I've been running informal Redundancy Buddy groups over the last 6 months with UK uni staff at risk of dismissal. There are several key things people are shocked by which I'm sharing here so others who're precarious feel less alone and recognise what to prepare for. Please add your ideas. A thread 🧵

Palestinian Scholarship

Please share in your networks. Goldsmiths, UoL are offering 5 scholarships in Undergrad & MA courses for Palestinian students. The scholarships include: tuition fee waiver, £19,550 allowance, return trip to & from the UK.
Eligibility details & further info at link👇🏽
www.gold.ac.uk/fees-funding...

Well, this sounds fab

‘It would be seen as political’: why the Royal Society is torn over Elon Musk Many fellows feel the billionaire has breached its code of conduct, but others say scientific neutrality is at stake

SCIENCE IS POLITICAL! We're decades past entertaining this nonsense that it's not. The Royal Society are actively excusing M*sk's deliberate attempts to destroy science infrastructures, funds, career paths, the environment, and people's health. Also political.

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Paid commission (£2,500 per commissioned paper, paid in 2 instalments). Papers to be written for a practitioner/policy-maker audience, c. 4,000 words (5,000 max).

Deadline for this 2nd call is 14 April 2025. If you're informed about global order & disorder, this commission might be for you.

Suicide Cultures

People involved in this team may be good contacts suicide-cultures.ed.ac.uk

‘Insufficient’ numbers asked for voluntary severance, so it’s coming…. They’ve axed temporary and PT contracts already (hi, it me)

Amazing - congratulations Jade!

Thrilled to say that the Royal School of Needlework is hosting its first ever academic conference, in conjunction with @pasoldresearchfund.bsky.social! Here is the call for papers for “Stitched Together,” which will be held on 21-22 August at Hampton Court Palace. Please share!

Talk: Gaelic Songs in Fife and The Herring Gutters Join Meg Hyland and hear Gaelic songs sung by herring gutters. Learn about musical exchanges that occurred in the fishing industry.

Gaelic Songs in Fife & The Herring Gutters
1 March, Anstruther – free, ticketed

Meg Hyland discusses the Scottish women who worked as herring gutters & the linguistic & musical exchanges between speakers of Gaelic, Scots & English in the fishing industry
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talk-gaeli...

The sad thing is that email and admin have taken over academic life so much that many of us have to squeeze in the poisoning of minds on evenings and weekends.

More good things in Glasgow…

It was always cool

Don’t suppose there is an ‘actual whole of society which respects everybody’s body’ professional academic sociological ‘body’ is there? Can we support it? Can we make it?

I was at a conference recently and one of the delegates spoke about how in Denmark it’s common to have a ‘wild on purpose’ sign vs the ‘don’t tread on the grass I have just treated it with deadly chemicals to make it look green’ equivalent often seen in US suburbs

Keep Telling of Gaza with Professor Alison Phipps Let's gather to hear Professor Alison Phipps share stories and insights about Gaza that we must continue to pass on.

Keep Telling of Gaza with Professor @alisonphipps.bsky.social on 17th February. If you do not want to miss this conversation, here’s the Eventbrite link for registration: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/keep-telli...

Channel 4 News (@channel4news.bsky.social) Stories that reveal and inspire, challenging expectations. Weekdays 7-8pm on Channel 4. Got a story? C4Nstories@itn.co.uk --- website: www.channel4.com/news youtube: www.youtube.com/@Channel4News

Omar El
Akkad was on @channel4news.bsky.social yesterday, talking about Palestine, western moral vacancy and his book, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. This clip is powerful; the full version, which airs on Wed, is even more so. Please do watch.

www.channel4.com/news/omar-el...

The National Humanities Lecture | Professor David Olusoga | 4 February 2025 The National Humanities Lecture is a major new annual event that celebrates the vital role of the humanities in public life. We are honoured to welcome historian, author, and award-winning filmmaker David Olusoga as our inaugural speaker. In his lecture, Professor Olusoga will make the case for the humanities and explore how new ideas about humanities, heritage and institutions are emerging – from virtual museums, to hyper-local history projects and alternative city tours. What is the public role of the historian in an age of populism and digital disruption? How might museums adapt to our more interconnected world and to the phenomenon of 'contested heritage'? How can the humanities adapt to an era of Podcasts and Substack? And what are the broader intersections between the humanities and public life? Drawing together thinking from history, political culture and public humanities, he will ask what new forms our cultural institutions might take, and how they might support a more equitable, connected society.

Last week @davidolusoga.bsky.social gave the annual National Humanities Lecture at the University of London. This was a superb account of how public history promotes and communicates academic research beyond HE.

David's lecture is now available and is highly recommended bit.ly/3Qd1x5i #skystorians

Breakthrough Scholarships | Curtis Brown Creative Our scholarships provide regular funded places on our courses to talented writers facing barriers to entry.

Curtis Brown Creative offer a series of breakthrough scholarships, bursaries, courses and mentoring for new writers, writers of colour and writers on low income and others.

Details in the link.

Please share :)

Edinburgh is full of lovely bookshops, but must visits are @lighthousebks.bsky.social and @typewronger.bsky.social - Typewonger has , of course, beautiful typewriters, and surprising origami in every parcel 💕

Billie Eilish’s hat highlights a significant issue in the marketing of Scottish wool; a business as big as whisky on the world stage but without the legislative / policy protections. There’s a fine group of people working across farming, industry, education,& academia to change that here in Scotland

With thanks to the woman who did the typing – Lucienne Boyce In 1938 Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, one of the leaders of the Women’s Social & Political Union (WSPU), published her autobiography, My Part in a Changing World. In it she noted, “My thanks are d…

To mark the Representation of the People Act getting Royal Assent #OTD 6 February in 1918, we’ll be sharing some of our blogs about people who campaigned for the vote.

First up, “With thanks to the woman who did the typing” by Lucienne Boyce.

womenshistorynetwork.org/with-thanks-...

#GenderHist

So good. Mucho respect.

Keir Starmer, perhaps take some notes…

Supporting each other through difficult and challenging times - The Research Companion Science, healthcare and education are threatened worldwide. Here are some starter ideas for ways to work together to share and save vital information. And to care for one another.

Supporting each other through difficult and challenging times
theresearchcompanion.com/supporting-i...

Free, gentle, practical and bonding suggestions for anyone impacted by university changes, cuts, closures, threats and dangers

#AcademicSky #AcademicChatter #PhDSky #gradschool #PhDChat #PhDHelp

I loved writing for MAI. Here’s their latest CFP
#academicsky

Mock up of book cover Small Town Joy. Shows a figure playing bass guitar with a yellow sheen over them. The title is in yellow and there's a bright pink swish behind it.

Sneaky little cover reveal: here's @carriem.co.uk's Small Town Joy: From Glam Rock to Hyperpop: How Queer Music Changed the Sound of Scotland!

We love the cassette tape look, all thanks to Kara McHale: www.karamchale.co.uk

Pre-order your copy now, coming in April: www.404ink.com/store/p/smal...

I’m coming to the end of an amazing project: clinical medicine as experienced by real people communicated to / experienced by clinicians in that sector in order to improve patient care, empathy & understanding. All this comes through art practices/ working with artists. Collaboration is team’s MO.

Free link for a few more days - @isabellarosner.bsky.social knows her stuff and is a good egg - go read

So glad you are here - I have missed excellent NLS posts on my phone!