🚨We’re seeking to appoint one Editorial Fellow with specialism in pre-1800 CE history from any part of the globe. Deadline for applications: 7 August 2026. Please share in your networks!👇

New article today in 'Transactions of the RHS': 'Men, Emotions and the Sickbed in a Sorcery Trial from Seventeenth-Century Germany', by Alison Rowlands bit.ly/453Xe3F A story and its meanings of illness, harmful magic and bewitchment in 1660s Rothenburg. Now available OA #Skystorians 1/2

We are very pleased to welcome 223 historians who join the Society today - as Fellows, Associate Fellows, Members and Postgraduate Members: bit.ly/3TEhyWM Our Fellows and Members teach, research, write and promote #history, within the UK and internationally, in and beyond education #Skystorians 1/2

Look on the bright side, England, it's only 3.5 prime ministers until the next world cup!

nothing else can make you feel both very old and woefully underachieving than being the exact same age as messi right now 😂 #ENGvARG

Breaking news.... 😂

LOL just reading through comments from the copy-editor and, well, let's just say I'm not convinced that the copy-editor has really been doing much actual reading of my text here with these queries.. Screenshot of my paragraph for context here... Snort.

A new resource from @britishacademy.bsky.social, out today, maps changes in UK academic staff numbers and contract types between 2012/13 & 2024/25 for the arts, humanities & social sciences bit.ly/4w47SmP You can search by subject (incl history), provider, region & forms of employment #Skystorians

The Society will write up a summary for History for next week. Key points at this stage include: > 11% decline (-440 FPE) across all History staff between 2018/19 and 2024/25, compared with a 7% decline across all humanities > loss of 140 FPE History roles 2022/23 to 2024/25 #Skystorians 1/3

One in four academic history positions in post-92s are gone since 2019 alone. One in four. We don't have data for 2025-6 and I doubt it magically got better.

obviously had a look at the data for my own department first, and i have to say i was surprised to discover I had 25 colleagues on fixed-term T&S contracts, but then I realised this has to be GTA's - without whom we couldn't run the first year of our degree. imagine this is similar elsewhere.

settling down to read the BA reports, sigh sigh

This phase of the British Academy's SHAPE Observatory project focuses on academic staff, analysing trends since 2012/13 to explore how staffing levels vary by subject, region and employment characteristics. The data lag: the 2025-26 redundancies you've been reading about are not yet captured. 1/3

#earlymodern 🗃️ This is phenomenal project and a solid opportunity for someone who has just finished their PhD. NB v tight deadline - apps by 28 July

We have the following 3 calls for research funding for RHS Fellows & Members: bit.ly/4wwSMGu > 'Open Research Grants', for mid & later career historians > 'Early Career Fellowship Grants', for postdocs > Martin Lynn Scholarship', for PhD research in African history Closing 4 September #Skystorians

This week from me: news of my @royalhistsoc.org public lecture on rights of way and access to the land in England and Wales. It's at the Institute of Historical Research in London on 25 September... Come along! It's free and it'll likely be cooler then! 😂👇 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rhs-lectur...

(1/)The special issue of @scottishhistreview.bsky.social on smell history and heritage that I co-edited with Xuelei Huang is out! www.euppublishing.com/toc/shr/curr... There’s an introduction by the both of us followed by some cracking articles.

A quick snap of Simon Ditchfield's closing remarks at his retirement event in York yesterday. A big thank you @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social and Tara Alberts for organising. It was a really remarkable often funny and moving occasion with so many well-wishers that some had to watch from the corridor!

Glasgow is hiring a lecturer in medieval history (c.800-1500) on an open-ended basis. We are a lovely bunch in the medieval area, would be great to have a new colleague! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSF052/l...

Oh @erinmaglaque.bsky.social what a masterpiece of a book this is. If you all haven't bought Presence yet what are you waiting for! #earlymodern 🗃️

(re)introducing myself now that I've crawled back on here: I'm a historian of medieval gender and sexuality, I'm about to start my new role as assistant professor at the university of rochester after two years as a marie skłodowska-curie postdoctoral fellow at trinity college dublin

Today is the Faber summer party AND the release of #AGoldenWorld in the US! Featured here with a few 17th century objects — a tobacco pipe & engraving of pearl divers. www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Gold... #Tudors #earlymodern

'Students’ positivity about all aspects of UK higher education courses has increased despite the problems facing the sector, according to the latest National Student Survey (NSS) results.' 80.9% positivity, up from 78.4% last year. So go on, sack us. 1/3

An Israeli strike in Gaza just before the kickoff of the Egypt-Argentina World Cup match killed a top Palestinian aid official who helped organize public screenings of the game across the enclave. apnews.com/article/gaza...

On my way, Clacton.

I’m starting to suspect that many in government think UKHE is too big and actively want courses to close, staff to be sacked, and unis to collapse. But this is hard to say publicly, so instead they go for a funding squeeze, leading to total chaos.

”This government is putting universities on a more secure financial footing”. This is simply barefaced-ly, brazenly, untrue and the evidence is all around us, at every institution in the UKHE sector. Simply saying it does not make it so.

TFW you leave the library to warm up - mmm lovely ☀️

Indeed we do! docs.google.com/document/d/e... I would add a line about the stupidity of cutting even further in the Strategic Priorities Grant, but may need to stop seething about that first. Do contact your MPs, many of them are too reliant on deeply stupid briefings from the DfE.

🚨 Call for Papers 🚨 @joshuarushton8.bsky.social and I are holding an online colloquium 'Environmental Approaches to the Reformation World' on 30 Sept 2026 🌳 🌊 ⛪ 🐄 Deadline for submissions 1 September.

ok gang what do we think this tiny note says then? i have "ms chrugs: " #earlymodern #paleography

New from me via @durham.ac.uk and @uk.theconversation.com 🙂

Anyone got any recommendations for freelance indexers? If you're experienced, drop me an email to [email protected] with the subject line "Indexing, Application for, My"

"What was once a worrying trend across a small number of disciplines is now an emergency, threatening all subjects. Courses are closing, provision is contracting, and geographical inequalities in access are becoming entrenched. Important skills and capabilities ... are being lost." #Skystorians

spent the last three hours assembling this terribly cheap garden furniture but now my boudoir is complete and can confirm that @erinmaglaque.bsky.social's presence is the perfect companion on this lovely evening

A REMINDER! WILL WORK FOR MONEY! joanneedge.co.uk/freelance-wo... #MedievalSky #EarlyModern

Absolutely flattered by this, and by the judges’ generous citation

this is why i love being part of @royalhistsoc.org the friendship + camaraderie at times like these is a gift. i wldn't know any of these incredible women from across the UK if it wasn't for the RHS. if you aren't a member, why not? JOIN. yr support allows us to keep advocating for the discipline 🗃️

What is happening at Exeter, Herts and elsewhere throughout the UK is barbaric. Please sign the linked petitions if you haven't already. ✊

#earlymodern 🗃️

absolute joy to hear about two brilliant first books from Chelsea Reutcke and @ewatson.bsky.social #EMBIC2026 can't wait to read them this summer!

So who will I see there?? #earlymodern 🗃️ can't wait!

recently i had the experience of listening to an AI generated conference paper... and... just... wow. what is this world.

CALL FOR PAPERS  📣   Experiencing Relief in Early Modern Britain: 1500-1800   We welcome papers from ECRs, PGRs, and established scholars. For more info (e.g., how to submit a paper) please see our website: earlymodernreliefconference2027.wordpress.com #earlymodern #earlymodernists #AcademicSky

The university of Exeter wants to get rid of a quarter of our humanities colleagues while the extreme right is on the rise. UCU is fighting back:

Extraordinary detail in the new book on Trump's second term administration

In case you didn’t know, Exeter uni, where I work, has announced a plan to make 25% of staff in my English department redundant. Left-over staff will do double the teaching while their research time will be shrunk to 1%. Meanwhile admissions for English at Exeter are HIGH, and on the rise this year

Our 2026 Supplement (#18) "Medicine, Race, and Slavery in the Transatlantic World, 1600–1850" Edited by @hsmurphy.bsky.social (@kingshistory.bsky.social @cemskcl.bsky.social) Has now been published by @academic.oup.com academic.oup.com/past/issue/2...

absolutely smashed gen zed in the bar i'm in just cornered me to ask how best to take photos with a disposable camera bc her "phone has died" and she "can't ask chat gpt" and i have never felt so old

Are you a 15th century king? Do you want to show that you’re down with this humanism stuff that your scholars keep talking about, but you’re also terrified of your own people & the damn French? Ask your architect if Fancy Renaissance Gate Sandwiched Between Existing Medieval Towers is right for you.