Morwenna Ludlow
@morwennaexe.bsky.social
Professor of Early Christian History at the University of Exeter; Canon Theologian at Exeter Cathedral. Crafter of prose, cushions and woolly socks. I lift my eyes to the hills.
'“We don’t have that picture at the moment—the government doesn’t really understand where research capability lies.” Last month, the British Academy again urged the government to commission a comprehensive review of higher education and research.' 3/3
Rise of teaching only contracts has reshaped the UK's academic workforce
thebritishacademy.ac.uk
'A contraction in the higher education sector is inevitable, Johnson said, due to “an unsustainable funding model for domestic teaching and a reduction in international student recruitment”. This will see universities become “smaller and doing less”.' 2/3
'Ben Johnson, co-director of...Science Works and a former government science adviser, told Research Professional News the government must understand how and where the sector is contracting or risk losing pockets of research capability.' That horse is already exiting the stable. 1/3
Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 12h agoGovernment ‘doesn’t know where research capability lies’. Contractions in the university sector need to be understood, former government science adviser says. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
This should being done across the four nations as a coherent review. I understand it is in part a devolved issue, but they would be real strength right now in a UK wide review bringing together departments responsible for both teaching and research. www.walesonline.co.uk/news/educati...
Major review of universities in Wales announced after years of cuts
The Welsh Government will look at university funding and organisation as bosses face a black hole of almost £100m
walesonline.co.uk
Of the confirmed VR and compulsory departures so far, I can say that we won’t have specialists in these areas any more: Medieval literature Drama Shakespeare and the Renaissance Victorian literature and culture Modernism Novel writing. Computational linguistics. What could possibly go wrong?
Definitely the case here. In two weeks we find which 9 of 12 in my group will be gone. The other 3 will then have a month to prepare and find hourly-paid replacements for all the classes across two degrees. And supervise 25 PhDs. Plus admin and pastoral care and research. Management doesn’t care.
Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 3d agoIf you're arriving at uni this autumn, or maybe dropping your kids, remember that there could be a ghostly phalanx of absent redundant staff, lost modules and degraded degrees making it a very unhappy place. It may *look* the same, but it won't *be* the same. www.ft.com/content/e5b0...
She had significant political influence during the rule of her husband and then of her son, Lorenzo. She worked to support the needs of the poor, and was also a patron of the arts, as well as being a writer of poems and plays herself.
Connected by birth to two of the most powerful families in 15th-century Italy, she later married Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, connecting herself to another of the most powerful families in Italy and extending her own power and influence.
Lucrezia Tornabuoni (1427- 1482) was an Italian writer and influential political adviser. #CelebratingWomen
Between the 1970s and 1990s the UK state made a strategic bet to expand Higher Ed. They poured in untold billions of your money. Now it's been handed over to private creditors to burn in a furnace. Then they just laugh at you: at all the taxes you've ever paid or will ever pay. True story. (2/2)
Not only that but *the entire Humanities offering at Hertfordshire has gone and is being taught out*
Cordelia Beattie@cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 3d agoI see some people are reading this post as being about Exeter but it’s referring to the University of Hertfordshire. And that’s Owen’s point. Less coverage about the axe falling there but it’s equally sad.
I see some people are reading this post as being about Exeter but it’s referring to the University of Hertfordshire. And that’s Owen’s point. Less coverage about the axe falling there but it’s equally sad.
Owen Davies@odavies9.bsky.social · 4d agoSo a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.
So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.
Ignore the Russell Group-fixated headline. The universities with the largest declines are: Lincoln Bishop (down 51.4%), University for the Creative Arts (down 50.5%), Norwich University of the Arts (-40.4%), Falmouth University (-35.1%) and Goldsmiths, University of London (-30.0%). 1/2
Russell Group universities take £10m teaching grant hit - Research Professional News
Funding allocations confirm impact of £51m cut to Strategic Priorities Grant
researchprofessionalnews.com
Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.
Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says
LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance
ft.com
I never thought that I would have to write this piece about my university. But after weeks of demonstrating privately to senior managers that their case is based on a false prospectus, that their data are inaccurate and their claims misleading, there was little choice. substack.com/@lucasamin/n...
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
substack.com
‘The financial data and/or strategic rationale are the starting/reference point from which we are proposing these changes.’ Folks, this is a genuine sentence, on which 153 academic jobs hang. #DefendExeterUni
🚨 KEY DATES FOR THE POSTAL BALLOT 🚨 Jot them down, add them to your Google calendars, write them in flames a mile high (for any Senior Management reading this, that's a joke 😇)
Wonderful news — congratulations!! What inspiring collaborative creativity! (But aren’t you already an icon? 😉)
Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · 5d ago🎉 🥳 🏅 🎵 📜 🗃️ Chris Hoban and I are absolutely delighted that our collaboration has received an Honorary Mention as 'Cultural Knowledge Exchange Project of the Year' in the inaugural National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange (NCACE) Future Icons awards. 1/
#CfA 📢 Postdoctoral fellowships, Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts (2027–2030) 📆2027-2030 | 🏫 Princeton University (USA) ⏰ Application deadline: 4 August 2026 🔗 sf.princeton.edu/about-us/new... #Postdoc #AcademicJobs #Humanities #SocialSciences
2026 Call for Applications
The Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, an interdisciplinary group of scholars in the humanities and social sciences, invites applications for the 2027-2030 fellowship competition. Appli...
sf.princeton.edu
The terrible, stupid waste of UK universities policy continues. Your cash down the drain. www.irishnews.com/news/norther...
New Ulster University buildings will ‘sit gathering dust’ if job cuts go ahead, council told
Over 400 positions are set to go from April 2027 at Ulster University as it tackles £25m deficit
irishnews.com
Submission to #ArchiveHour are always welcome - remember, it's not actually an hour, it's a state of mind 🗃️
Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · 2w agoThings are so bad I joined WhatsApp (still don't have a smartphone though, no). In amongst the serious stuff in our 'at risk' chat are some Very Lovely Things. For instance, my colleague who works on the Italian Renaissance shared this photo of the Archivio di Stato di Roma, where she currently is:
That's just the tip of the rapidly melting Arts iceberg, and does not address the loss of Strategic Priority Grant for Archaeology programmes, Geography, Nursing... 2/2
Creative & performing arts subjects received £16.8 million SPG 2024-25; £12.9 million in 2025-26; £ O million in 2026-27. The University of Creative Arts will thus lose half of its government funding this year; Art University Bournmouth 40.7%, Norwich U of Arts 40.4% and Leeds Arts U 30.3%. 1/2
Arts institutions hit hard as OfS details teaching grant cuts
University for the Creative Arts loses more than half of its funding after support for creative subjects reduced to zero
timeshighereducation.com
I am happy to announce the publication of a new English translation of Jacob of Serugh's four homilies on Cain and Abel. It was wonderful to work on this project with Jeff Wickes! The homilies are fascinating theological and literary works: svspress.com/verse-homili...
Verse Homilies on Cain and Abel
Founded in 1968, St Vladimir's Seminary Press is the largest and most active publisher of Orthodox Christian books in the English language.
svspress.com
Pairs well with this *excellent* @royalhistsoc.org briefing on the value of history: royalhistsoc.org/value-of-his... and very helpful leaflet:
Liesbeth Corens@onslies.bsky.social · last wk.Graduation-ready! How many of these can I smuggle in the sleeves of my gown… Thanks SO much for the supply, @royalhistsoc.org! They’ll look splendid on our newly-minted historians!
Graduation-ready! How many of these can I smuggle in the sleeves of my gown… Thanks SO much for the supply, @royalhistsoc.org! They’ll look splendid on our newly-minted historians!
We’re not just worried about jobs (ours & colleagues’); we’re deeply concerned about future plans to hollow out humanities teaching. Bigger classes; less specialism. ➡️ Charging £9k fees for shrinkflation degrees? New FBAs at risk in Exeter jobs cull www.timeshighereducation.com/news/new-bri...
New British Academy fellows at risk in Exeter jobs cull
Being at the ‘top of your game’ no guarantee of job security, warns decorated historian now facing the chop
timeshighereducation.com
So proud of Grace who did work experience with me. We worked together finding out more about @womensinstitute.bsky.social involvement in environmental activism. & icing on cake was Grace discovering her great grandmother was in her local WI. @womenshistnet.bsky.social #womensgrassrootsactivism
Gillian Murphy@gillianmurphy.bsky.social · 7d agoNew blog for The Women's Library at 100 by Grace Parker, student at LSBU on environmental activism and the Women's Institutes. Thank you Grace! blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsehistory/2...