This is a great opportunity for ECAs to gain experience in leadership, event organisation, and advocacy. We are a very nice bunch (🫶) and given the challenges in the field, it is more important than ever to have strong representation across different languages in the SIG! 💙

@katharinemurphy.bsky.social and I are very grateful to @cforsdick.bsky.social for wrapping up our takeover of @the-polyphony.bsky.social and for his generous words about the @readingbodies.bsky.social project 💙

In Part 4 of the @readingbodies.bsky.social takeover, @rocio.bsky.social discusses the colonial legacies of nineteenth-century medical metaphors and demonstrates their ongoing relevance for the present day. thepolyphony.org/2025/10/23/m...

Happy to share that my piece - 'Languages, Medical Humanities and Policy: Intersections in Research and Practice’ - is out today on @the-polyphony.bsky.social as part of this week's @readingbodies.bsky.social takeover! thepolyphony.org/2025/10/21/l...

Exceptionally bleak, but painfully familiar.

As part of our Special Issue, I wrote my first article engaging with Disability Studies & crip theory (eek) and discovered the brilliant work of @sunaura.bsky.social, Élaina Gauthier-Mamaril & @kirstyliddiard1.bsky.social, among others. I couldn’t recommend their work more! 🔗 tinyurl.com/2emhnz7w

Thrilled that @katharinemurphy.bsky.social and my co-edited Special Issue is now out in the Journal of Romance Studies! 🎉 Huge thanks to our contributors across French, Spanish, Italian & Portuguese studies—showing the value of a multilingual approach to the Medical Humanities: tinyurl.com/mrxmznsm

So excited to share this open-access resource, shaped by real stories of burnout from our creative writing workshops & anthology. Hoping it shows how languages research can make a difference in healthcare spaces!

And you get to co-chair the ECA Special Interest Group with @llewelynhopwood.bsky.social and me, helping to improve the current challenges faced by ECAs in Modern Languages (spoiler alert: the job market...) 💙

Looking forward to Marie Martine’s upcoming workshop with @oxpolicyengaged.bsky.social: 'Policy Engagement and the Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) – Workshop for Languages Researchers’ - Tuesday 15 July @ 16.00-17.30. Open to researchers at any level! Sign up here: forms.office.com/e/ymAexCJxAA ✍️

An important call for evidence on the current state of Higher Education - in particular the impact of Government policy on international students and higher education insolvency protections. Do consider contributing if you can 💪

A great lineup of speakers for our next UCFL ECA event - come along!

As co-chairs of the ECA Special Interest Group, feel free to ask me, @llewelynhopwood.bsky.social or @ashleyscottharris.bsky.social any questions about this role!

@themhra.bsky.social is hiring another Policy Postdoctoral Researcher 🎉 This is an amazing opportunity for ECAs to gain policy experience, and I couldn’t recommend working with @wendya-b.bsky.social and @cforsdick.bsky.social more highly! Find out more here: tinyurl.com/mvzce4nt

Come and join the @ucflangs.bsky.social family! Hiring a new Vice Chair Research, Vice Chair External Engagement and Comms, Slavonic Rep, Early Career Rep, & Project Coordinator! Make a difference at a crucial time for UK languages in HE! @ucflangs.bsky.social @ucfl-eca.bsky.social @ilcs.bsky.social

Register now to join our online event - ‘An Introduction to Policy Engagement & Languages Research’ - 5th June, 16:00. We have a fantastic line-up of speakers who will be sharing their experiences engaging with policy and policymakers. All are welcome: tinyurl.com/y3er47es

Very happy to see my article - 'Black and White Memories: Reframing Childhood Colonial Images in Caderno de Memórias Coloniais' - out in the world. This Special Issue has been several years in the making, so a huge thank you goes to our fantastic co-editors Maria Luísa Coelho and Daniela Omlor 💙

Thank you so much to everyone who attended this event last week, and in particular Sarah Moss, @katharinemurphy.bsky.social and @laurasalisbury.bsky.social. If you couldn’t attend - fear not! - you can find a recording of the conversation on our website: readingbodies.exeter.ac.uk/2025/05/16/w...

Are you a languages researcher keen to get involved in policy engagement but not sure where to start? Join my online talk tomorrow at 12:00 - part of the @ilcs.bsky.social Thinking Strategically Seminar Series - to find out how and where to begin! Sign up here: tinyurl.com/yc298jvw

Happening next Wednesday - everyone welcome!

Very happy to be interviewed with @wendya-b.bsky.social and @cforsdick.bsky.social about our project to create a database of impact-focused summaries of languages research for policymakers - thank you to @themhra.bsky.social for their support, and stay tuned for updates! tinyurl.com/bdzner29

A great read to learn more about Wendy and Charles' fantastic work on language, policy, and education at Murray Edwards College 💬 @wendya-b.bsky.social @cforsdick.bsky.social @mmll-cambridge.bsky.social

Very happy to represent Portuguese Studies at the @hispanists-ahgbi.bsky.social conference in sunny Edinburgh this week. I presented my work on crip theory and Fernando Pessoa on a panel with the fantastic @katharinemurphy.bsky.social @petehr.bsky.social and Álvaro González Montero 💙

Join us for the final public event of the Reading Bodies project, where @katharinemurphy.bsky.social will be in conversation online with bestselling author Sarah Moss, discussing all things writing, health and the body. Our Q&A will be chaired by @laurasalisbury.bsky.social 📣💬 shorturl.at/eSnpY

Looking forward to presenting alongside @katharinemurphy.bsky.social @petehr.bsky.social and Álvaro Gonzalez Montero for our panel 'Cultural Portrayals of Illnesses and Disabilities in the Modern Luso-Hispanic World’. Taking place on April 8 @ 9.00 - come along! 💬🩺

Launching the opinion articles in our LPS collection @cforsdick.bsky.social , a great piece by John Worne. He argues the UK’s national narrative needs to evolve: rather than focusing only on 'fluency', a more appropriate measure is proficiency and utility. www.lspjournal.com/post/the-uk-...

If you're interested in public engagement, check out @katharinemurphy.bsky.social and my interview with the Public Engagement with Research (PER) team at @exeter.ac.uk, where we share our insights and top tips from our recent work on the Reading Bodies project: tinyurl.com/3mbtnyde 💬

'We must not let advanced linguistic and cultural skills slip away out of a misinformed sense that technology will solve all our problems or that colonialism’s legacy will always fatally undermine efforts to promote better transnational understanding'

The latest episode of the Conversations about Arts, Humanities and Health podcast has me and the excellent Stuart Murray talking about uncertainty - as a critical approach, in #MedHums, and in HE more broadly. creators.spotify.com/pod/show/con...

On Cardiff’s proposals regarding the teaching of languages and cultures The global examination of culture is not possible without languages at degree level, say Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Charles Burdett and Emma Cayley www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/card...

Hannie Lawlor and @raquelmenendez.bsky.social have done an amazing job organising this five-week series (!!) on women’s life writing at the @ilcs.bsky.social - you can check out the full programme here: shorturl.at/hybxs 💙

40.2 is out! 'Filmed Representations of Former Portuguese Asia & The Indian Ocean', special issue ed. Maria do Carmo Piçarra. Articles by Yuxuan Liu, Maria do Carmo Piçarra, Paulo Cunha, Jessica Falconi, Ana Isabel Soares, Lurdes Macedo, H. Benedito Ferrão + reviews. www.mhra.org.uk/publications...

Very happy to announce that the Reading Bodies x Riptide Anthology is now available! Made up of creative writing contributions from the public (and a few familiar faces! 👀) exploring the theme of burnout, overload and resilience 💙 Flipbook: tinyurl.com/4xjbrz8t / Download: tinyurl.com/readingbodies

We've arrived! 📣 Follow along and find out about our upcoming 2025 events, much-welcomed job alerts (!), and general languages-related content. Plus feel free to familiarise yourself with our ever-growing list of languages reps: university-council-for-languages.org/early-career...

Thank you so much to everyone who came to the O Movimento das Coisas screening last night as part of the 13th UTOPIA Portuguese Film Festival, and to the leadingwomenproject.com for inviting me to give the introduction. You can still grab tickets here! www.festival-utopia.org/programme

Now in the second year of my AHRC Fellowship on multilingual medical humanities, @oliviaglaze.bsky.social and I have decided to launch a Reading Bodies Multilingual Network to connect with others in the field. Find out more here: @readingbodies.bsky.social

New issue of the Languages, Society and Policy journal launched, with a special guest-edited collection on Languages in UK Education. First papers available now, with an introduction by Wendy Bennett and Charles Forsdick. Keep your eyes open for more! x.com/LSPjournal/s... @ilcs.bsky.social

As part of our AHRC project, Katharine Murphy and I are launching the Reading Bodies Multilingual Network 🎉 If you're interested in a Medical Humanities network that connects different languages, cultures, and geographies, then this is the spot for you! Come and join in! @readingbodies.bsky.social 💙