Today staff in the School of Creative Arts, including the Humanities department, were called to a redundancy consultation meeting. We were informed that 23 posts were to go by August this year, with further redundancies as the Humanities programmes are taught out over 2 years.

We're working with @ihr.bsky.social and publisher DC Thomson to run a new 'Applied History Fellowships' scheme. We are pleased to announce the appointment of two Fellows this month bit.ly/3RjmSOw Fellowships provide recent PhDs with experience of working, with #history, outside HE #Skystorians 1/2

Glasgow Caledonian's senior team may have missed the memo about growth.

Given the news from the University of Sheffield on its most recent plans for redundancies, we also need to worry about majority languages (such as Chinese) in the UK, not to mention Chemistry and Materials Science.

The Society is pleased to publish today the Shortlist of its 2026 Early Career Article Prize: bit.ly/4wEuVoW This year's list includes eight articles published in 2025 and follows an open call for submissions. Our two winners for this prize will be announced in July #Skystorians 1/2

Fellowship and Membership applications are welcome at anytime from those working with history, across all career stages and sectors: bit.ly/43bmMLe Our newly elected Fellows teach and research in 16 countries; our new Postgraduate Members are studying in 61 universities in 13 countries 2/2

New open access volume on languages and identities in early medieval Europe (inc a chapter by me on Britain) 🤓

It’s time for Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and STEMM staff to talk and stand together. We are actually all on the same ship. Stronger and better together.

Well,this looks very timely ... with an excellent panel.

5 June deadline for these Royal Historical research grants. #Skystorians

We're now closing our day @aberuni.bsky.social with a guest lecture by Prof Miri Rubin (QMUL). Miri's lecture, ‘Black/Beautiful: Meanings of Blackness in a Biblical Verse’, introduces themes from her forthcoming book through a commentary on the Song of Songs 1:5: 'I am black and/but beautiful'.

Rydym nawr yn cloi ein diwrnod @aberuni.bsky.social gyda darlith wadd gan yr Athro Miri Rubin (QMUL). Mae darlith Miri, ‘Du/Prydferth: Ystyron Duwch mewn Adnod Feiblaidd’, yn cyflwyno themâu o’i llyfr sydd ar ddod trwy sylwebaeth ar Gân y Caniadau 1:5: ‘Rwy’n ddu a/ond yn brydferth’.

"As long as financial pressures and current student recruitment trends that vary sharply between different providers continue, course closures and cold spots will grow." @britishacademy.bsky.social updates its 'Cold Spots' mapping of SHAPE subjects with 2024-25 HESA data bit.ly/4uKAXCX #Skystorians

"Ultimately, the UK needs to review how higher education is funded and regulated. We cannot leave the future of essential teaching and research to a scramble for students and a race to recruit." #Skystorians

Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?

'The Commons Education Committee has not been convinced by the government’s position. It calls...for legislation to clarify the legal position, transparent criteria for intervention across the various legal forms of higher education providers, and a bespoke higher education insolvency regime.' 2/2

'The government and the Department for Education has consistently argued that a higher education corporation or a university established by royal charter could continue operating while insolvent. Legal specialists, most notably Mills & Reeve, and sector stakeholders have never been so sure.' 1/2

'In a report, the Education Select Committee said 24 institutions are now said to be at risk of insolvency within the next 12 months - with many already making job cuts, closing courses and selling off buildings or land.' Link to report: committees.parliament.uk/committee/20...

'The government has no clear plan for universities at risk of insolvency, despite the fact that such a financial failure would deal a “severe and lasting blow” to the UK’s reputation for outstanding research, a committee...has warned.' Finally, recognition that teaching & research joined at hip.

We're very pleased to announce that the Society's 2026 Prothero Lecture will be given by Prof Rebecca Earle (Warwick) on Weds 1 July bit.ly/4eF0DMp. Rebecca's lecture, ‘The Last Voyage of the Santiago: A Ship and its World in the Age of Revolution’, is now open for booking. All welcome #Skystorians

We currently invite applications to our 2026-27 Master's Scholarships programme: bit.ly/4dTHmXe Scholarships of £5000 are for students from groups currently underrepresented in academic history to study for an MA in history or a related subject. Closing date: Friday 5 June #Skystorians

This is a really exceptional opportunity: a studentship funding an MA followed by a PhD. For students from underrepresented or lower-income backgrounds. Apply to do the wonderful MA @memsunikent.bsky.social or equivalent MA at KCL: www.komldsp.org.uk/ma-scholarsh.... Deadline: 12 June

Many congratulations to Rob Gallagher @hwaetspur.bsky.social on the publication of his brilliant book, The Written Word in Early Medieval England www.cambridge.org/core/books/w...

One notable difference between the UK Physics community’s response to funding cuts and the UK humanities community’s response to closures and cuts is that the former engages directly with government (and gains responses, even if not always the desired ones). The latter much less so.

Minister Peter Kyle on Question Time has just stated that Labour are investing in universities 😳 Sorry, what, pardon 🧐

Apply now for the British Council 90th Anniversary Research Fellowships for 2027, open to postdoctoral researchers based in any ODA-recipient country where the British Council operates, from Albania to Zimbabwe. £2,500/month stipend for 12 months. Apply here: www.iash.ed.ac.uk/british-coun...

Not sure this is a binary choice. VCs have indeed been given an unsustainable model to sustain by the rarely-sighted minister's government but many SMTs are also making bad choices, failing to work with their own staff to address the crisis and unwilling to challenge the system that's breaking HE.

and in addition to that: OUR MINISTER SHOULD BE THE ONE ADVOCATING FOR THE SECTOR, navigating those 'competing priorities'. What on earth does she think her damn job is??

So much is so very wrong with UK Humanities at this time, but here's a ray of haunting illumination. If you missed Professor Sasha Handley's Royal Historical Society lecture at the University of Warwick, you can now catch yourself (& your students, this or next year) up with the video. #Skystorians

We are dismayed by news regarding UG History, and other subjects, at Hertfordshire. This follows recent job losses at Essex and elsewhere, and makes clear the crisis in UK HE. The Society is in touch and working with historians at UoH. As ever, we invite contact from others affected #Skystorians

Be kind to our colleagues. Be canny for our colleagues. Be outraged for our colleagues. Be vocal about our colleagues' plight, which is not of their making. Be there for our colleagues. Be an ally in whatever way we can. 3/3

Higher education in the UK just got much lower. How much lower will it sink before your MP notices and speaks out?

'UCL Policy Lab, over the last year, has held a series of conversations with stakeholders in higher education as well as those in policy and politics. We’ve compiled these findings in a new report released today.' 2/2 www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/s...

Applications are now invited for the Society's Teaching Fellowships, 2026-27. Funds support innovative practice in history teaching in higher education bit.ly/4wbwoDb. Open to UK and international Fellows and Members of the Society. Closing date Friday 10 July 2026 #Skystorians 1/2

Applications to join the Society, as a Fellow, Associate Fellow, Member of Postgraduate Member, are welcome at any time. Membership is open to historians from all backgrounds and career stages, in the UK and worldwide bit.ly/3OZUXlQ Next closing dates for applications: 11 May and 27 July 2/2

This is very good in imagining what HE might look like in the coming years

Great to see @britishacademy.bsky.social President @sjs1869.bsky.social out there drawing attention to the crisis in higher education - she says the post-16 white paper contains “more hope than plan” www.researchprofessional.com/news-article...

Also worth noting are the very many specialist UK history societies which support researchers of differing backgrounds and career stages. We've a new listing of 100 such organisations and scholarly communities bit.ly/4uu1yUr, with further listings of record societies & BlueSky networks #Skystorians

Canterbury! I am coming to you to talk about how medieval history gets written - tickets are free and I’d love to see you there. #Skystorians #MedievalSky

We warmly welcome applications to join the Fellowship of the Society. Next closing dates: 11 May & 27 July. Fellowship is open to those who have made a scholarly research contribution to #history. Fellows work in all sectors (within & outside HE) and in the UK/worldwide bit.ly/4iOu51g #Skystorians

Hey! @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social! This quango has been causing harm for too long, and government has known how bad it was since at least 2023 (and before, but this report is undeniable). Time to actually act on that information.

On Thursday 16 April, the Royal Historical Society co-hosted the annual ‘History and Archives Practice’ (HAP) conference.

Here's my take on that (other answers are also available...) www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

This is good. Very light on the research side of the equation but more than sane and informed on the teaching side, including failure of marketisation and a recognition that ‘cheap’ subjects subsidise expensive one. Well worth reading.

University of Chichester earlier this month joined the ranks of HEIs employing all new staff through a subsidiary company to avoid TPS and LGPS liabilities.

'The south-east London university, known for its teaching of the creative arts, has announced plans to cut a further £22 million from its budget, the third major restructure since 2019.' Student numbers have dropped by more than 25% in the past 5 years. Great work external consultants! 1/2

'Universities across the UK have reported more than 1,000 job losses in the first four months of this year, with the actual number likely to be far higher as institutions continue to roll out cost-saving initiatives.' 1/4

Keen to meet a new generation of historians researching British history in the (very) long 18th century? Join us for our annual Lightening Talks presentations and Q&A on 29 April at 5:30pm. All welcome. Free. In person at the Institute of Historical Research in London or online on Zoom. #Skystorians

Call me Cassandra, but if you make thousands of HEI staff either compulsorily or 'voluntarily' redundant and create conditions in which senior staff take early retirement in an attempt to save more junior colleagues' careers without significant new hiring, a critical loss is exactly what happens.

'Costigan said structures have developed that mean research and higher education are funded separately, despite universities having to deliver both, and the overlap between them “isn’t properly accommodated within the system”.' SUCH an important point. 1/2