JOB! Come and be my colleague! Tutorial Fellow and Professor (or Associate Professor) of English Literature, ca. 1780–1914, at Balliol College, Oxford. Details: www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/balliol-peop...

3-year postdoc opportunity at Durham University - any department, any field. Detailed guidance in the link - note that you need a mentor from a relevant department to mentor and support your application. www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

Re-upping this splendid Arts & Humanities PhD opportunity, because we really need some good news!

🚨History Job: Assistant Professor in Early Modern British History (Permanent) 🗃️ Come work with us at Warwick! You will join a group of excellent early-modernists and one of the nicest bunches of historians around! 👇👇👇 @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/lang-en-G...

'We likely require fewer academics with research in their remit, but those that do need greater time allocated, and must be subject to a strategic research management regime'. I remain very sceptical/negative about the medium- and long-turn impacts of separating research and teaching. 1/2

Come study literature, theatre or creative writing at the SUISS summer school in beautiful Edinburgh, for 2026. Spend your mornings immersed in learning before soaking up the city’s summer festivals or wandering the city’s ancient streets and hills. Applications now open: www.suiss.ed.ac.uk

'New data from the Ministry of Justice show that studying with The Open University (OU) delivers “significant reductions” in reoffending amongst prison learners.' 'It also found that those studying committed 37 per cent fewer offences within a year of release.' 1/2

Very exciting job announcement! Permanent early medieval (Britain and/or Europe) teaching post at KCL. I know first-hand that this is a great opportunity to work with amazing colleagues and students. www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/136727-...

I’m very proud of my two PhD students - Liz Leemann and Vivienne Belton - for passing their vivas recently. Two fantastic theses on the body and soul in early modern literary depictions of motherhood, and on Roman Catholicism and the senses in early modern drama. Look out for their work.

PhD funding for early career historians completing a doctorate. Applications are invited for the Society's Centenary PhD Fellowships for the academic year 2026-27 bit.ly/49MzqmT. Two awards of £8500 per student, held jointly with @ihr.bsky.social. Closing date: 31 January 2026 #Skystorians

PhD scholarship in History or Geography at Dublin City University - applicants with an interest in medieval Ireland are particularly encouraged to apply. #MedievalSky www.dcu.ie/historygeogr...

Unboxing!!

Very pleased to see hard(back) evidence that this tricksy creature is indeed loose in the world. It was a joy to work with the brilliant @ellierycroft.bsky.social to bring it into existence.

Munby Fellowship in Bibliography based @theul.bsky.social in Cambridge - closes on 1 February, so still time to apply.

An interesting PhD opportunity (i.e. job!) at Oslo on the project POLYCHROME: "Candidates should propose a research project that examines, in one form or another, historical sources that shed light on changing attitudes to medieval objects after the Reformations in the Scandinavian countries."

‘ardest game in the world, wizarding, innit. You’ve got to have a second career lined up, just in case it all goes arse upwards with the sorcery…’

'In a House of Lords debate on 8 January, Smith said she recognised “concern…about the reduction in the number of students going into higher education to study modern foreign languages and the threats to some of those modern foreign language courses”.' 1/2

Job klaxon: for a medievalist working across English and history cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

This book is truly groundbreaking, and I don’t say that lightly. Apols to @ellierycroft.bsky.social & @gregmw4.bsky.social for the simplification – but the big argument is that “dramatic” theatre was a relative blip, bc “postdramatic” theatre has more in common w the “predramatic” early-modern stage

Happy New Year and a pretty stupendous start to 2026 from my perspective as Predramatic Theatre -my co-authored book with @gregmw4.bsky.social - was published by Palgrave on Friday! link.springer.com/book/10.1007... Very kindly, our reader said of the book :-

Pretty big news to kick off the year... Predramatic Theatre now available as an e-publication! Happy 2026 everyone!

‘Yep, I think the bastard’s finally gone...’ (Faith, Hope, and Charity say farewell to 2025 and prepare to come out of hiding and try again in 2026.) Happy New Year everyone!

2025 has been a rotten year for most early career postdoctoral researchers, especially in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. For a better 2026, check out (or repost) this short thread on a free resource for UK-based SHAPE PhDs within 10 years (excluding career breaks) of the doctorate. 1/3

A happy New Year to all in the child-boiling community who celebrate 🥂🥳

Offre d’emploi – 3-year postdoc position in medieval studies: Unlocking the Medieval Book: Texts, Crafts, & Networks of Northern Europe rmblf.be/2025/12/30/o...

Just a couple more days to enjoy ‘2025: The Immersive Experience’, tickets selling fast…

University of Southern Denmark, 3-year postdoc in Medieval Studies memorients.com/news/univers...

Just a couple more days to enjoy ‘2025: The Immersive Experience’, tickets selling fast…

On ‘World’s Worst Jobs’ tonight we talk to Gino Capelletti, the man charged each year with taking down the Christmas decorations at the Vatican.

‘Brace, Death Star ahead!’ ‘I’m pretty sure it’s just a réification of our engagement with material historical conditions, Han…’ (Lost footage of Georg Lukács’s failed Star Wars pilot found in Budapest attic.)

Visitors left ´confused’ by new Marxist Santa’s grotto.´They told our Sandra that whether she’d been good or bad just disguises the false consciousness behind an essentially feudal system of gift allocation’, said one angry mum who reached out on X to complain of long delays & arguments with elves.

"In an era where the authentic written word is under threat....English isn't just about reading the past--it's about understanding the power of words and narratives in the present and future and giving our students the skills to successfully navigate the world". True of all UK English programmes.

A cross-party review of the financial sustainability of Scotland’s universities will go ahead after months of initial talks between university leaders and politicians, reports @helenpacker.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/scottis...

Some really (and qualifiedly) good news from Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social : No redundancies next year, no downgrading of professional services staff. And all without the need for disruptive industrial action, which nobody at all wants. nation.cymru/news/cardiff...

A nice collection of @timeshighered.bsky.social essays all in one place about the value of the arts and the humanities www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/makin...

;Eliminating funding for 3* research in the next Research Excellence Framework (REF) would benefit Russell Group institutions by about £50 million a year, suggests modelling into how potential changes to funding formulas may play out.' 1/3

Best news of the day.

Now that antifreeze has been applied to REF2029, we know that research environments (now called SPRE) will be assessed 60% at institutional level (by an Institutional Level Statement) and 40% at Unit of Assessment level (by a Unit Level Statement). Will we see a STEM SPRE triumph? 1/5 #Skystorians

'There in the shadows [of the White Paper] lies the call for HE institutions to specialise, with the lurking threat that many will lose their research funding in some, but perhaps many, areas, in order to better fund those with more intensive research.'

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! YES, it’s PGR Essay Prize Competition time again! We are delighted to open this year’s competition, and invite PGRs from across the diverse fields of English to submit their essays. Details can be found here: academic.oup.com/english/page...

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

And this helps how? Good grief...

Applications Now Open for the University of Glasgow Library Visiting Research Fellowship scheme - supporting scholars from across academic disciplines to come to Glasgow to work on our unique research collections. Please RT or pass on: www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/li...

Kinnock voice - "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions....and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government, a *Labour* government, rejecting visas for homeless 8 yr olds trying to joing their parents"

"Today’s Budget was an opportunity for the government to offer further detail and clarity on the state and finances of the higher education sector, building on the recent White Paper." Read our response to the Autumn Budget in full: https://bit.ly/4rs7bCc

Is Haldane dead? The short answer is “yes”. Richard Burdon Haldane died in 1928. For researchers, however, the question relates to the nuance of the Haldane principle. My feature for @resprofnews.bsky.social: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

'Universities are communities of people and those within Scotland’s universities play a critical role in shaping our regions, our nation and our international reach and impact.' Devolution dividend: staff matter too. A huge contrast to DfE/Jacqui Smith approach in Tuesday's testimony. 3/3

'The Scottish Greens have lodged an amendment to the Scottish Government's Tertiary Education and Training Bill – set to be debated this week – which they believe will help to "boost the wages of ordinary workers".' 1/2

Not reposting in agreement with the 10 principles (I disagree strongly on several), but because it's the 1st open, comprehensive agenda responding to post-16 White Paper (and the obvious direction of travel in DSIT/UKRI) I've seen from a sitting VC. Principle 2, subject provision, merits more. 1/6

'Michael Lynas, the UK country director for the Duolingo language app, who argues there is no good substitute for the hard graft of learning a language as a way of seeing another country’s culture from the inside.' 1/3