David Morgan-Owen
@dmorganowen.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in IR @ St Andrews | Historian of War | next book strategy & seapower in the FWW | own views
Did you recently finish your PhD (or are about to do so) and have an interest in deterrence? Our @forsvarsakademiet.bsky.social colleagues from the Institute for Strategy and War Studies might have a job for you as Assistant Professor candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
Some of the reactions going around to this story surely give a little pause for thought. It is quite obvious that nobody at Exeter would be ‘training’ members of the Saudi armed forces. You’d hardly hire a British academic for that. If this is an ‘educational’ contract, then one might think it a
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · yesterday'The University of Exeter has approved plans for a “formal partnership” with Saudi Arabia to train senior military officers and government officials, despite long-held concerns about the Saudi government’s human rights record, the Guardian has learned.' 1/3
A thread on the dispute at Exeter Uni. #ucu #defendexeteruni @ucu.org.uk On 15 June HR called Exeter UCU into a confidential meeting and informed us they would be putting over 500 colleagues at risk of redundancy and expected to loose around 200 staff. The number of c.150 you’ll have seen is FTE.
Having suffered through Napoleon and now Gladiator 2, it is beyond doubt that Ridley Scott needs to be retired as a matter of urgency
"Framing the First World War," edited by @draefox.bsky.social, @mpmfinch.bsky.social and @dmorganowen.bsky.social, has been awarded the Tomlinson Award from the @ww1ha.bsky.social. Explore "Framing the First World War": https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700640560/ #WarHistory #WWIHistory #UPKansas
Im ignorant of the specifics, but this seems like such a dubious proposition. Some of this work will be sub contracted out (to universities and others) and other parts of it is surely delivered by former civil servants anyway. Why not bring this back in house and/or pay universities?
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 2w agoUK government to pay KPMG and EY up to £456mn to train civil servants ft.trib.al/N1eM6ww
If only the quiet collapse of our universities got as much attention as Jason Arday has. Here’s @gsoh31.bsky.social’s recent piece for Arguably on the “slow, grim dribbling away of one of Britain’s great triumphs and economic advantages”. www.arguably.uk/p/the-quiet-...
The quiet collapse of British universities
One of our great triumphs and economic advantages is fading away
arguably.uk
Of all the decisions we make as citizens, there are few as consequential as those for - or against - war. Good journalism plays an important role in keeping us - as citizen, not just consumers, informed, so this, from an experienced and very talented defence correspondent is important
Mark Urban@markurban.bsky.social · 4w agoI’ve been thinking about the coverage of defence and conflict - who’s stepping up, and who isn’t markurban.substack.com/p/making-sen...
Had some wonderful news yesterday - the WW1 Historical Association awarded Framing the First World War the Norman B. Tomlinson Prize for 2025! Very grateful to our wonderful contributors and their hard work, series editor Bill Allison and the team at @univpressofkansas.bsky.social -
Come join my fabulous department at Barnard College! We are searching for a tenure-track assistant professor in Comparative Politics and/or International Relations. #polisky The link is here: barnard.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Facult...
Assistant Professor of Political Science
If you are a current Barnard College employee, please use the internal career site to apply for this position. Job: Assistant Professor of Political Science Job Description: The Department of Politica...
barnard.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
Terms of reference here: www.gov.wales/review-highe...
Review of higher education in Wales: terms of reference | GOV.WALES
The review of higher education in Wales will make recommendations on the funding and organisation of higher education.
gov.wales
Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 4w agoReview aims to make Welsh research ‘globally competitive’. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
While the University of Exeter redundancy disaster staggers forward, a reminder that this is not about numbers in spreadsheets but people's lives. lizzywilliamson.substack.com/p/on-redunda...
On Redundancy
Four weeks ago, the university that I have been working at for 9 years announced massive, unjustified, reckless job cuts, predominantly targeting the humanities, arts and social sciences.
lizzywilliamson.substack.com
Right, bills weigh me, and the coffers are close to empty. Who needs some research done/archive records copied? I’m excellent and there‘s no project too big or small!
On an episode of Mentioned in Dispatches, editor of "Framing the First World War", @dmorganowen.bsky.social, discusses the concept of “framing” and the lens it offers. Listen now: https://tinyurl.com/mrk2tayr Explore "Framing the First World War": https://tinyurl.com/3w5dpsnc #WWI #UPKansas
I’ll be force feeding my piece down your throats bit by bit for the next few days. This is about why loss of research capability in universities isn’t just a linear bit of market forces but a messy process of universities sometimes doing panicky short term cuts
If you are doing historical research on subjects such as (post-)colonial companies, labour, commodities or infrastructure/transport, consider applying! www.hsozkult.de/event/id/eve...
External Contributions to the Concluding Meeting DFG Network (Post-)Colonial Business History
Since 2024 the DFG Network (Post-)Colonial Business History (https://pcbh.hypotheses.org/) has worked to consolidate this field inbetween the global history of imperial entanglements and business hist...
hsozkult.de
This phase of the British Academy's SHAPE Observatory project focuses on academic staff, analysing trends since 2012/13 to explore how staffing levels vary by subject, region and employment characteristics. The data lag: the 2025-26 redundancies you've been reading about are not yet captured. 1/3
Loss of academic staff and "cold spots" for humanities and social science degrees threaten strategically important skills for UK, says British Academy
A new data map released today shows a sharp and widespread decline in opportunities for university staff in the humanities, social sciences and arts subjects in 2024-25. The data shows a precarious la...
thebritishacademy.ac.uk
‘Thousands of university job cuts in humanities and social sciences are creating widespread cold spots for languages, classics and theology degrees, the British Academy has warned’ www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
theguardian.com
What role do the humanities and social sciences play in tackling today's biggest challenges? The latest issue of the Journal of the British Academy explores climate action, higher education, the future of work, and more through interdisciplinary research. Read now 👉 https://bit.ly/3STRuXx
BBC News - WW1 warship facing 'disastrous' move to scrapyard
WW1 warship HMS President facing 'disastrous' move to scrapyard
HMS President has been moored in Chatham, Kent, since its relocation from London in 2016.
bbc.co.uk
EThOS platform restored! 'Following restoration work, all metadata records previously available on EThOS have now been restored, along with an additional 14,000 records added since the service was taken offline' - more to come https://www.bl.uk/stories/news/ethos-records-restored
EThOS records restored
We are pleased to share that EThOS (E-Theses Online Service) is now available again following restoration work after the cyber-attack.
bl.uk
'The decision to slash funding for creative subjects comes despite the field being named as one of the UK’s “highest potential sectors” in the government’s industrial strategy.' 1/2
Cuts to creative courses ‘undermining government’s own strategy’
Arts institutions warn creative education is becoming increasingly hard to deliver as government slashes funding from September onwards
timeshighereducation.com
Thread that shows very well what the MoD loses by being so purposefully opaque in documents like the DIP - the obfuscation doesn't hide fudging so much as make it very obvious (this time from space!)
Bleddyn Bowen@bleddb.bsky.social · 2mo agoI joined forces with my PhD student Scott Mackie to put together some thoughts on what the Defence Investment Plan means for the UK's military posture in space. @sgiadurham.bsky.social theconversation.com/new-uk-defen...
So it turns out the "contract" teenagers signed for their student loans wasn't actually a contract at all, the government always had the right to retrospectively change the terms, and at no point was this explained to those taking out the loans... www.newstatesman.com/politics/edu...
Government mis-sold student loans to a generation, report finds
A new Treasury Committee report has found that the state did not sufficiently communicate the terms and conditions
newstatesman.com
‘Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said that her organisation agreed with the committee that the costs of undergraduate higher education should be shared more equally between graduates and the state, since both benefited.’ www.thetimes.com/article/11ff...
Scrap freeze on student loan repayment threshold, government told
A cross-party committee of MPs said there was a ‘moral obligation’ to honour the promises made to graduates when they took out the loans
thetimes.com
'The names of 9,909 British Indian Army servicemen are now being added to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) casualty database after they were uncovered by researchers.' 1/2
Forgotten Punjabi WW1 soldiers recognised for first time
Nearly 10,000 soldiers' names are being added to the official database of war dead, a cherised step for many of their ancestors.
bbc.co.uk
‘We urge the Government to prioritise this issue. Should this situation continue unchecked, the damage to the health of higher education, research and innovation will be profound and have long-lasting consequences.’ www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/stateme...
British Academy President: UK higher education crisis risks irreversible damage
As course closures, shrinking provision and widening regional inequalities threaten the future of UK higher education and research, President of the British Academy, Susan J Smith calls for an immedia...
thebritishacademy.ac.uk
Yesterday 142 academic staff at the University of Lincoln were put at risk of redundancy including the entire Politics and International Relations team. This follows cuts since 2024 which have already seen over 500 people leave the university. This is the 'University of No Regrets'.
