Hyacinth Training Consultants

22/07/2026

Over the past few days, the heatwaves across Europe have prompted me to reflect on something much bigger than the weather.

How did we get here?

My latest blog explores the connections between the Industrial Revolution, consumerism, climate change, Artificial Intelligence, war and systems thinking. Rather than looking at these as separate issues, I found myself wondering whether they are all part of one interconnected story—one that challenges us to rethink not only our technologies, but also our responsibilities.

As educators, researchers, business leaders and global citizens, perhaps one of our greatest challenges is learning to think beyond disciplines, industries and national borders.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." — Bahá'u'lláh

It's hot. Not a pleasant, sit-in-the-garden kind of hot; the kind that feels wrong. Europe is sweltering, the UK is bracing, and somewhere between the weather apps and the news cycles, most of us are getting on with our days as if this is just... summer.I keep thinking: how did we get here? More qui...

28/06/2026

The Human Advantage: A Three-Part Series on AI, Attention, Learning, and What It Means to Remain Human- Blog 3
This three-part series began with burnout, moved through the hidden cost of convenience, and ends with hope.
I don't believe the future belongs to humans alone—or to AI alone. I believe it belongs to those who learn to work in partnership, bringing together technology, ethics, spirituality, and lifelong learning.
Before asking what AI should become, perhaps we should first ask what human beings should become.
This final blog is my reflection on that question.

https://www.lubnasid.com/post/towards-a-different-relationship

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Part Three of a Three-Part Series on AI, Education, and the Human Cost of Always Being OnlineAt the end of a series like this one, there is a temptation to offer a checklist. Five ways to use AI responsibly. Ten habits for healthier digital living. Three things universities should do differently. Li...

27/06/2026

The Human Advantage: A Three-Part Series on AI, Attention, Learning, and What It Means to Remain Human- Part 2

What happens when AI doesn't just change how we work—but how we learn?

The conversation about AI in higher education often focuses on detection, plagiarism, and assessment. I believe we're asking the wrong question.

The real issue isn't whether students use AI. It's whether they're still doing the thinking.

In Part Two of my series, I explore what universities risk losing when AI becomes a substitute for learning rather than a partner in it—and why developing critical thinking has never mattered more.

I'd be interested to hear how educators, students, and professionals are navigating this shift.

Part Two of a Three-Part Series on AI, Education, and the Human Cost of Always Being OnlineThere is a moment many academics will recognise. A piece of student work arrives that is technically proficient, well-structured, almost impossible to fault; and entirely hollow. The conventions have all been....

27/06/2026

The Human Advantage: A Three-Part Series on AI, Attention, Learning, and What It Means to Remain Human- Part 1

When did scrolling become our default way of being?

Most of us reach for our phones with a purpose. Minutes later, we've consumed dozens of headlines, opinions, videos, and posts—yet remember very little of what we've seen.

We call it doom scrolling, but it's more than a digital habit. It's changing our attention, our wellbeing, and perhaps even our capacity for deep thought.

As conversations about artificial intelligence continue to dominate our feeds, I found myself asking a different question:

Before we ask what AI is doing to society, should we first ask what our relationship with technology is already doing to us?

This article is the first in a three-part series exploring the human side of our digital lives—from attention and learning to AI-human partnership.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Has your relationship with technology changed over the past few years?

Part One of a Three-Part Series on AI, Education, and the Human Cost of Always Being OnlineThere is a particular kind of tiredness that sleep does not fix. You wake up already braced for something, though you cannot quite name it. Before you have properly arrived in the morning, your hand has found....

20/05/2026

What a visit to a central bank in South Asia taught me about AI anxiety — decades before AI arrivedSome stories sit quietly in memory for years, waiting for the world to catch up with them. This is one of those stories.Long before the words "artificial intelligence" became the defining anxiety of ...

10/05/2026

part 2

Capitalism accelerated individualism. Society moved from “we” to “me.”People are told to prioritise themselves, protect their peace, cut people off, focus on self-care, build personal brands, heal constantly, and optimise every aspect of life. Even suffering has become commercialised. Therap...

10/05/2026

There was a time when society was not built around the individual. It was built around the family, the community, and the collective survival of people who depended on one another. Today, despite all our advances in science, technology, psychology, and wealth, many people feel more disconnected, anx...

13/04/2026

A reflection on the state of international higher education — honest, uncomfortable, necessary.There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes not from overwork, but from caring deeply about something that others treat as a transaction. This past semester brought me to that point. I am writing...

02/04/2026

The past few months have been a period of uncertainty across higher education, shaped by restructuring, funding pressures, and changing immigration policies. This piece reflects on the experience of living in limbo, the emotional weight of staying while others leave, and the broader questions this raises about the future of the sector.

17/02/2026

Yesterday’s International Employment Law class didn’t end where it began.

We started with tribunal cases, discrimination law, and the logic of the Equality Act. But the moment I showed news reports from the UK and Australia — airline discrimination, international students breaching work‑hour limits, young workers being paid less for identical work — the room shifted.

My students didn’t just analyse the stories.
They recognised themselves in them.

They spoke about cash‑based work, pressure to exceed visa limits, below‑minimum wages, and the fear of being reported if they refuse. One even joked about paying someone to do assignments because exhaustion leaves no other option. The laughter was real — but so was the fatigue underneath it.

What stayed with me wasn’t the law.
It was the gap between what the law promises and what students actually experience.

That gap isn’t theoretical.
It’s global.
And it demands empathy.

Beginning With the LawYesterday I was teaching International Employment Law. To introduce discrimination and the Equality Act 2010 — and to compare UK and international contexts — I drew on my Australian experience and used news reports from both countries. We began with tribunal cases, legal de...