The joy of finally finding out that the location shoot you accidentally interrupted by taking a little-used exit while leaving work a year or so ago was new ITV series, The Hack. Senate House in a starring role as so often.

Delighted to see Cynthia Johnston featuring in this wonderful piece from the Lancashire Telegraph about the exhibition she has co-curated at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery! www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/2548328...

The four UK higher education funding bodies confirm the pause in the criteria setting and publication of final guidance for REF 2029 for a short period, as announced by the UK Science Minister Lord Vallance today at the Universities UK conference. 2029.ref.ac.uk/news/pause-t...

A temporary change in the ICS this year... I am delighted that the School of Advanced Study has granted me 10 months of research leave, and over the moon that @kathryntempest.bsky.social agreed to step in as Acting Director for that period. The Institute will be in very good hands!

'Overall, top universities have placed 14,190 students since results day – 14.9 per cent more than they did by the same point last year. And lower-tariff institutions have accepted 16,650 students in this period – 12.2 per cent below 2023 and the lowest number on record.' 3/3

Sorting out bits of @ics.bsky.social archive and thinking about what has changed (and what hasn't) since 2003.

Christopher Rowe (1944-2025) - Daily Nous dailynous.com/2025/07/28/c...

'The Department for Education has also made the possibility of a higher education institution “exiting the market” one of the “top tier risks” facing the education sector. An annual report published on 17 July said the risk rating had been “escalated” to “critical – very likely” in 2024-25.' 3/3

Just the best news - congratulations @clairelanghamer.bsky.social FBA! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/clai... @ihr.bsky.social

Interested in learning Latin? Our 5-day online course for beginners is open for registrations! Develop the ability and confidence to navigate a range of early modern primary sources in Latin from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. Book your spot: warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/begin...

'Stormzy has been awarded an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge for his work helping black students get into higher education.' '56 undergraduates have benefited from full tuition and maintenance support, backed by his #Merky Foundation and HSBC UK.' Kudos for walking the walk.

I like this piece by @tedunderwood.me a lot. rdcu.be/etk07

Contractors say they believe a cast iron pipe has cracked but that there were no records showing the route of the pipe. After two hours the shutoff valve has been located and water levels are subsiding.

Hadn't heard this news, and I am so sorry to hear it now. I didn't know him, but certainly knew and admired his scholarship, right up to 'Race is Everything' and the latest work on the 'Image of the Black' series. What a loss.

If you're involved in your unit's or university's REF2029 submission, you'll be interested in Contributions to Knowledge and Understanding (CKU) policy guidance, released today: 2029.ref.ac.uk/news/cku-cop...

REF 2029 policy release: We’re pleased to share the guidance for the Contributions to Knowledge and Understanding element and the updated Code of Practice guidance. 2029.ref.ac.uk/news/cku-cop... #REF2029

1. A story. Please read. Reposts hugely appreciated on this. You'll see why in a bit. I was born in Pakistan and lived there until I was 4. My parents worked there as doctors. While we were there we were very close to a couple called Christine and Mike Miles.

Earthquake damages part of Pompeii site in southern Italy | Reuters www.reuters.com/business/env...

This looks like a super interesting PhD opportunity for an artist or historian engaged in creative practice-based research www.rca.ac.uk/study/apply-... @royalcollegeofart.bsky.social #nationalmaritimemuseum @josiekane.bsky.social

Went to see The Return yesterday. I thought it was great. Always maintained that the second half of The Odyssey is better than the first.

The NEH hammer has come down on the group project led by Cliff Ando to produce a new edition of Roman Statutes. Most of the team is composed of established scholars in secure jobs, but the funding was also supporting a full-time postdoctoral fellow whose work is *essential* for the project. 1/2

It's Mother's Day tomorrow in the UK (because ours coincides with Mothering Sunday). So here's a picture of me with my mother and my much-missed grandmother, Pearl, happy spending time together in St Lucia around 1994.

Come and do a PhD on Roman History or Latin at @uorclassics.bsky.social - we arguably the nicest Romanists and Latinists of any UK department (according to me) www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMJ960/t...

The UCL Research Opportunity Scholarship has reopened for applications - deadline: 30 April 2025! 📣 This scholarship supports BAME postgraduate research students at UCL, covering full tuition fees and providing a maintenance stipend for up to 3 years ✨ 👉 Find out more and apply: shorturl.at/uCHqO

Please read and circulate this letter from CUCD and various learned societies in defence of Ancient History and Religion and Theology at Cardiff University cucd.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2025/03/11/o...

An important new book from Jude Browne: Political Responsibility and Tech Governance (Cambridge UP, 2025) bit.ly/49OXSTc

Really pleased to announce this final piece of work with @jwbaker.bsky.social for @beyondnotables.bsky.social : five data essays w/ interactive #dataviz, exploring the BN wikibase of 900+ women working in archaeology, history and heritage 1870-1950. beyond-notability.github.io/beyond-notab...

REF2029: concerns about the implications of decoupling | The English Association : Please read this important joint letter we have written (on behalf of us, our chair @jennyrichards.bsky.social ) along with @ies-sas.bsky.social & @univeng.bsky.social englishassociation.ac.uk/ref2029-conc...

In the UK, university and regional museums are speeding up their returns of looted objects, while the law prevents national museums like the British Museum and V&A doing so. Tristram Hunt calls for an end to an unsatisfactory state of affairs.

This is going to be fantastic and I hope to see many friends and colleagues there.

Really happy to see AV2025 open! CAS is a small operation, and it's a lot of admin on top of my other jobs: there's always a bit of stress getting the moving parts together. This is always offset, though, by getting to work with amazing tutors, and seeing students enjoy our courses.

Not only did I see several patches of crocuses while cycling around Oxford this morning, but I am also now aboard 'Shania Train' to London. Friday is off to a good start. www.railadvent.co.uk/2024/06/nick...

Oh yes, that's me! (Not in the picture but giving the paper, obviously.)

This spring, I'm setting out to explore forgotten, fantastic tales of lives and loves transformed in northern lands. Northering traces a twisting path through a mythic north that’s stranger than we think … At @porticolibrary.bsky.social on Thursday 27 March www.theportico.org.uk/event-calend...

I always look out for the flowering of this little hellebore as one of the first signs in our garden that spring is on its way. This year, slugs and snails have clearly been at it. But it's still here. ☺️

One of the joys of working at @ics.bsky.social is finding out about what we have in @joliheroics.bsky.social. Yesterday our librarians showed me A E Housman's personal, annotated copy of Lewis & Short, the travel diary and photos of an as-yet-unidentified woman traveller to Athens in 1902, and

'Across 103 universities to have posted financial accounts so far this year with relevant figures, £210 million was spent on compensation for loss of office last year. This was a 67 per cent increase on...2022-23. The severance payments...affected about 10,300 employees'. 1/4

This @ics.bsky.social seminar next week with curatorial colleagues at the British Museum has proved so popular that we have moved it to a bigger room! Filling up fast though, so if you would like to come and participate, please do pre-register on the ICS website.

@ics.bsky.social is hosting or supporting several events in the next fortnight for UK Classicists. First up next Weds we are helping @cucd.bsky.social with an important briefing for anyone thinking of applying to serve on our @ref2029.bsky.social subpanel: ics.sas.ac.uk/news/cucd-se...

Current mood: youtu.be/NYrDrFYntCk?...

Oxford University Press will be awarding as many as 10 ECRs the opportunity to publish their first book in fully open access as well as in hardback. Today the website was revised to make clear that independent/unaffiliated scholars are eligible. Deadline March 3. academic.oup.com/pages/early-...

@lizgloyn.bsky.social @zenakamash.bsky.social, Lee Dibben and I have published an account of Phase 1 of our MINOTAUR project on @wonkhe.bsky.social today. It's work that we are very proud of; the project is now in its Phase 2, also thanks to support by @cucd.bsky.social wonkhe.com/blogs/asking...

Ooh I definitely want to go to this!

@drmaimusie.bsky.social is an excellent friend. Full stop.

We should be talking more about what's happening at the British Museum. See my new blog mikepitts.wordpress.com/2025/01/10/b...

‘At a workshop on AI and religion, someone observed that most AI was being developed with the primary purpose of selling advertising: “But what could AI be like if it was stewarded by the Dalai Lama?”’ @mgzimeta.bsky.social meets an android monk, on the blog: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ja...

Glad to see the cuts to the Latin Excellence program getting some higher profile coverage. Could this have anything to do with the excellent letter from colleagues that appeared in the Guardian a few days ago?