Great to chat to colleagues about all things #schoolmeals at the first ever Faculty of Social Sciences Research Showcase today at @sheffielduni.bsky.social. And to find so many unexpected connections between colleagues' research and our own @esrcschoolmeals.bsky.social project! ✨️🍎 #histed

Paulette Edwards - 10/04/2026 - BBC Sounds Guests, great music, updates and your stories for your mid-morning with Paulette.

Great to talk to BBC Radio York, Lincolnshire & Sheffield tdy about govt plans to reduce deep-fried, high-sugar foods in school meals & our @esrcschoolmeals.bsky.social research on school meal history from WW2 to 1980s marketisation #histed 🍽️ @sheffielduni.bsky.social

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Delighted that the School Dinners exhibition we collaborated with @foodmuseumuk.bsky.social on has been shortlisted for the Museums + Heritage Awards 2026 Temporary or Touring Exhibition of the Year 🥛🍎🍽

awards.museumsandheritage.com/2026-shortli...

#ISMD2026 #histed @esrcschoolmeals.bsky.social

A Tale of Five Deputations: Establishing Principles for Funding English Higher Education Questions about the funding of English higher education have been actively debated for over 150 years. However, the early years of these debates, certainly before the First World War, are relativel...

2. John Taylor: Early lobbying (1886–95) shaped principles behind state funding of English universities #histed

doi.org/10.1080/0046...

Visualising Historical University Records to Explore the Colonial Connections of the Students and Alumni of the University of St Andrews, 1700–1897 This paper uses the historical student records of the University of St Andrews to demonstrate how an exploration of the student community can contribute to our understanding of the ways UK universi...

Two great new articles on university history in History of Education

1. Tomas Vancisin & @aileenfyfe.bsky.social:
St Andrews records reveal how universities were embedded in British imperial networks.

doi.org/10.1080/0046...

🎥 We’re interested in different ways of disseminating research. So, we’re trying our hand at short-form video content to summarise the core arguments of amazing projects.

🥘 Up first, here’s our journal’s co-editor @heatherlwellis.bsky.social talking about the @esrcschoolmeals.bsky.social project:

Super exciting to see this in the flesh! This was such a side project for me but I got so much from it and loved having the opportunity to do it!

Delighted be part of this excellent volume. Thanks to @heatherlwellis.bsky.social and @capandgown.bsky.social for overseeing the project to completion!

So...it finally arrived 🥳

A Cultural History of Higher Learning in the Age of Industry

Edited with @capandgown.bsky.social and published with @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social

With contributions from @tomasirish.bsky.social, @stuartjones.bsky.social, @echomikeromeo.bsky.social and others

#histed

History and Well-Being: a Historian's Perspective A public lecture as part of the Royal Historical Society's visit to historians at Sheffield Hallam University and University of Sheffield

On Weds we'll be with historians at Sheffield Hallam University & University of Sheffield for the next RHS visit with academics and history practitioners in the city.

Our visit ends with a guest lecture by Prof David Stack (Reading) to which all are welcome www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/history-an... 1/2

Thank you Yoonmi Lee, I am happy that scholars are benefitting from our double SI in History of Education, the product of much wonderful collaboration between multiple authors and editors.

Thanks @heatherlwellis.bsky.social for bringing this to my attention and to you and Mark for being such excellent co-editors.

Some nice comments on our double SI @stephanieolsen.bsky.social and Mark Freeman!

'the recent special issue of History of Education (2023), which represents a significant initiative to redefine and expand the field by challenging its traditionally Eurocentric focus.' #histed
doi.org/10.4000/1489i

Opening screen of Royal Historical Society blog post: 'With December’s restart, what next for REF2029 and for History?' Full abstract: On 10 December 2025, Research England announced the ‘unpausing’ of REF2029 and, with it, completion of a three-month review of the terms and principles of the next assessment exercise. The messaging that accompanied December’s announcement was clear: a more pragmatic, less burdensome REF template is ‘back on track’, with attention soon to move to the work of criteria setting by subject panels. However, December marked more than resumption after a temporary halt. The updates announced are extensive and include significant changes to the structure and content of REF2029. Here, we summarise and review the key headlines. This post also considers the implications of these changes, with reference to History and the wider humanities. These include positives, notably changes to the portability of books and to impact case studies. But there are also concerns, most notably in relation to the new-look environment element and changes to the form and weighting of its assessment. These put at risk the central REF principle of ‘rewarding excellence wherever it is found’.

What changes were made to REF2029 as part of last December's 'unpausing'; and what are the likely implications - positive and negative - for History and the wider humanities?

New on the RHS blog: bit.ly/3ZIfe0P

#Skystorians @artsandhums.bsky.social

Apply for Postgraduate Membership - RHS Closing dates for next applications: Mondays 9 March and 11 May 2026   The Society's Postgraduate Membership is for those studying History, or a cognate subject, at a higher level (from Masters to PhD...

Early career historians, studying for an MA or PhD in #history or a cognate subject, are invited to join the Royal Historical Society as Postgraduate Members bit.ly/4kknnCb

Applications are welcome at any time: next closing dates: 9 March and 11 May 2026 #Skystorians 1/2

‘Mere Amateurs’? Elementary Teachers and the Making of Scientific Authority in the British Child Study Movement This article offers new perspectives on the relationship between elementary teaching, scientific expertise and the professionalization of the human sciences. Previous scholarship has demonstrated the...

Excited to see the first in a series of articles (& future virtual special issue) of @hisjournalha.bsky.social coming out of the 'Communities of Knowledge-Making' workshop I organised w. Martha Vandrei at @brlsi.bsky.social in June 2024. Congratulations Julia!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

We were really grateful to have had the opportunity to talk about the project at @ihrlifecycles.bsky.social!

We enjoyed two seminars from the School Meals team. There was a lot of it to discuss and we only really touched on it.
It is interesting to read how the project is continuing and great to see how it is having an impact. 😀

Very good to see Heather's research on the history of school meals provision being widely shared today. An excellent example of the value and application of historical research in contemporary policymaking.

@heatherlwellis.bsky.social was a superb guest lecturer at a recent RHS visit #Skystorians

Great lunchtime seminar in London today hosted by @britishacademy.bsky.social sharing @esrcschoolmeals.bsky.social findings w. policymakers, academics, charities & school leaders. Strong appetite for long historical view in #schoolmeals policy 🍽🍎🥦

@sheffielduni.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org #histed

Off to London today to share key findings from our @esrcschoolmeals.bsky.social research with policymakers at a @britishacademy.bsky.social lunchtime seminar — what 120 years of UK #schoolmeals can teach today’s policy 🍎🍽

#histed @sheffielduni.bsky.social @ichre-ioe.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org

New book review:
Ellis on Case, Stephen: _Creatures of Reason: John Herschel and the Invention of Science_. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2024. Published by H-Sci-Med-Tech.
Read here: networks.h-net.org/node/20138526

New on H-Sci-Med-Tech:

Check out @heatherlwellis.bsky.social (@sheffielduni.bsky.social)’s review of @stephenrcase.bsky.social (Olivet Nazarene Uni)’s book _Creatures of Reason: John Herschel & the Invention of Science_ 2024 @upittpress.bsky.social

#hstm

Review available @hnetreviews.bsky.social

I’ve used the BBC Written Archives Centre for research and I deplore the new restrictive rules and the sneaky way they were introduced. It’s unbecoming of a public institution that is supposed to be about informing people to effectively close off proper archival research.

Early Christmas present! 🎁✨️

New paperback edition of the Bloomsbury Cultural History of Education series 🎄

(I edited Vol 5) 📚 #histed

@unishefplayer.bsky.social @histedsocuk.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social @sheffieldcems.bsky.social

AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.

Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.

Great to be part of this visit yesterday and share findings with colleagues from @royalhistsoc.org, @ioe.bsky.social, @lshtmhistory.bsky.social and everyone who came to @heatherlwellis.bsky.social's lecture.

#histed #schoolmeals @sheffielduni.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social @histedsocuk.bsky.social

Thanks for inviting me to give the lecture! It was a really valuable and interesting day.

Thanks for joining Leif!

Informative and intriguing lecture by @heatherlwellis.bsky.social yesterday on the history of the School Meals Service in Britain @royalhistsoc.org