In case leaving a post here can help inform someone on MSCA postdocs and maternity leave, here's what to know: 🧵

Apparently the European commission, a bureaucratic behemoth, do not collect any data on the postdocs who leave before the end of their fellowships. In the world where this sort of data is collected even by my local gym, that seems pretty remiss #pregnantthenscrewed

I have spent much of my Marie Curie postdoc getting my head around the fact that Europe's premier fellowship scheme - which requires its applicants to wax about gender equality - has an average age of 36 and basically no provision for paid maternity leave. Just astonishing.

Talking of nudging the ladder downwards, sitting on the sofa trapped under a baby somehow feels like a very good time to send an FOI request to the European commission about how many women vs men quit their MSCA fellowships...

Apparently the application process for research fellowships at Cambridge has FINALLY been streamlined between colleges, and it's no longer a dozen separate websites. And I am absolutely going to fantasize that this is partly because of my attempts while I was there. A celebratory cup of tea for me.

“Know how to make this work for you.” This is the last set of posts from the French History Network ECR in 2025* We asked what advice ECRs would give to other ECRs or PG students. 🗃️ frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6695/

“Cataclysmically bad” This new series of ECR blog posts on the French History Network makes for grim reading, perhaps grimmer even than some in UK #FrenchHistory might have realised. 1st post, anon ECRs in French History on what it’s like right now out there: frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6691/ 🗃️

"I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one." Omar Bartov, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University. archive.ph/0dpn2

You'd think feminist scholars already had Balthus covered but, apart from a short plea from Linda Nochlin, it turns out they mostly didn't. So, contrary to all plans, I found myself writing an article, and it's here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... Photo of proof stage, assistant included.

It is an obscenity that this has happened and continues to happen. Starvation as a weapon of war, and murdering people queueing for food! Obscene and savage, and continuing with the collusion of countries like the UK and US.

We found that AI tools - both general like #ChatGPT and research-specific like #Elicit - lack the reliability, relevancy and accuracy to summarise research for teachers. This is important because we have been sold the idea that AI will make research more accessible.

HOW HOW HOW HOW HOW HOW HOW HOW HOW IS THIS ALLOWED TO HAPPEN???????? www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Academia in 2025: For weeks I’ve been working through botched copy-edits of my monograph, outsourced by the publisher to a company I’d never heard of, until it finally dawned on me the terrible job might be AI. A quick search confirmed the company recently launched new AI software, which now means..

The use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited by the 1949 Geneva Conventions. And yet, with US govt support, this war crime by Israel’s govt continues. 'Situation is dire' - BBC returns to Gaza baby left hungry by Israeli blockade www.bbc.com/news/article...

Writers, if your books have been illegally used to train LLMs sign this. chng.it/YQbkcbXW6N

This is a national scandal. When will the government wake up and realise they are presiding over the rapid implosion of the UK's world-renowned university sector?

This fellowship, supporting a 'first step towards independence' (aww), is actually for ECRs who have been postdocs for - checks notes- up to 7 years🫠 Yes, I'm sure the reason your applicants don't have permanent posts is that we have not gained any independence in 7 years of fighting for our lives.

Cannot wait to read this!! 👇

Naum Gabo, Untitled, 1950 https://botfrens.com/collections/14375/contents/1115543

While the year is still newish, I want to share this print, given to its first owner on New Year's day, 1919. About a century later, I bought it at a flea market for €15. The thing I love most about it, though, is the frame! It's made out of thick paper, presumably by the artist. However... 1/3

Sorry to hear of the passing of Christopher Neve. His book Unquiet Landscape is treasure for anyone who thinks about art-making in terms of process, practice, and thought

Brief update on our ongoing efforts to allow users to specify consent (or not) for AI training: 🧵

Target is selling some M&S Christmas stuff this year, and I spent so long staring at this bag trying to parse its geography. Why is there a bus on what appears to be a pedestrian area? Why is Tower Bridge perpendicular to the other bridges?? It’s gotta be AI, right?

I'm still finding my feet here, but being stared at wildly from 1958 is a good start to the week already - Jean Cooke (1927–2008)

Right I made my own dang starter pack for art historians and art-adjacent people, lmk if I missed anyone off go.bsky.app/VLoexp2

Art historians and art-history lovers! Here's a starter pack of art historians, as well as art critics and reporters, on Bluesky. So many wonderful people here—please follow, and please use this link to invite other art historians to join Bluesky! go.bsky.app/NKHmh87

It's not every archive that requires a residential stay at an abbey, but luckily for researchers of 20C French culture, the IMEC in Caen does - what a week! Also, Normandy in November is misty!

Come find me in Newcastle, or online, to hear about my current research into postwar Marseille, industrial pollution, urban development, and petrochemical toxicity. Total downer of a topic, but I promise to tell jokes (badly).

Sigh. These were such perfect bookmarks.

Just in case you’re like me and get a mini heart attack from auto-playing videos - you can disable it from Settings > Accessibility I had previously disabled autoplay for GIFs and it seems to have automatically updated it for video too.

This coming Monday Sep. 16 at 10am Eastern time, I'll be doing an online book talk for the Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities on my recently-released book on Van Gogh, industrial pollution & climate change. Zoom joining info available at link below: newnatures.org/greenhouse/e...

Job alert 🔊 1-year post at Durham University in the fields of Visual Arts + French language Pourrait convenir aux historien.nes de l'art qui parlent français ! Deadline is next Sunday! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DJO958/t...

Excellent piece that is well worth a read. Sharks, Olympics & a horror for the Anthropocene!

Welcome to all of our new users, and a special welcome to the UK, which had the most Bluesky signups of any country for 5 out of the last 7 days! What makes Bluesky different? Some key features: 🧵

Welcome to BlueSky, history emigres from the Bad Place. Remember there’s no algorithm here serving you up posts (and dross) by default. If you don’t follow and engage, your timeline will seem very empty. So follow and engage. There’s a lot of good conversation here.

New book alert! An argument about how empathy will not save us from the situation we find ourselves in, and about the need to build political solidarities on the basis of an obligation to care, not a capacity to love. Also art and literature. Chapter on Gaza too.

Jobs! Senior Lecturer www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DFC005/s... and Lecturer in Creative and Cultural Industries www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DFB997/l... at University of Manchester. Deadline 29th Jan

New Year, new job? Post-doc researcher with National Trust on an amazing project exploring the benefits of heritage and the outdoors, a collaboration with Uni of Exeter: bit.ly/41LiGZ2

Jem Perucchini's mural, 'Rebirth of a Nation', unveiled this morning at Brixton Underground.

Very excited by the news of William Kentridge’s appointment as Slade Professor at Oxford Art History 23/24 He will be hosting a series of in-person lectures as part of a series called “A Natural History of the Studio" - details announced soon.

"As a result of the changes, AHRC expects to fund one quarter fewer PhD students, reducing from 425 to around 300 new studentships per year by 2029 to 2030." www.ukri.org/news/update-...