launched ResearchPlus (@researchplusunis.bsky.social) in Parliament, today 🎉
ResearchPlus is a new collaboration between ten long established and highly regarded research focussed universities, of which we are one.
Learn more: ow.ly/R9i050XjfgX
ResearchPlus is a new collaboration between ten long established and highly regarded research focussed universities, of which we are one.
Learn more: ow.ly/R9i050XjfgX
Reposted by Christopher Smith
"Since the war [in Ukraine] started we are asking everyone to pull away from Russia, but we forget how may decades Russia has invested in their economy, education and society."
@andihoxhaj.bsky.social on challenging Russian influence in the Western Balkans.
Watch in full ➡️ bit.ly/4qkZnS0
@andihoxhaj.bsky.social on challenging Russian influence in the Western Balkans.
Watch in full ➡️ bit.ly/4qkZnS0
October 29, 2025 at 5:15 PM
"Since the war [in Ukraine] started we are asking everyone to pull away from Russia, but we forget how may decades Russia has invested in their economy, education and society."
@andihoxhaj.bsky.social on challenging Russian influence in the Western Balkans.
Watch in full ➡️ bit.ly/4qkZnS0
@andihoxhaj.bsky.social on challenging Russian influence in the Western Balkans.
Watch in full ➡️ bit.ly/4qkZnS0
Reposted by Christopher Smith
Which is why, amid all this talk of economic growth, it is the TYPE of growth - its sustainability, its resilience, and above all its distribution - that matters.
🚨NEW REPORT: The Climate Inequality Report 2025 reveals how wealth inequality and the climate crisis drive each other.
What's new in the report? — A thread🧵
Download the report▶️ wid.world/news-article...
#cop30 #climatejustice #inequality
What's new in the report? — A thread🧵
Download the report▶️ wid.world/news-article...
#cop30 #climatejustice #inequality
Climate inequality report 2025 | Climate Change: A Capital Challenge - Why Climate Policy Must Tackle Ownership - WID - World Inequality Database
This new report reveals how wealth drive the climate crisis, and proposes new policy options to address it.
wid.world
October 29, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Which is why, amid all this talk of economic growth, it is the TYPE of growth - its sustainability, its resilience, and above all its distribution - that matters.
Reposted by Christopher Smith
R. S. Thomas, ‘The Bright Field’, from Laboratories of the Spirit (1975) #NationalPoetryDay
October 2, 2025 at 3:39 PM
R. S. Thomas, ‘The Bright Field’, from Laboratories of the Spirit (1975) #NationalPoetryDay
Reposted by Christopher Smith
We are immensely saddened by news of the death of Tony Harrison, aged 88, who had been unwell for some years. A tribute has been published on our website.
www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?article...
www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?article...
September 27, 2025 at 6:18 PM
We are immensely saddened by news of the death of Tony Harrison, aged 88, who had been unwell for some years. A tribute has been published on our website.
www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?article...
www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?article...
💯right!!!!
Incidentally, and following up some posts yesterday, can we get away from universities v manufacturing, as the assumed choice? Both, and lots more, as part of a modern mixed economy. This shouldn't need to be so difficult, stop being dragged down by the culture war. bsky.app/profile/davi...
Oh great, just reading that a key part of Labour's next relaunch will be "reindustrialisation". Because the manufacturing fetish has worked so well elsewhere.
Demonstrate you don't understand a modern economy in one easy step.
Demonstrate you don't understand a modern economy in one easy step.
September 22, 2025 at 7:17 AM
💯right!!!!
Reposted by Christopher Smith
So I’ve begun a Substack where I keep detailed reading notes on #Schattenfroh, a new novel from #DeepVellum claimed by some to be a masterpiece (I tend to agree so far). Read or spread it around, if you can. I’m working hard on this.
open.substack.com/pub/schatten...
open.substack.com/pub/schatten...
Reading Schattenfroh, Pg. 19
(Note: I have decided to forgo further preliminary writings and dive into my commentary directly.
open.substack.com
September 20, 2025 at 3:23 PM
So I’ve begun a Substack where I keep detailed reading notes on #Schattenfroh, a new novel from #DeepVellum claimed by some to be a masterpiece (I tend to agree so far). Read or spread it around, if you can. I’m working hard on this.
open.substack.com/pub/schatten...
open.substack.com/pub/schatten...
Reposted by Christopher Smith
Sorry, but disagree with @hausfath.bsky.social here. You open Pandora's box, you ain't closing it again. We've already seen with Paris that well intentioned international agreements do not translate into physical reality and SRM governance is a much harder problem. Zero is the only safe level. /1
I have a new @nytimes.com guest essay w/ @davidkeith.bsky.social about sunlight reflection. We note its not a solution for climate change and at best a band aid to treat systems, and suggest if its ever done it should only be to replace the cooling from air pollution today:
Opinion | A Responsible Way to Cool the Planet
A small, carefully scaled geoengineering program could compensate for the loss of cooling as we eliminate sulfur pollution.
www.nytimes.com
September 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Sorry, but disagree with @hausfath.bsky.social here. You open Pandora's box, you ain't closing it again. We've already seen with Paris that well intentioned international agreements do not translate into physical reality and SRM governance is a much harder problem. Zero is the only safe level. /1
Reposted by Christopher Smith
Every so often I find seven short poems from new books in my reading pile and put them together with the idea that people might like to read one a day over the week (binge reading is also fine, of course). Here's the latest selection:
Pinks #36: A Box of Leaves
A week of poems from books I'm enjoying
someflowerssoon.substack.com
September 21, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Every so often I find seven short poems from new books in my reading pile and put them together with the idea that people might like to read one a day over the week (binge reading is also fine, of course). Here's the latest selection:
“I think [economists] have mathematics envy... They just want to prove theorems. That’s my main peeve about economists. They seem more interested in solving logical problems and aesthetic puzzles rather than a deep desire to understand what the real driving forces are.”
@financialtimes.com
@financialtimes.com
Investor Jean-Philippe Bouchaud: ‘The whole bull run is because of an influx of money’ on.ft.com/4pwbmM0
Investor Jean-Philippe Bouchaud: ‘The whole bull run is because of an influx of money’
The physicist and hedge fund manager on why the efficient markets theory is ‘all wrong’, economists with ‘mathematics envy’ — and what Camus can teach us about compromise
on.ft.com
September 21, 2025 at 1:17 PM
“I think [economists] have mathematics envy... They just want to prove theorems. That’s my main peeve about economists. They seem more interested in solving logical problems and aesthetic puzzles rather than a deep desire to understand what the real driving forces are.”
@financialtimes.com
@financialtimes.com
Reposted by Christopher Smith
Acclaimed historian and novelist Marina Warner’s latest book, Sanctuary, is a rich exploration of what it means to make space for the “arrivant”, writes Franklin Nelson.
Marina Warner: ‘I wouldn’t dare write Indigo now’
The historian on her new book, asylum protests, and the culture wars
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
September 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Acclaimed historian and novelist Marina Warner’s latest book, Sanctuary, is a rich exploration of what it means to make space for the “arrivant”, writes Franklin Nelson.
Reposted by Christopher Smith
Impassioned plea for more mixed-methods research (quant & qual) from @timharford.ft.com
"The hard data is never as eloquent as a good story. Humboldt would measure the cactus but also sketch it; drag his barometer up a volcano, but spin a yarn about the epic climb."
www.ft.com/content/d419...
"The hard data is never as eloquent as a good story. Humboldt would measure the cactus but also sketch it; drag his barometer up a volcano, but spin a yarn about the epic climb."
www.ft.com/content/d419...
The UK’s problems aren’t caused by immigration
It’s not hard to see how so many came to worry about the issue. But the data isn’t there
www.ft.com
September 18, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Impassioned plea for more mixed-methods research (quant & qual) from @timharford.ft.com
"The hard data is never as eloquent as a good story. Humboldt would measure the cactus but also sketch it; drag his barometer up a volcano, but spin a yarn about the epic climb."
www.ft.com/content/d419...
"The hard data is never as eloquent as a good story. Humboldt would measure the cactus but also sketch it; drag his barometer up a volcano, but spin a yarn about the epic climb."
www.ft.com/content/d419...
Reposted by Christopher Smith
This is a time of extraordinary geopolitical change & uncertainty, shaping and being shaped by rapid technological change, w/ major shifts in data&AI deployment, capabilities & markets
This risks undoing a period of slow but meaningful steps towards ensuring data and AI work for public benefit.
This risks undoing a period of slow but meaningful steps towards ensuring data and AI work for public benefit.
September 17, 2025 at 8:01 PM
This is a time of extraordinary geopolitical change & uncertainty, shaping and being shaped by rapid technological change, w/ major shifts in data&AI deployment, capabilities & markets
This risks undoing a period of slow but meaningful steps towards ensuring data and AI work for public benefit.
This risks undoing a period of slow but meaningful steps towards ensuring data and AI work for public benefit.
Reposted by Christopher Smith
Nice to see my talk at World Design Congress quoted in this roundup.
“The challenge is that we have to work at two speeds simultaneously: with immediate urgency, and with the vision to begin the slow project of reimagining our relationship with the living world”
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/16/w...
“The challenge is that we have to work at two speeds simultaneously: with immediate urgency, and with the vision to begin the slow project of reimagining our relationship with the living world”
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/16/w...
Six key messages from the World Design Congress
The World Design Congress saw the world's leading designers gather to discuss the planet's future. Here we pick the most prominent themes from the event.
www.dezeen.com
September 16, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Nice to see my talk at World Design Congress quoted in this roundup.
“The challenge is that we have to work at two speeds simultaneously: with immediate urgency, and with the vision to begin the slow project of reimagining our relationship with the living world”
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/16/w...
“The challenge is that we have to work at two speeds simultaneously: with immediate urgency, and with the vision to begin the slow project of reimagining our relationship with the living world”
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/16/w...
"There is no point growing the economy if it is not done sustainably and with regeneration at its heart"
#design
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/16/w...
#design
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/16/w...
Six key messages from the World Design Congress
The World Design Congress saw the world's leading designers gather to discuss the planet's future. Here we pick the most prominent themes from the event.
www.dezeen.com
September 16, 2025 at 2:11 PM
"There is no point growing the economy if it is not done sustainably and with regeneration at its heart"
#design
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/16/w...
#design
www.dezeen.com/2025/09/16/w...
Robert Redford, 1936-2025
September 16, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Robert Redford, 1936-2025