Great picket at the University of Derby today as they fight back against massive cuts outside their new £75m building in the centre of the city.

"Plan to cut jobs will 'destroy' University of Derby, say striking staff | Derbyshire Live"

The University of Derby is on Strike. Here's my story.

Derby University is in chaos and management caused it. 🔻 265 redundancies proposed 🔻 Nursing & early childhood studies at risk 🔻 Staff pushed through a rushed, unfair process Show your support for staff and students on strike from tomorrow. www.thecanary.co/long-read/20...

We all know that the UK could have a well-funded university system without heaping debt on the heads of students, if politicians wanted it to. That's the only thing to say, really. Every dysfunction is a choice. A choice made by politicians, not by lecturers or students.

Taking refuge in an autumnal walk at Rydal and Grasmere at the weekend 🍂 'far advanced as the season was, the trees on the larger island of Rydal-mere retained a splendour which did not need the heightening of sunshine' (DW, 7 Nov, 1805)

University of Derby proposes more than 200 redundancies. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Happy to have my essay on P.B. Shelley and Wordsworth's 'woodland state' included in the 'Tree Cultures and the Arboreal Humanities' special issue of @plantperspectives.bsky.social, ed. by @treeseeker.bsky.social & @planthums-uk.bsky.social 🌿🌳

Excited to see my article on Beatrix Potter, timber, and arboreal stewardship published in Plant Perspectives (OA) 🪵🧚🏻‍♀️

A surreal #FossilFriday: Liverpudlian artist Albert Richards's The Process of Time (1939), held by Williamson Art Gallery & Museum. The articulated skeleton of a flightless moa encounters the flimsier looking skeletal frames of two biplanes, one of which is just able to soar above the bluish trees.

Post-doctoral fellowships available at Kew, closing 20 April. For proposals covering plant-people relationships, broadly defined, and using methods from the humanities, social sciences and life sciences see careers.kew.org/vacancy/kew-... Informal enquiries: [email protected]

In June, I'll be giving a talk at The Armitt on Elizabeth Gaskell's depictions of getting lost or 'wildered' on the Lakeland fells in her short fiction. For anyone Lakes based/interested, all are welcome: armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra...

Struck by Väinö Blomstedt's painting, Sunset (1898) when reading Oliver Southall's wonderful book on the rowan tree this morning, in which he notes that the tree offers 'emblematic access' to the wildness of the Finnish lake-isle. Lovely, on both counts! #internationaldayofforests

Had a fascinating (if, VERY soggy - thanks Bert) day at Kendal Mountain Festival yesterday, listening to talks on the history of the wolf in Britain, lost paths, slow adventuring, and bothies. Can't wait to get stuck into my book haul! Well done @kendalmountainfest.bsky.social!

Here's a preview of the cover and contents of 'Plant Perspectives' 1.2, forthcoming in October. 'Plant Perspectives' is a new #openaccess peer reviewed journal; more information here: www.whp-journals.co.uk/PP/about #plants #envhum

Excited to see my article on Wordsworth's tree plantings published (open access) today! 🌳 'Planting for “posterity”: Wordsworthian tree planting in the English Lake District' www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Absolutely thrilled to announce I have an article in the new edition of the Swift Studies journal! It's been 7 years in the making, but worth it: my finished essay explores the history of the frontispiece to Jonathan Swift's A Tale of a Tub, with some exciting new discoveries! 🐋

It's coming towards the end of my contract and, as the academic job market is a mess, I'm starting to look elsewhere. If you know any leads or have advice on pivoting from academia to heritage, research, publishing, charity, or media roles please get in touch!

Lovely to be back in a very sunny Dorchester today ☀️ I gave a keynote for @hardysociety conference on 'Reading Trees in The Woodlanders'. 8 years since I was last here as a PhD student. Time flies, but Hardy's still here!🍃

I'm excited to be sharing some new research on John Ruskin's and Beatrix Potter's (actual and literary) tree cultivations in the Lakes, at The Armitt on 27 August. See the link here for tickets if you're in/around Ambleside then! 🌱 armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra...

There are limited tickets remaining for 'Tree Cultures at Kew', in just over two weeks! 🌳✨ If spending a day at Kew talking trees is your thing, do sign up and join us! www.derby.ac.uk/events/lates...

Looking forward to 'Tree Cultures at Kew' in a month's time, a day of arboreal humanities research talks & guided tours of Kew's trees, co-organised with @drannaburton.bsky.social and Kew Gardens 💚🌳 Book your place to join us on 9 July (it's free!) 🍃 www.derby.ac.uk/events/lates...

@abdavis.bsky.social and I are co-running a series of tree-related public (and free) events, online, in London, and in the Lakes, this summer. All are welcome to join these events, so please do sign up and spread the word! 🌳 See links below!

This was such a thought provoking and reorienting discussion of flat landscapes with @overleaf.bsky.social @noreenmasud.bsky.social, and Amelia Hodsdon. Looking forward to talking trees, in a similar format, next month! 🌳

A Ruskinian research trip to Coniston today, featuring moss covered orchard trees and a very shouty Chaffinch 🐦

Call for Chapters 🍃 Romantic Trees: The Literary Arboretum, 1740-1840 🍃 @drannaburton.bsky.social and I are seeking a few more chapters for our edited collection, especially chapters with a global or conceptual focus: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=5170 Please share! 🌳

Our new journal ‘Plant Perspectives’ is looking for a Creative Submissions Editor – a key role in a very exciting new publication (with issue 1.1 forthcoming in April!). More details here: www.whp-journals.co.uk/PP/CallsForP... #envhum #plantHumanities #plants

Call for Chapters: Romantic Trees: The Literary Arboretum, 1740-1840 For any Romanticism, 19thC, and Arboreal Humanities scholars out there, please see and share the CFP below for a forthcoming collection edited by @abdavis.bsky.social and me! 🌲🌳

Ta DAH! It’s our 2024 seminar series! Join us in conversation with some brilliant scholars, incl our own postgraduates! Free, online, & all welcome! Thursdays, 6-7 pm. @SMCoulombeau & @TinoOudesluijs kick us off on 29/2. More details & sign ups here: sites.edgehill.ac.uk/ehu19/events/

Really excited to be continuing Tree Talks with @abdavis.bsky.social and Wordsworth Grasmere in 2024. See the details for our first online event below! 🌳

Muppets Christmas Carol remains the best adaptation of Victorian fiction, maybe of nineteenth century fiction, full stop.

Friends in the midlands! If you’re free on 26th October, why not come to the Erasmus Darwin house in Litchfield to see me give a public lecture on toxic masculinity in Greek myth? 🤩 Get your tickets here ⤵️ https://www.erasmusdarwin.org/event/5399/

Hints of amber in the Lakes, this weekend 🍂🍁