Iterated destabilizing modifications for vector bundles with connection
  Given a vector bundle with integrable connection $(V,\nabla)$ on a curve, if $V$ is not itself semistable as a vector bundle then we can iterate a construction involving modification by the destabilizing subobject to obtain a Hodge-like filtration $F^p$ which satisfies Griffiths transversality. The associated graded Higgs bundle is the limit of $(V,t\nabla)$ under the de Rham to Dolbeault degeneration. We get a stratification of the moduli space of connections, with as minimal stratum the space of opers. The strata have fibrations whose fibers are Lagrangian subspaces of the moduli space. 
Carlos T. Simpson (JAD)