Proud to share that #KOMEX2026 Qual & Case-Oriented Techniques track is taught entirely by women researchers from across Europe and beyond! 🌍 ✔️ Rigorous training in fieldwork, process tracing, NVivo & more 📅 February 2026, @uni-konstanz.de & online Join: afww.uni-konstanz.de/en/view/kome...

This programme has been a brilliant educational resourse to supplement course readings. I’m so glad it will continue, but Melvyn Bragg will be a very tough act to follow.

The original title: “China Studies in the UK Is in Crisis — But Not Because of China”

Another day, yet ANOTHER stupid, pointless announcement on immigration from this stupid pointless government. Today: you are a student - we're going to write you a stern letter about how you better not be thinking of staying! Insanity. Racist, cowardly, insanity. #r4today

First article on our Rural Racism reports, released this morning @jayrayner1.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Breath-taking landscapes on Exmoor this weekend 🤩

We're lucky to have @catherineowen.bsky.social & @xiananj.bsky.social on board at #KOMEX2026. Check out their online course "Doing Fieldwork in Challenging Contexts" and register here: afww.uni-konstanz.de/en/microcred...

Excited to be offering our bespoke fieldwork methods course "Doing Fieldwork in Challenging Contexts" with @xiananj.bsky.social for @komex.bsky.social next February, alongside a truly fantastic line-up of courses - with something for every methodological persuasion!

Reform UK, which has a grand total of four MPs, was just given an uninterrupted platform for an hour and a half on the BBC and Sky News channels, in order to talk about its plans for mass deportations When was the last time the Greens (with four MPs) or the Lib Dems (with 72) were given the same?

On Friday, my two-year visiting professorship at the Institute of International & Area Studies, Tsinghua Uni, came to an end. It was an utter privilege to teach the introductory Area Studies course to new PhD students. Happy memories to cherish and so many new connections to take forward🌹

“The Chinese and British peoples stood shoulder to shoulder, united by sacrifice and a shared belief in freedom and justice.” Lovely words and an important reminder from China’s ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang.

Glorious morning for an 8am Gylly beach sea swim. Water is clear as glass, and the beach is still peaceful with morning swimmers and dog walkers. #Cornwall #Falmouth

Think gender is just theory or women's issues? Think again. 🌊 Study Gender Studies in Cornwall @hass-cornwall.bsky.social and explore how the personal is political and how the unspoken norms shape our lives. Watch our video: youtu.be/dZQJ-TFCNT0?...

This was the initial story on the Reuters coverage of Anas' murder. Compare to the new version on the right. The default was to cite the IDF. When they got proper writers in to rewrite the story, we get actual journalism. Reuters' default source was the IDF.

Love this film

So proud of my dear friend Ahmad Ali Shah, who has just published his first scholarly work with @criticasianstds.bsky.social, exploring how Pakistani migrant networks sustain their lives and identities in China. An important contribution to the study of South-South migration. doi.org/10.1080/1467...

Over the next two weeks, we're showcasing the work of our interdisciplinary experts in the University of Exeter’s Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Cornwall. Today our first video features Prof. Catriona Pennell's work on forgetting. To find out more visit: hass-cornwall.exeter.ac.uk

My first proper stadium gig. What a spine-tingling, indescribable feeling to stand in a crowd of 90,000 people singing the same lyrics that we all know off by heart #Oasis25

Adivasi rights advocate Soni Sori said that she has often seen women and children impacted by crackdowns on Maoists. nikita.jain.bsky.social writes:

Excellent to see so many @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social colleagues at this major conference on the Eastern European and Eurasian region, held once every five years!

Heading to London for ICCEES! Are any BlueSky friends and followers going too? If so, let’s meet up! 🤩

Back home after an insiring week at the 4th International Tsinghua Area Studies Forum, in which Area Studies scholars from across the world presented their research in thematic panels. A great way to overcome regional silos and identify common patterns and processes - a really excellent conference 🤩

The use of the Terrorism Act to proscribe Palestine Action is disproportionate and sets a dangerous precedent.

I am giving my talk tomorrow afternoon at Exeter.

Fascinating talk tomorrow @hass-cornwall.bsky.social Dr Kevin Yang (York) explains how a group of leftwing Hong Kong youths—inc. anarchists & Trotskyists—inspired by the 1960s global New Left movement, became politically radicalised in the British colony, organising against colonialism & capitalism

What is a #regime? The answer is not as straightforward as it might seem, but is crucial for understanding how regimes operate and transform. Identifying procedural, actor-centred, and sociological approaches to regimes. @catherineowen.bsky.social #CEDARhttps://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2025.2483418

Reflecting on last week’s European Society for Central Asian Studies conference in Tashkent and Samarkand last week, and I am reminded of an enduring (if provocative) truth: Area Studies conferences are so much more enriching and enjoyable than disciplinary conferences!

I’m in Tashkent for the European Society of Central Asian Studies conference, which starts tomorrow! But first I obviously have to sample the incredible fruits, pickles, nuts, samsa, tea, kurut, ayran, corn-on-the-cob in the glorious markets!

This year's Pushkin House Prize shortlist, introduced by Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, chair of the judging panel. What an incredible selection - I want to read all of them! fivebooks.com/best-books/r... #booksky

Its so sad to see another UK university cut its foreign language provision, not only for students but also for the local community. As a modern languages graduate myself, I cannot emphasise enough how much learning languages opened up my world. www.change.org/p/stop-cuts-...

Feeling enuinely emotional listening to the last ever “Now Playing” show with the legend Tom Robinson on Radio 6 Music. Sunday evenings won’t be the same! Thanks for the music, Tom.

Yesterday, we launched the new Exeter Centre for Eastern European and Eurasian Studies. @catherineowen.bsky.social Muireann Maguire, Nelly Bekus, and others organised with excellent external speakers and a display of the wealth of Eurasia expertise at Exeter. www.exeter.ac.uk/research/cen...

An absolute honour to host @petoandrea.bsky.social at @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social for the launch of Exeter’s new Centre for Eastern European and Eurasian Studies and hear her compelling and urgent talk on how anti-liberal actors use “gender” as symbolic glue to coordinate politics of hate

While the two countries posture for power, it’s the normal, nameless and faceless people who suffer first. If it escalates, it’s only grief. There's no glory in war. De-escalate now. #IndiaPakistanWar #Kashmir www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

On 22 May we are launching @exeter.ac.uk 's new interdisciplinary Centre for Eastern European and Eurasian Studies, with a fantastic line-up of leading scholars of the region! More information about ECEEES here: www.exeter.ac.uk/research/cen... @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social @cais-exeter.bsky.social

Yesterday I saw St Michael’s Mount by boat from its sea-facing side: stunning, gothic and mysterious!

It’s great to welcome Dr Shi Jing from the Institute of International and Area Studies to our department @hass-cornwall.bsky.social Shi Jing works on the international politics of the Caucasus region - looking forward to many interesting conversations! @xiananj.bsky.social

This year we’re adding an exciting new MA in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy to our suite of IR programmes at Exeter. It will be led by the amazing @andreaghiselli.bsky.social and supported by an imminent new hire! Check out our MAs in IR, Security Studies, and Conflict and Development too!

My first ever PSA conference! Excited 🥳 I’ll be presenting on-going work with Sonia Bussu, in which we compare participatory budgeting across regime types.

Great article! Straight into the syllabus!

CAIS member Cat Owen charting a new path in the study of regimes. Congratulations!

This is a nice @democratization.bsky.social piece co-authored by @cais-exeter.bsky.social @catherineowen.bsky.social. I think my work is at the intersection of actor-centred & sociological approaches to regimes. The actors & their social context are transnational. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Delighted to share my latest article, entitled "What is a Regime? Three Definitions and their Implications for the Future of Regime Studies", co-authored with Licia Cianetti and Gianni Del Panta, published open access today in @democratization.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Primal Scream, live at Bristol Beacon 31st March. The soundtrack to my 20s - still brilliant and electrifying after so many years 🤩

Lenin discovering Alexander Kerensky has accidentally added him to the Provisional Government group chat.

When scholars of authoritarianism and fascism leave U.S. universities because of the deteriorating political situation here, we should really worry.

We raised the original £4k target in under a week. Charities and media orgs will soon be publishing their own articles. Ride is 5 weeks away. We need a new target. Let's go big. £10,000 I love a challenge, don't you?https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/goodbye-legs

Happening today! Really looking forward to Suraj Bhaskarrao Telange’s talk on ethnographic knowledge production, drawing on his in-depth fieldwork on labour relations in Amazon warehouses in India @surajtelange.bsky.social @hass-cornwall.bsky.social @exetersouthasia.bsky.social All welcome!

Just finished this book. I must admit it took me a while to get into it, but 100 pages in, I was hooked and couldn’t put it down, and now it’s over I feel bereft. Meticulous details of provincial life in working class China, and a deeper message about the importance of communication. Recommend 👍

Nearly a decade on from beginning the PhD, we have a book cover! Out later this year - my book exploring caste, migration and indenture as foundational to Indian diplomacy. @hurstpublishers.bsky.social t.co/bUTfpFncmk