Small workshops where people get to know each other and learn from each other are magic ✨ This "Environmental Histories of #Plastics" event held @northumbriauni.bsky.social was made possible by a @britishacademy.bsky.social @leverhulme.ac.uk small grant 🙏 🩷 Truly makes a difference for ECRs/PGRs

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib.bsky.social · 3w ago

Had an energizing time workshopping papers on #envhist of #plastics for a special issue w/ @elsadevienne.bsky.social Jess Varner, Yaxi Liu, Etienne Dufour @luciletruffy.bsky.social from my desk at the @hagleycenter.bsky.social today Big thanks to Elsa for convening us at @northumbriauni.bsky.social

Had an energizing time workshopping papers on #envhist of #plastics for a special issue w/ @elsadevienne.bsky.social Jess Varner, Yaxi Liu, Etienne Dufour @luciletruffy.bsky.social from my desk at the @hagleycenter.bsky.social today Big thanks to Elsa for convening us at @northumbriauni.bsky.social

The UK has now said it will actively harm or damage: *Chemistry *Nursing *High-end physics *Languages *Astronomy *Creative arts *Theatre and performance *Cultural industries *Europe-level science The UK has lost its mind. 🇬🇧

'The summer World Cup will end before the British academic year does.' 🤣 from @isrfoundation.bsky.social's director's note

I'm looking for some extra work this summer so if anyone has anything - e.g. remote research (especially London archives or Cambridge area), transcription, editing, proofing, etc, or knows of anyone looking, then feel free to let me know!

🚒 In the midst of all this (gestures at Humanities on fire across the UK), H-Environment published a roundtable on my book SAND RUSH! ❤️ I loved reading the reviews & responding to them @h-net-humanities.bsky.social 👀 Sneak peek (featuring Baywatch 🏄‍♀️) networks.h-net.org/sites/defaul...

Elsa Devienne @elsadevienne.bsky.social · last mo.

📣 People are understandably up in the arms about this (it is horrible). But just want to wave a hand out there 👋 as we're going through the same thing in Humanities at Northumbria (1 out of 5 staff need to go by end of July). 1/?

📣 People are understandably up in the arms about this (it is horrible). But just want to wave a hand out there 👋 as we're going through the same thing in Humanities at Northumbria (1 out of 5 staff need to go by end of July). 1/?

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last mo.

'About 150 academic roles are set to go at the south-west institution, which said it was targeting areas that are “no longer sustainable” or have seen changes in student demand.' History and English are name-checked. 1/3

Exeter, Hertfordshire, & Northumbria: all after marks in & before the end of the financial year. We NEED someone to give a shit about #UKHE, @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social. All VCs care about are covenants; their shorttermist fragmented cuts accumulate to the UK losing a sector it can't afford losing.

Ben Phillips@benphillips1989.bsky.social · last mo.

A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.

'About 150 academic roles are set to go at the south-west institution, which said it was targeting areas that are “no longer sustainable” or have seen changes in student demand.' History and English are name-checked. 1/3

University of Exeter cuts an ‘existential threat to humanities’

Russell Group institution cites changing student demand as it puts 500 staff at risk of redundancy, with 150 jobs set to go

timeshighereducation.com

If you asked me, off the top of my head, to name a non-Oxbridge university in England synonymous with excellence in the Humanities - I would probably think of Exeter first. This feels like a very deliberate, targeted and ideological Bonfire of the Humanities

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last mo.

'About 150 academic roles are set to go at the south-west institution, which said it was targeting areas that are “no longer sustainable” or have seen changes in student demand.' History and English are name-checked. 1/3

And many institutions have failed to increase teaching and physical capacity along with this. So you have staff being responsible for vastly increased numbers of students, all crammed into lecture theatres, and neither group getting what they deserve.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3mo ago

'History provides a stark example for 2024-25: a 6 per cent increase in the Russell Group and a 5 per cent fall elsewhere. Since 2011-12, history enrolments have risen by 4 percent, but dropped 52 per cent in pre-92 institutions and 58 per cent in post-92 and alternative providers.' 3/4

Every single member of the History Department at Uni of Nottingham is at risk of redundancy. Every single one of us.

Knowledge & understanding grow in university settings when experts disagree with each other, testing each others' claims, adducing different evidence & positing alternative scenarios. That's how change happens. In this thread, I suggest that we take a different approach to that featured here. 1/x

What’s the future for our universities?

isrf.org

Oh yes, this happened last week!

American Studies @ Northumbria@nuamstudies.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Many congratulations to our colleague @elsadevienne.bsky.social who received her British citizenship in a ceremony in Manchester last week! (approved by King Charles and Noel Gallagher) 🎉 📃🍾 🥂

Life is actually pretty simple

I emerge, out of nowhere, to tell all my (currently 0) followers that I HAVE PUBLISHED A BOOK! It's beautiful, it's amazing, and I love it! It's called Abnormal Peripheries and it's about performance in the former Czechoslovakia that emerged under political pressures. GO READ IT and share this post

"llms can write social science articles better than professors now" BITCH I DONT CARE. i literally do not care because the point of people having fucking thoughts and doing research is PEOPLE HAVING THOUGHTS AND DOING RESEARCH. the point of the work is DOING THE FUCKING WORK.

new Mary Oliver poem just dropped

m. r. sauter@oddletters.bsky.social · 5mo ago

you do not have to give up your job to AI. you simply do not have to lie facedown in that puddle on the ground and drown. what the fuck is wrong with you.

Unless those Americans are Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo ago

Hegseth: "If you kill Americans, if you threaten Americans anywhere on earth, we will hunt you down without apology and without hesitate and we will kill you"

Matt Goodwin, a man so personally repellant he reversed the creeping wave of fascism sweeping the globe.

Can you believe I got approved for naturalisation *yesterday*, the day before the by-election in my constituency of Gorton/Denton!? 😿

Vote Hannah Spencer tomorrow ! @mcrgreenparty.bsky.social

Five observations following from this experience: 1. There's so much at stake. I saw more Green than Reform signs up around Gorton & Denton, but the undecided voters I met reminded me that this is no sure thing. This by-election feels like a weathervane for the country as a whole.

John Munro@johnmunro.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Sounds like a good enough reason to make my way to G&D to help out. And thanks for arranging this weather for it!

📆 Reminder that @officialbaas.bsky.social is holding an online roundtable next Fri 27 Feb on *Teaching Sustainability in American Studies* 👭 With S. Palmer (NottinghamTrent), R. Hermann (Cardiff), D. McLaughlin (UEA), yours truly+chaired by F. Hines ✏️ Register at us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

The number of academics working in UK institutions has fallen for the first time on record, new figures reveal. Patrick Jack reports #EduSky #AcademicSky https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/number-academics-working-uk-falls-first-time

Number of academics working in the UK falls for first time

Some universities reduce staff teams by more than a fifth after year of cutbacks and job losses, new data show

timeshighereducation.com

'At a moment when your government is rounding people up and building camps to concentrate them — and you know *everyone in the world knows it* — some ambivalence when you’re at an international competition is not just understandable but unavoidable." — @paulwaldman.bsky.social

Yeah, US Olympians are woke. Deal with it.

Sports have always been political — it's just a question of who's speaking out.

publicnotice.co

I just wrote a @ lowtrafficfuture.bsky.social letter: Demand a Better Plan for a Greater Manchester!. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/dema...

Low Traffic Future (@lowtrafficfuture.bsky.social)

Our vision is a world with clean air, safe streets, vibrant communities, a stable climate and healthy natural environment for future generations. Join us at http://lowtrafficfuture.org.uk

lowtrafficfuture.bsky.social

Happy #ValentinesDay! We've been doing some crafting 😍 . If you love your lungs, and are interested to know how dirty air affects them, then come along to our introduction to #AirPollution session on Tuesday 24th Feb at 8:15pm. Book your free spot here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/introducti...