Newcastle University appointed the heir to India's largest oil and gas fortune as their new professor of sustainability

[skinnylatte@hachyderm.io]

Newcastle University appointed the heir to India's largest oil and gas fortune as their new professor of sustainability

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/sep/24/indian-oil-gas-heir-professor-sustainability-newcastle-university-anant-ambani

[msfjarvis@fantastic.earth]

@skinnylatte what the fuck?

[bashstkid@mastodon.online]

@skinnylatte “Did you check his qualifications?”
“Oh yes, all five million of them”

Doubly insulting that the same Indian oil and coal interests that are blocking climate research in Nepal, and refusing to fund any of the Nepalese disaster management, are keen to spend money on themselves.

I presume that means all the more prestigious Indian universities turned him down, while the UK ran in with its tongue hanging out.

[amt@hachyderm.io]

@skinnylatte I wonder about the price that they sold it for. But this is not surprising, most educational institutions are businesses under the hood. Education is one of the most profitable sectors in India.

[orsinium@fosstodon.org]

@skinnylatte

is this The Onion?

[msbellows@c.im]

@msfjarvis @skinnylatte I'm guessing it's not a coincidence that Newcastle is so famous for its carbon fuel industry that it gave rise to the phrase "carrying coals to Newcastle," meaning to do something pointless.

Coals to Newcastle - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coals_to_Newcastle

[anniebuddy@thecanadian.social]

@skinnylatte

Any chance he is a rebel?

[alterelefant@mastodontech.de]

@skinnylatte
Handing a 'sustain ability' to the oil and gas industry. They manoeuvre themselves in positions where they can keep polluting Earth.

[oscarfalcon@mastodon.social]

@skinnylatte

So there's only idiots in English academia I see...

[drolltide@mastodon.social]

@skinnylatte Every corrupt institution wants to go farther through the looking glass than the one before in the race to the bottom.

[allanb@mastodon.social]

@skinnylatte meanwhile... in the UK...

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@skinnylatte

The people writing satire have tough competition

[geonz@mathstodon.xyz]

@skinnylatte taking lessons from the US, eh? Sabotage by appointment.

[medeavanamonde@beige.party]

@skinnylatte @JessTheUnstill

Wow.
Just wow.

[skinnylatte@hachyderm.io]

@AnnieBuddy zero. he also runs a shady zoo

[skinnylatte@hachyderm.io]

@geonz i would say the british started doing ethical compromises first, with colonialism

[geonz@mathstodon.xyz]

@skinnylatte but would these folks look back that far?

[christianp@mathstodon.xyz]

@geonz @skinnylatte very much so. The empire is fresh in our minds.
The biggest statue on campus is of Lord Armstrong, who made his money in the 19th century selling the guns used to expand the empire. The University was originally called Armstrong College and we still have an Armstrong building.
The college was founded with a gift from Leopold II of Belgium, who killed millions of people in the Congo.