Photo from Szabadság Híd over the Danube, with Buda Castle and Erzsébet Híd in the background
The mood in HU, encapsulated in a haiku with a friend
R: ‘tis the end of NER*!
X: Sadly not
X: But let’s be happy regardless
X: I can breathe
X: A little better
[whatsapp messages, 12/04/2026, 21:29]
*System of National Cooperation, Fidesz' institutional architecture and governing mechanism
It’s a great moment to remember that in the leadup to this popular uprising, the first major gut-punch was delivered by Budapest Pride. Poetic justice. 🇭🇺🏳️🌈
Pier in Badacsony, with fidesz posters saying "they are dangerous"
...and if you think the campaign wasn't bitterly fought by the incumbent, here's a photo I took in Badacsony, on what I thought would be a lovely trip to the Balaton. Instead, this insanity: "they are dangerous, only fidesz"
Sticker on a post saying "16 years was enough"
I spent the evening in a bar in Veszprém, where most people (apart from me 👵🏼) never voted in an election that wasn't then won by Fidesz. Tonight the mood was electric, proud and excited for a different country tomorrow
...a Marsról is (és tudom, a medve és a böre)
I'm proud to report that my child sings "tülülü, tülülü, lüüü" when referring to trains stopping in train stations
Mapped: The Reform-Orbán Network
Ahead of elections in both countries, DeSmog has catalogued the connections between Hungary’s autocratic government and Farage’s operation.
Can I just add the moment MP calls out a Russian propaganda outlet at his rally and references this song from 1990?
youtu.be/-3pIN-FGho8?...
Good thread on where we are in a campaign finish that feels more bonkers by the day. An important issue to note is that Tisza is perhaps the first party in a long while that managed to cut through in the countryside (i.e. not just Budapest and cities)
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
Superb commentary on the Hungarian elections in a few weeks
"...the usual language of democracy becomes misleading. This is not a democracy with flaws. It’s an autocracy with elections."
(cont.)
* Mental health, wellbeing & identity formation
* Academic and professional staff careers & institutional change
* Methodological innovations, reflexive accounts & design challenges in longitudinal HE research
* Comparative or international longitudinal studies
📬Welcoming contributions on (but not limited to):
* Student trajectories, transitions and experiences across and beyond higher education
* Graduate outcomes and labour market pathways over time
* Social inequalities, mobility and cumulative advantage/disadvantage
⏩
🚨 Call for Papers 🚨
Special Issue on Longitudinal and Lifecourse Approaches in Higher Education Research
We invite contributions that use longitudinal or lifecourse research designs to deepen understanding of how change unfolds within higher education.
Call: www.slls.org.uk/pages/llcs-j...
Hungarian is just a superior language and we need to accept that 🤷🏼♀️
There, I fixed it:
"We’re *paying* so much money *to* people *in leadership roles* who … are not really capable of *creating a collaborative and supportive university environment for students from a range of backgrounds*."
The *anger* I feel at the sector // HE policy after talking to some incredible ECRs/recent PhDs over the state of the academic labour market and short/medium term prospects... Just employ these enthusiastic, amazing scholars!! (Or don't turn my research funding apps down, so I can!)
Nottingham cuts ‘threaten status as research-intensive university’.
Move to reduce academics’ protected research time to 25 per cent brings union warning.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Job losses at UK research-intensive universities double in two years.
Exclusive: Scale of redundancies branded a “disaster”.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
💭 Join us for this exciting @srhe.bsky.social event by the #SAEN network to discuss how widening participation, fair access and student experiences have evolved in English higher education amid persistent inequalities - with speakers Rhiannon Jones, Kimberley Simms, Chris Millward and Neil Harrison
EVENT DETAILS WHEN: June 23rd 2026 11:00-15:45 WHERE: in person at SRHE offices (8 Regents Wharf, All Saints St, London, N1 9RL) From Social Justice to Risk Management? Re-conceptualising Widening Participation Across Policy, University Culture and Personal Identities - Rhiannon Jones - PhD researcher at University of Cambridge and an Access and Outreach Officer at Jesus College Cambridge Starting Earlier, Working Systemically: NTU’s Early Years, Collective Impact, and Community Responsive Approaches to Social Mobility - Kimberley B Simms - Head of Widening Access and Community Engagement at Nottingham Trent University Re-shaping the meritocracy: access policy in England from Blair to Starmer - Chris Millward - Professor of Practice in Education Policy at University of Birmingham and Interim Director of Fair Access and Participation at OfS How do young people make decisions about their future? - Neil Harrison - Professor of Education and Social Justice at University of Exeter
Where are we with widening participation and student experience?
✍ SIGN UP: srhe.ac.uk/civicrm/?civ...
🗓️ WHEN: June 23rd 2026 11:00-15:45
🗺️ WHERE: in person at the SRHE offices in London (maps.app.goo.gl/9mR4pEyYo1yE...)
@mannymadriaga.bsky.social @ddubdrahcir.bsky.social @soniailie.bsky.social
...agree! Our summer ride by the Seine on hire bikes was fabulous! The map is somewhat bitty and confusing at times, but still. Here in the supposed "outdoor city" we'd be happy with half as much provision...
Our typology shows that choosing sociology as a degree is ranges from an explanation for personal experience; to gaining tools to understand society, politics and broader inequalities; to sociological studies being a general basis for a career; and to hope for changing others’ inequalities
📜 ...another paper assigned to an issue now in @edreview.bsky.social, jointly with Meryem Betül YASDIMAN and Jenny Norris doi.org/10.1080/0013...
Why sociology?– comparing the driving forces behind university degree choice in Norway, Hungary and England
📃Superb paper by Dr Zihao Liu using the possible selves framework to explore post-college transitions:
How Chinese Higher Vocational Education and Training (HVET) Students Determine Their Post-College Pathway in the Post-Covid 19 Era
journals.suub.uni-bremen.de/index.php/ij...
Share a photo of a mountain you have taken
🛷
Reflections of sailing boats moored on the icey Lake Balaton
View of the Danube in Budapest from the Szabadság Híd, looking towards the Budai Vár
Child walking in the snow
We all needed a break - and had some lovely time visiting family and seeing friends over the holidays in HU ❄️
...whilst celebrating Anto getting her thesis finalised and Biz's graduation, we got a notification that our paper out earlier this year has been assigned to an issue:
“How ‘International’ Are Sociology Journals? Analysis of Stated Aims and Editorial Board Networks” - lnkd.in/eiF2pSG5
Dr Davis talking about his project "Academics of working-class heritage talking project"
My lovely colleague Charlie Davis @uonsoe.bsky.social talking about his experience of getting a Newer Researchers Award from @srhe.bsky.social, and the immense changes this prompted in his research career, networks and thinking. Awards are now open, deadline March 2026:
srhe.ac.uk/research/pri...
