There’s definite plausibility to the idea that the critical thinking which can come from the humanities is in higher demand as AI gets better www.ft.com/content/c0ae...

It’s the billions v the billionaires, and the stakes could not possibly be higher | www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Interviews are a research method increasingly used across humanities disciplines and creative practice. Our "Interviews as a Humanities Research Method" course, from researchers @ilcs.bsky.social & @qmul.bsky.social covers different approaches, ethical considerations and more: https://bit.ly/4bu4zhx

It was so intellectually rewarding to work with @global-ih.bsky.social on a special section on my book! The essays by @paulbabinski.bsky.social and @drjoeford.bsky.social extended the reflection temporally, while @saraharens.bsky.social and Richard Hibbitt made me reflect on my critical method.

A syllabus may mention social equality but if it is organised by grammar rather than social equality the syllabus may be thin on social justice issues Examples of how a theme of colonialism can integrate a focus on both social justice issues and grammar. Thank you @drjoeford.bsky.social

📢 Open Day: University of London MA Languages and Cultures Across Borders 🗣️ Join us **Wednesday 4 March at 2-4pm** on campus in Senate House London to find out more about the programme and funding opportunities: ilcs.sas.ac.uk/news-events/... ☕ Refreshments provided 🍰 🔗 Places limited register below

👀 Looking ahead at some of the brilliant books we have coming up this year... Organised Militarism in Interwar Britain by @rowan-thompson.bsky.social, part of our New Historical Perspectives series published with @ihr.bsky.social: uolpress.co.uk/book/organis... #Skystorians #History #OpenAccess

Thank you to the @ciol-linguists.bsky.social for sharing @drjoeford.bsky.social's recent article for @theconversation.com on the CIOL Voices blog. "Learning languages promotes cross-cultural understanding and tolerance of ambiguity in an increasingly ambiguous world." Read more: bit.ly/3XCKRIh

'Being provided with real-life examples & templates was very useful.' - Attendee feedback on our 'Revising your PhD Thesis for Publication' session. Led by @drjoeford.bsky.social & @emmagallon.bsky.social. 8 Dec, 2-3:30pm 🔗https://www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/events/revising-phd-thesis-publication-3

**New article** on The Conversation UK about languages and the government's national curriculum review - theconversation.com/englands-nat... - @uk.theconversation.com @ilcs.bsky.social @sas-news.bsky.social

Colleagues and UCU members from UoN's Department of Modern Languages have put together this wonderful guide on supporting their programmes. A lot of what they suggest is also helpful in challenging the 48 courses at risk across the university www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk

**Open Day next Weds 26th Nov, 2-4pm at Senate House** for the 2026-7 intake on the intercollegiate MA in Languages and Cultures Across Borders. Register your place: ilcs.sas.ac.uk/news-events/... @llc-rhul.bsky.social @qmul.bsky.social @uclselcs.bsky.social @uclssees.bsky.social @ilcs.bsky.social

A very insightful article on the recent threats to UK modern languages: www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/late... Support the petitions to stop the closures at Leicester and Nottingham, to sign click here: www.change.org/p/save-moder... www.change.org/p/stop-the-r... #languages #mfl

🪧A date for your diaries if you'd be interested in our training session, 'Revising your PhD Thesis for Publication', led by @drjoeford.bsky.social from @ilcs.bsky.social and our Publisher @emmagallon.bsky.social. 📅 Monday 8 December, 14:00–15:30 👉 www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/... #AcademicPublishing

This👇 and teaching materials are subject to intellectual property rights, not to be given to the chat bot billionaires for free

Take away our language and we will forget who we are: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and the language of conquest www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

Tomorrow is the *final opportunity to apply for our MA in Languages, Cultures and Societies* - co-delivered with RHUL, UCL, QMUL, ULIP and KCL Language Centre! www.sas.ac.uk/postgraduate...

The humanities are not a luxury—they are where a society’s ethical and imaginative life takes shape. They won’t give us all the answers, but they keep us asking the right questions—and without that, no future worth having can be built. wonkhe.com/blogs/our-fu...

Ce soir: ies.sas.ac.uk/events/what-...

The EHRC Guidance is a wicked exercise in removing rights from trans people - and is bad too for employers and service providers, those outside gender norms, people with disabilities and the economy. We've created a tool to make it easy to respond. Please use and share. goodlaw.social/9e59e9

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! So excited to release the programme for our upcoming conference on the Maghreb - June 19-21!! 🤗 We’ve made the event hybrid so make sure to register for the Zoom link (or to attend in person of course)! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/postcoloni... À bientôt! !أتطلع للقائكم 🇩🇿 🇲🇦 🇹🇳 🇱🇾

I agree with Elton

🎉 We’re delighted to present our new LSP series: Languages in UK Education, guest-edited by @cforsdick.bsky.social and Wendy Ayres-Bennett. The series explores how the UK can better support linguistic diversity and respond to the languages crisis. 🌍📘 📖 Read more: lspjournal.com

anti-protest regulations unlawful www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/libert...

I am so delighted to announce that we are #hiring! A two year full-time teaching and research post in French 🇫🇷 Come and join our big and beautiful School of Languages, Cultures and Societies in leafy Leeds! Please post to your networks. jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... @lcsleeds.bsky.social

Very true. And it's a sector with high economic benefits. Universities UK report an economic impact of £158bn, or £265bn including the impact of international students. Every £1 of public money invested into UK universities generates £14 of economic benefit. www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/latest/news/...

The UK car industry contributes £22bn to the economy and employs c 35k people. Universities contribute £265bn and employ nearly 400k, over 10x as much. Yet he seems ok to let that sector implode.

Multilinguals could hold the key to Britain’s social and economic future www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We are disappointed but not surprised that Meta has used millions of pirated books to develop its AI systems. As a matter of urgency, Meta needs to compensate the rightsholders of all the works it has been exploiting. But what can authors do? Read here: societyofauthors.org/2025/03/21/t...

Excited to announce the CfP for an interdisciplinary conference on the Maghreb in Edinburgh in June (19-20th)! @iashedinburgh.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social 🤗 @abdelbaqi.bsky.social & I cannot wait to receive your paper proposals! More info & full CFP here: maghrebtemporalities.wordpress.com

*Final week* to apply for School of Advanced Study bursaries available for Masters degrees across the School, inc. our new MA in Languages Across Borders - check out the Master's funding page here: www.sas.ac.uk/postgraduate... - @ilcs.bsky.social

New cross University of London MA in Languages and Cultures Across Borders - Open Days on 5th March (in person) and 10th March (online) 👇check out our website for more info and funding opportunities: www.sas.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Black scholars argued this incessantly after the war. Britain killed 10’s of millions of Indians, Belgium enslaved and genocided the Congo, France slaughtered its Algerian subjects. Nazi Germany was the logical extension of US and European colonialism, not an aberration.

AI makes you stupid

📢 "Working with schools: '1000 Words for Belonging'" Read this great public engagement case study from @drjoeford.bsky.social! In partnership with Gearies Primary School & Neela Doležalová, the project explored the language of emotion with school students through a range of creative activities

'Linguistic justice: a summer school for teachers' - workshop for teachers in/around Manchester. Looks amazing with @iancushing.bsky.social, fyi @ilcs.bsky.social @ucflangs.bsky.social @nalalanguages.bsky.social: ahead.mmu.ac.uk/2025/01/16/l...

If you are working in UK HE, consider donating to Brismes - the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, fundraiser to support Gazan universities & students: gofundme.com/f/the-brisme...

Visualise someone working next to a physical letterbox. Imagine opening and reading every letter as soon as it arrives, and starting to compose a reply, even as more letters drop through the box - all the while trying to do your main job.

Francosphères 13.2 includes work by @besskearney.bsky.social, @dcarliniversini.bsky.social & @drjoeford.bsky.social on ambivalence, agency & selfhood in contemporary francophone narratives. Read it #OpenAccess: bit.ly/FRANC13-2#OpenAccess:@openlibhums.bsky.social @sfps.bsky.social‬ @ilcs.bsky.social

Very much looking forward to reading articles in this special issue on ambivalence and agency expertly edited by @besskearney.bsky.social and Françoise Campbell - and Open Access to boot! My article on Algerian writer @kaoutheradimi.bsky.social available at following link: doi.org/10.3828/fran...

"Over two months have passed since Alaa Abd el-Fattah completed his five-year sentence in Egypt. His mother Laila Soueif has been on hunger strike ever since to protest his ongoing and arbitrary detention. The need to free Alaa has never been more urgent." freealaa.net/take-action

Permanent computational linguistics job @ QM. Deadline 5th January. We're looking for a linguist w/ computational focus, to teach on new MSc Linguistics&AI who fits our research (phon, syn, sem, socio, neuro, exper). linguistlist.org/issues/35.33... (salary on scale w/ annual increases) #linguistics

“Some of us became teachers of literature because we believe it helps keep us human, even in a world of genocide.” A statement to the Modern Language Association about the BDS movement. https://buff.ly/3ZB5HIx

Join us tomorrow (Friday 6th Dec) for our event on diversifying the curriculum in schools and HE - booking still open here: ies.sas.ac.uk/events/what-...

Amnesty International has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israeli authorities committed, and continue to commit prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention. www.amnesty.org.uk/genocide-rep...

Looking forward to talking about links between schools and universities in Decolonising the disciplines - English and MLs - *This Friday* 3:30pm online 👇

Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal faces life imprisonment if found guilty of national security charges - www.indexoncensorship.org/2024/11/boua...

Behind this news is complete disaster for student numbers, and funding crisis at universities, which translates to bleak future for growth in UK - this gov needs to remove student numbers from migration figures!

In other #language #MFLBluesky #langsky news, the journal LSP is publishing an issue, including policy papers, on languages in UK education. There’s an nice overview here: www.lspjournal.com/post/languag... #linguistics

📢 'Decolonising the Discipline' Join us on 6 December in our round table discussion on decolonising the discipline in Modern Foreign Languages and English Studies! 3:30-5pm online via Zoom, all welcome. Registration below 👇 #MFLBluesky @ies-sas.bsky.social ies.sas.ac.uk/events/what-...