I've been thinking about this a lot (it's something that pops up in my phd) - always down to chat about it!

Decorative promotional image for the TVCE x BIGS symposium event with a Trans Flag filter. Overlaid bold white text reads 'Open Call for July Symposium 2026.' In the background is a lively campus scene with people sitting and walking outside featuring Birkbeck, University of London. Branding logos for Birkbeck and the TVCE are at the bottom of the image.

Symposium 2026 OPEN CALL
Theme: Existing Otherwise.
Inviting proposals exploring transdisciplinary and intersectional approaches to Trans+ research and practice. Hosted at Birkbeck University of London.

More information: tvce.cargo.site/existing-oth...

🌈🎓 #AcademicSky #EduSky #EdChat #Trans #LGBTQ

Cis people: just nip over to your GP to feel a little perkier by taking some T.
Trans people: just spend 5 years on a waiting list, go through a few psychiatric assessments, and if you survive that then you might get a prescription for exactly the same HRT.

BEWARE THE TRANS DAY OF VENGEANCE COMING SOON

LibGuides: Archives and Special Collections: Ronald Duncan Stipend for Southwest Writing LibGuides: Archives and Special Collections: Ronald Duncan Stipend for Southwest Writing

🎉Great news for South West writers 🎉

Applications are now open for our 2026 Ronald Duncan Stipends.
If exploring archives sparks ideas for your writing, this might be the opportunity for you 📖

✍️ Info & Apply: libguides.exeter.ac.uk/archives/Dun...

#WritingCommunity #amwriting

Please if anyone can, show your support of the Dyke Project for all the work they do:

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-th...

This but it's my phd thesis

People should be REALLY scared by this, it's normalising refusing healthcare to a section of the community for entirely ideological reasons with absolutely no medical reason

This situation further compounds the misery of being a fixed-term/precarious academic. Why would universities hire an ECR if they can hire an established academic who has been made redundant?

The Gorton and Denton result is fantastic for several reasons, but easily the funniest one is that the Tories got so few votes that they LOST THEIR DEPOSIT.

i really can not emphasize enough that the most materially impactful thing you can do for trans people right now is hire them.

9,600 redundancies at just 24 universities. Imagine what the picture is for the sector as a whole. This is the other half of the student loan scandal picture, which has been national news lately. Nothing at all from the government on a key sector effectively in freefall…

Very bad news. Good people at a seemingly very rich institution facing redundancy.

May Labour's Yvette Cooper, the former Home Secretary, be remembered always as the politician who imposed the ban at the behest of Britain's powerful weapons industry, so it could continue to profit from the deliberate massacre of the people of Gaza

Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent When piloted, initiative that provided €325 a week to eligible artists recouped more than its net cost, study shows

The initiative will provide €325 (£283) a week to 2,000 eligible artists based in the Republic of Ireland. This follows a pilot (for which 2,000 artists were randomly selected from 8,000 applicants).

‘The scheme recouped more than its net cost of €72m’
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Firefox just installed this off-switch for gen AI.

You can switch it off like this: Type "about:config" in the address bar. Then you get a super long list of settings. You have to scroll down pretty far (but they're in alphabetical order), but eventually you'll find "browser.ml.enable". (1/2)

Hampstead Heath Ponds to remain inclusive The High Court has blocked a legal challenge from transphobic group Sex Matters, siding with thousands of swimmers who fought to keep the ponds inclusive

The High Court has blocked a legal challenge from transphobic group Sex Matters, siding with thousands of swimmers who fought to keep the ponds inclusive

goodlawproject.org/hampstead-he...

Whatever my uni declares, I am not going to engage with AI. I am not going to use AI or teach students to use it. I am going to continue to explain to students why it is harmful. Absolutely absurd to allow this anti-intellectual, environmentally devastating technology into the university at all.

Orange background with bold white and black text reading "trans writers of colour wanted," along with the Spectra logo.

Invitation to contribute to an anthology of short stories themed on "folklore & futurism", presented with abstract black shapes on orange background.

Call for anthology contributors: trans people of color, UK-based, 18+. Submit a 500-word writing sample and story synopsis by Feb 8, 2026.

Black abstract shapes on an orange background with the words "apply now" in bold, black and white text. Spectra logo at the bottom.

Are you a trans writer of colour? Contribute to a new anthology of short stories dreamed up and written by trans people of colour. We will pay you a fee of £1000. Submissions are open now.

https://form.jotform.com/253423694960060

Deadline: 8 Feb, 2026

Questions? Email: comms@spectra-london.org.uk

A copy of a book called Queer Crafts. It is a pink cover with images of blue and white ceramic vessels on it.

Out now! Queer Crafts: Material Practices and the Making of Identity available via the Bloomsbury website and all good bookstores! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/queer-cra...

Rose Schmits Breaks Down Five Iconic (& Bizarre) V&A Ceramics 🏺👀 Unexpected Item YouTube video by V&A Up Next

Did a really fun video with the V&A at their cool storehouse location! WAs such a delight to get to see some of really cool objects up close and chat about art ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Js3LV1KZ7M

“The art institution benefits from the frisson of provocation, but without accepting any risk, demonstrating that no one better absorbs the critique of institutions than institutions… The problem with turning theory into ornament is that when you really need it, it isn’t there.”

Donations and attention to Palestinians always drop off during the holidays, and we're approaching a really long one. Use the time w/your loved ones to educate them about the fictitious 'ceasefire,' ongoing settler colonial genocide, and life-saving nature of mutual aid.

chuffed.org/project/1491...

British Museum Launches Farcical “Decolonizing” Loan Program Long-term loans to former colonies are not restitution. They do not acknowledge historical wrongdoing, nor do they restore agency to source communities.

"Under this model, formerly colonized nations must ask permission to temporarily access their own heritage, accept conditions dictated by a British institution, and bear the financial and logistical burdens of care, while the museum retains ultimate control."

British Museum fully delulu good lord

Trans scholars being ‘pushed out of academia’, researchers warn Universities ‘afraid to be trans inclusive’ after Supreme Court ruling and OfS Sussex fine, leaving staff fearing ‘hostile environment’

'Chris Parkes, a senior lecturer in history education at King’s College London, told Times Higher Education that “to be a trans person in the UK right now is to be exhausted and terrified”.' 1/3

We're watching the wholesale burning of every scrap of dignity afforded to trans people in the UK, their rights, their medical services, their employment, their place within society, their bodily functions.

It is a disgrace, and a disgusting stain on the government and media of this country.

Went to an academic career workshop today for PhD students today and uh...this wasn't discussed (we were told to deal with our confidence gremlins instead. What happens when your confidence gremlin is the imminent collapse of your sector?)

Who knew the incoherent, maliciously motivated and practically unenforceable pseudolegal prattle couldn't actually stand up to scrutiny?

Corpses, Fools and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema The History and Future of Transness in Cinema

It's transgender awareness week, and if you ever wanted to learn more about the history of transness in cinema, you could pick up our book CORPSES, FOOLS AND MONSTERS at your local library or purchase a copy. We wrote this book for trans people like us. Thank you.

bookshop.org/p/books/corp...

A meme of 'Is this an archive?' showing a grid with various classifications of things that might be archives based on their content and structure.

Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry