For many academics in the UK, there are increasingly narrow career pathways - teaching only contracts or conducting 'strategic' research. In our latest dispatch, Eva Nanopoulos interrogates how the university's two-tier system reinforces precarity 

The Two-Tier University

f.mtr.cool

Somehow only just come across this PhD thesis, by Tianpeng Zhang, a conceptual history of respublica, familia and ecclesia in Dhuoda's Liber manualis, Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, and Nithard's Histories. Very interesting so far! #medievalsky etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/34...

Offre d’emploi – Une chercheuse ou un chercheur (postdoc) pour le département d’histoire médiévale (h/f/x), Institut historique allemand rmblf.be/2026/08/18/o...

Offre d’emploi – Une chercheuse ou un chercheur (postdoc) pour le département d’histoire médiévale (h/f/x), Institut historique allemand

L’Institut historique allemand (IHA) est un centre de recherche de la fondation publique Max Weber – Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche Institute im Ausland. Nous travaillons sous la devise « Recher…

rmblf.be

Potentially a question medievalists could help with as well.

Darren Naish@tetzoo.bsky.social · 19h ago

Looking for help here from a classical language expert: we named a theropod dinosaur group based on the animal Ceratosuchops ('horned crocodile face'), and went with Ceratosuchopsini. But should it instead be Ceratosuchopini (cf Ceratopsia vs Ceratopia, Gorgonopsia vs Gorgonopia)? Thanks for help.

‘Wheels rapidly falling off university funding system’. “No sign of awareness” at Treasury as international recruitment decline worsens financial outlook, experts warn. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

‘Wheels rapidly falling off university funding system’ - Research Professional News

“No sign of awareness” at Treasury as international recruitment decline worsens financial outlook, experts warn

researchprofessionalnews.com

'A prolonged fall in the number of international students applying to study in the UK means “the wheels are rapidly falling off” the student loan-funded higher education system in England, sector experts have warned.' The world's 2nd best university system being killed by malign neglect. 1/3

Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 2d ago

‘Wheels rapidly falling off university funding system’. “No sign of awareness” at Treasury as international recruitment decline worsens financial outlook, experts warn. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

The UK's university sector is forecasting a big increase in international students to stay solvent. In fact, those numbers are falling rapidly. Perhaps Icarus thought solar power would save him? An almost unwatchable disaster in real time. www.ft.com/content/bf7b...

UK universities offer fee discounts to overseas students in ‘pricing war’

Reductions come as tighter visa rules and fiercer competition add to pressure on already financially strained sector

ft.com

New article exploring the importance of donor relationships for modern archives using the Carcanet Press Email Archive as a case study. Explore the challenges and opportunities presented by digital archives and the potential of new systems and AI models. Open Access here: https://ow.ly/JcZO50ZxntZ

Reposting for the weekend crowd #medievalsky #digitalhumanities

Eddie Meehan@eddiemeehan99.bsky.social · last wk.

Postdoc job alert! Early medieval charters, monastic economics and XML-TEI, starting January 2027. Come join a lovely department @livunihss.bsky.social, brilliant project team with @unituebingen.bsky.social and awesome city! #medievalsky #digitalhumanities www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSO571/p...

This thread is a rant about the piece below, & the one above it (about Cambridge's response) on p. 7 of today's Times. Its final posts are also a concrete proposal of what UK (esp. English) media could do if they cared (they won't) to put better journalism on these topics in place by autumn. 1/10 🧵

Jason Arday was failed by the system — and by me

The academic my sister knew was ‘kind, wise, warm and fun’, if also deeply flawed. The system that overpromoted him should have been the target, not him

thetimes.com

Happy to announce that @livunipress.bsky.social will publish 'Willibrord between Ireland, Britain and Merovingian Francia (690-739)' as a paperback in October. Pre-orders are already open: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.... #MedievalSky

Willibrord between Ireland, Britain and Merovingian Francia (690–739) | Home

Michel Summer is a Postdoctoral researcher and secretary of the Institute for Franconian and Palatine History at Heidelberg University. He received his PhD in Medieval History from Trinity College Dublin in 2021.

liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk

Proofs! Coming to you soon in the Journal of Roman Studies (in full open access)

What you're saying when you say "DEI" when universities say "EDI" (as happens here) and vice versa. And why it actually matters. The great majority of UK (esp. British) universities use "EDI" while US universities use "DEI". Is that "just" semantic, or does it matter? A thread. 🧵1/8

How Jason Arday’s appointment became a reckoning for Cambridge

Resignation of Black professor forces university to examine its approach to diversity, equality and inclusion

ft.com

UK universities face ‘financial crisis’ amid collapse in international students

UK universities face ‘financial crisis’ amid collapse in international students

Higher education figures call on Labour to reverse tax on fees and warn institutions at risk of ‘going under’ University leaders are warning of financial turmoil in British higher education, after new figures suggest a collapse in international student numbers will deprive the sector of vital income and undermine its future. The sector’s leaders called on the government to rethink the levy on international student fees imposed under Keir Starmer, as a former universities minister warned that there was a risk of a university “going under” because of the financial crisis. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

How to Get a Head with 3D Technologies This final section of Who am I to you? explores the curious case of the portrait without a head. An exciting collaboration with Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Scan the World and @artukdotorg.bsky.social helped us put him back together. #OnlineArtExchange

Bit of a long shot, but does anyone here live/work at Tübingen? #tübingen #medievalsky #university

This is a lovely site which helps remind us of much of what we take for granted in material progress ordinaryabundance.com (HT @aveek18.bsky.social)

Ordinary Abundance

A walk through a modern apartment, through the eyes of the people for whom everything in it was new.

ordinaryabundance.com

My university (Manchester Met) is inviting expressions of interest for Leverhulme postdocs. If you have an innovative early modern European and/or public history project to put forward, please get in touch. Deadline for completed EOIs is 9 October.

New book - publication date April 2027 - #booksky #medievalsky

Postdoc job alert! Early medieval charters, monastic economics and XML-TEI, starting January 2027. Come join a lovely department @livunihss.bsky.social, brilliant project team with @unituebingen.bsky.social and awesome city! #medievalsky #digitalhumanities www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSO571/p...

Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Liverpool

An opportunity for an academic position as a Postdoctoral Research Associate is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.

jobs.ac.uk

Surely there is a long German word for that unshakable late-stage anxiety when you’re in final revisions of a publication and suddenly find yourself wondering “did a German orientalist already publish on roughly this same idea 150 years ago?”

The UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association is looking for an Advocacy & Engagement Fellow to help develop its advocacy plan. Fellowship theme: Openness and Transparency £4,000 fellowship + £1,000 project fund Duration: 12 months Deadline: 17 August digitalhumanities-uk-ie.org/2026/07/06/2...

UK-Ireland DH Association@ukiedh.bsky.social · last mo.

📢 Applications are open for the UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association's Advocacy & Engagement Fellowship. Theme: Openness & Transparency 💰 £4,000 stipend + £1,000 project fund 📅 Deadline: 17 August 2026 Link: digitalhumanities-uk-ie.org/2026/07/06/2... #DigitalHumanities #OpenResearch #DH

Very specific question: is there a generally accepted site/place for good maps of historical eras/places? I want to make sure students are understanding that geography matters but don't want to simply scrape wikipedia

We know that oaths were important in early medieval Europe: but what about oaths that crossed a line, that were unacceptable? A translation of an interesting case study, provided, inevitably, by Hincmar of Reims (as part of some work-in-progress). blogs.ed.ac.uk/cwest3/2026/...

How did early medieval nuns at Chelles approach writing the labels for their sacred relics? Like an extension of book production, argues Ana de Oliveira Dias, in her just-published article. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Relics, writing, and devotion in early medieval Chelles

The discovery in 1983 of a collection of relics with their medieval identificatory tags in the parish church of Chelles opened new avenues for research on devotional and writing practices in this Fra...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Very excited to announce that I am co-organising a session with @nick-mayhew.bsky.social on Sexual Violence in the Middle Ages for the International Medieval Congress in 2027. We welcome all proposals dealing with sexual violence in the Middle Ages. See the CFP below. @imc-leeds.bsky.social

'the split between the humanities and sciences remains pronounced, and will be evident when this year’s A-level results are released on Thursday.' 1/3

The Guardian view on the two cultures: bridge the divide, starting with A-levels | Editorial

Editorial: Seventy years after CP Snow warned of estrangement between the sciences and arts, breadth in education should be encouraged

theguardian.com

Anyone interested in early medieval (specifically Carolingian) political thought, kingship and queenship, and/or DH methods for historical questions: I am told my PhD thesis is now open access! livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3191065/ #medievalsky

Today is Farmworker Appreciation Day in the USA. Want to know how farmers (and many other social groups) lived in the early medieval world? Here's a good place to start! www.degruyterbrill.com/de/document/... #medievalsky

We’re launching a major new programme on Humanity, Climate and Nature. We wish to commission discussion papers from researchers/policymakers/practitioners to provide fresh insight into these themes. We’ll pay £2,500 for around 4000 words. Apply by 16 Sept www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/internationa...