A meme for the modern university...

the booker prize judges make a lot of fuss about having to read 153 books. but assuming an average weight of 750g per book, that comes in at 115kg of literature - or just under the weight of a single adult male ostrich

we are super excited to launch our student research blog Odd China Out. submissions bridging scholarly work with a wider audience, in English or bilingual, are welcome! oddchinaout.wordpress.com

think that realistically I would have always been deeply, deeply worried about the rise of far-right ideas in public discourse but I truly never expected this level of blithe elite complacency, turns out I do feel worried but mostly I feel like I'm going insane, watching them do.......nothing at all

❓ What is security in an age of catastrophic climate change? 📖 Our special issue "Critical Climate Security" in Geoforum provides new concepts, approaches, and methodologies for rethinking the climate-security nexus from a critical perspective. www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

🎉 3 (grade 7) Lecturer positions open Cardiff University in: 🌎 Non-western (espc non US) Foreign Policy/War/Security Studies 📝 Political theory inc history of political thought 📚 History & theory of colonialism & its legacies in politics & IR Apply here 👉

I miss the days when it was socially unacceptable to talk like a Nazi

I’ll be presenting tomorrow at 14.00 on Xi Jinping’s Global Security Initiative and then at 16.00 I’m on a Global IR panel talking about my forthcoming OUP book, Securing China: Worlding Security Studies #EISAPEC2025 come join!

Starting off my #EISAPEC2025 with a great panel on women, gender, and sex in the history of international relations 🥳

Worth a read:

South China Morning Post yesterday. Not ideal. Don't think these things aren't noticed around the world: they are. (1/2)

Some thoughts on the UK China research survey:

What strange times, when the commander of RAF Greenham Common is coming out as a liberal supporter of the right to protest

China’s cyber-abuse scandal: is the government unwilling to crack down on exploitation of women online? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a....

this is widely thought to be because on the current trajectory no one believes there will be any people, culture, or environments to measure in 2029

Swedish Defence University advertises two postdoc positions focused on narrative geopolitics, or how emotional and widely circulated narratives shape international security, great power relations & geostrategic rivalry. fhs.varbi.com/en/what:job/... fhs.varbi.com/en/what:job/... Deadline: 31 Aug

This is a very illuminating essay that compellingly situates Starmer in the post-war human rights regime. It’s almost as much about that latter topic as it is Starmer himself.

is translation undervalued in Anglophone academe? In China, translation is considered proper academic outputs, with both formal (e.g. for performance review & promotion) and informal recognition (reputation in wider society). it reflects (and constitutes)

The IDF reportedly uses Chinese commercial drones for its operations in Gaza: “Soldiers most commonly use EVO drones, produced by the Chinese company Autel, which are primarily intended for photography. However, with a military-issued attachment, a hand grenade can be affixed to the drone”

Just remembered a friend telling me about how she put herself into chatGTP to see what it would say, and it was hmm not flattering. I’m now mostly bemused:

New from me: How China's clean energy manufacturing boom is helping reduce CO2 emissions overseas. In 2024, China’s exports of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles are shaved 1% off global emissions outside of China.

Terrible. When I got my AHRC PhD funding I applied directly to the AHRC with my own project. Now students are increasingly tied in to what universities and partner organisations want them to do, stifling research independence - plus fewer projects getting funded overall.

Interesting read on *that* Princeton University Press tour: Princeton University Press Stumbles Into a Xinjiang Tour Debacle thediplomat.com/2025/07/prin...

Check out this fascinating new article on Resisting Prevent, unpacking forms of everyday resistance to #counterterrorism by @amnakaleem.bsky.social in IPS: academic.oup.com/ips/article/...

Fantastic read on queer life on the margins:

Two new teaching positions for the upcoming academic year @PAIR, University of Southampton: Politics and IR: 3164325CC Teaching Fellow in Politics and International Relations Political Theory: 3165325CC Teaching Fellow in Political Theory and American Politics

Every now and then I have a flashback to the time when a reviewer was incensed I hadn't cited a particular book, after which I spent forever tracking said book down, only to discover that it was only published in German 🫠

RIS is a @mybisa.bsky.social journal, and we are celebrating BISA's 50th anniversary this year. Check out some of the reflections on BISA at 50 from the recent conference: buff.ly/6IRxiaw buff.ly/sPHjU56 buff.ly/igUF3il

📣 join us! We are advertising a 0.6 PT lectureship in #InternationalRelations for 18 months. Closing date 27 July ⬇️ jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Universi...

I won't be able to write from the grave so let me tell you what I love: Fanny Howe, from selected poems (2001)

The season of Western multilateral summitry (G7, NATO) may be over, but the diplomatic show must go on. In this @ejir.bsky.social piece, I argue that summitry is a performance producing what I call the "social international," or the intl system of state persons journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Started today with the painful realisation that a chapter I have probably spent about 4 months working on as part of my book project isn't really needed. Now feel like throwing a toddler-style tantrum and/or a very large glass of wine.

Research paper | What the UK must get right in its China strategy The UK government needs a more systematic, clear-eyed and long-term strategy to deal with the challenges presented by 🇨🇳, writes @wmatthewschina.bsky.social (@chasiapacific.bsky.social). Read our new paper⬇️

Sutton Trust research has consistently shown that the most significant impact on graduate income remains… their parental income and upbringing. We still have a class system in this country and even the most universal and comprehensive university system would not entirely undo that!

“Statutory maternity leave allows most new mums and birthing parents to take up to 52 weeks off work. Statutory maternity pay is paid for up to 39 weeks” right yes I wonder if anyone in government can see the GLARING PROBLEM with this

Two fully funded PhDs with me at SOAS. Within my ERC project; one researching in Paris, the other in Düsseldorf. Exploring the impact of Chinese capital on European urban space, the cultural industries, and social media. More info here: drive.google.com/file/d/12srA... Deadline is 21 July.

🧵: It’s worth unpacking how the lines that PUP draws almost verbatim from party-state propaganda— most notably about “telling the story” of Xinjiang, which echoes Xi’s call to “tell the China story well” — have very specific applications to task the denial of abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslims

Haven't heard this one before - international university rankings as a threat to Hong Kong's "cultural security". www.chinadailyasia.com/hk/article/6...

This is just an incredible story. A leadership team from Princeton University Press went on a propaganda tour in Xinjiang (strangely, in a subsequent public statement the press described some of the basic mechanics of a propaganda tour when defending its actions).

This looks great:

The government response to this petition is infuriating. “Maternity and other types of Parental Pay are intended to provide a measure of financial security to support parents whilst they are away from the workplace; they are not a replacement of earnings” except they literally are??? Please sign:

Went to the UK premiere of this incredible new documentary by Violet du Feng last night: highly recommend if you get a chance to catch it! youtu.be/-ImZJTE5XRA?...

Discussing Xi Jinping this week on the Spectator podcast. Porn Britannia, Xi’s absence & no more lonely hearts? www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/porn...

Fab new article in @secdialogue.bsky.social by @sunsibei.bsky.social on Britain and Hong Kong This quote 🤯

Hong Kong’s National Security Police has warned the public that possession of this video game (along with making in-app purchases) is grounds for arrest for secession or subversion under Article 23 www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/...

🚨 New Publication in International Political Sociology: #Sociability, #Emotions, and Encounters with the Uncommon Other: World-Making at the Rokumeikan Find the paper here (open-access): academic.oup.com/ips/article/...

Today's "Article I wish I had written" is: What does security look like? Exploring interpretive photography as method? by @jknyman.bsky.social and Adam Ferhani. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... Fab resource for anyone thinking about visual politics and methods.

Have officially registered and booked flights for @europeanisa.bsky.social PEC in Bologna 🥳