This was my favourite post in the series to write, because I truly believe in the power of community and of solidarity amongst ECRs. We should do all we can to lift each other up in a market that seems determined to push us down 🗃️

Fantastic new work by @drbernard.bsky.social - on the sexual policing side hustles of a humanist in 17th-c higher education, and its relationship to absolutism and much else.

Take good care of yourselves, seek out community, and know when to leave – some great advice here for PhD students and ECRs (My full response follows tomorrow!)

And the Peace Movements Project goes to… #Tunisia 🇹🇳 We’re currently in Tunis, tracing the history of peace movements in Tunisia and across the Maghreb—through archives, libraries, and living memories. Many more stories and voices coming soon—so stay tuned!

Take good care of yourselves, seek out community, and know when to leave – some great advice here for PhD students and ECRs (My full response follows tomorrow!)

“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/

I hate to break it to you guys, but...

I hate to break it to you guys, but...

"But also close down half of universities and turn them into vocational colleges just to open the conversation..." I find myself stunned by how the university sector – a central pillar of the British economy – is treated so glibly in public discourse, as if that pillar bears no load whatsoever

"A major shift in how we understand colonial growth in the early Caribbean, colonial-Indigenous relations, the origins of slavery in the Caribbean and North America, and the connections between piracy, privateering, and colonization." Greg O'Malley nails it. Congrats @csschmitt.bsky.social!

What should I read about French and English economic policy (“mercantilism”) in the second half of the seventeenth-century, particularly regarding (what else?) sugar and tobacco? I’ve read some old and new works, but I’m sure I’m missing many. @wadehistory.bsky.social @roperlou.bsky.social

The Economic History Review now has its own Bluesky account! Be sure to follow @echistsocreview.bsky.social for updates on the latest available articles. The Review publishes peer-reviewed advanced research on all aspects of economic and social history from around the world and from all periods.

Paris-Berlin sleeper: low carbon, 2 years old, constantly full, but currently losing SNCF a few million EUR/yr Intl Jet fuel tax exemptions are 80 years old and cost the EU 22 million EUR/yr for the Paris-Berlin route alone. And you're cutting... the sleeper? www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

"Public scepticism about the returns on skills investment are borne out of failure to expand the graduate labour market." Spot on.

"Public scepticism about the returns on skills investment are borne out of failure to expand the graduate labour market." Spot on.

"En tant que femmes, la société incite les doctorantes et jeunes docteures à être performantes à tous les niveaux. Elles doivent être des « femmes totales », à savoir des professionnelles efficaces, des conjointes attentives et des mères dévouées."

Day 270: Had so much fun today at the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival, watching Thomasina Miers dazzle as always, hearing (and tasting samples!) from Suffolk's world-leading craft chocolate makers, and sampling some remarkable Suffolk wines. Suffolk's food culture is truly spectacular

Day 270: Had so much fun today at the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival, watching Thomasina Miers dazzle as always, hearing (and tasting samples!) from Suffolk's world-leading craft chocolate makers, and sampling some remarkable Suffolk wines. Suffolk's food culture is truly spectacular

there is a parallel universe where the 3rd-wealthiest person on the planet is saying "If we end up misspending a couple $100b on developing green tech & decarbonizing, I think that's going to be very unfortunate, obviously. But what I'd say is I actually think the risk is higher on the other side"

I've said it before, but it's so dispiriting to see Starmer fail to live up to the rock-bottom expectations I had for his time in office. A policy measure that's both controversial in nature *and* ineffectual for dealing with the alleged problem is a sickening own goal the UK cannot afford right now

Look how pretty she is! I received my author copies of /Practices & Narratives of Early Modern Piracy/ today (officially published by @amsterdamupress.bsky.social on Monday). Will post more about individual chapters (including my own) next week - in the meantime, do ask your library to order a copy!

Teaching History is now up on JSTOR! I didn't know, but I love that it now makes me appear to be a far more accomplished scholar than I am 😭 (yet to publish from my PhD work).

This is a problem.

This sale includes lots of great books in #MaritimeHistory, including @jakedyble.bsky.social's "Managing Maritime Risk in Maritime Europe"! See the full list of books at the link below 👇

📢NEW MAILING LIST FOR CEMS!📢 Exeter's Centre for #EarlyModern Studies recently switched to a JiscMail list to allow people to join/unsubscribe more easily. FYI: we often host hybrid 🗃️ events. Interested? Instructions on how to join the mailing list are here: www.exeter.ac.uk/research/cen...

I've said it before, but it's so dispiriting to see Starmer fail to live up to the rock-bottom expectations I had for his time in office. A policy measure that's both controversial in nature *and* ineffectual for dealing with the alleged problem is a sickening own goal the UK cannot afford right now

What shall I get my second year students to read on medieval and early modern women and war? Waging it, supplying it, getting caught up in it, camp following it....

Another important blog from @wadehistory.bsky.social on what senior colleagues can do to support ECRs despite the confines of an ever increasing crisis in university funding

“Without the ideas+perspective of ECRs… there will be no new generation of scholars to take up ideas and push them in new directions” @wadehistory.bsky.social on “What can be done?” for the French History Network’s ECR in 2025 series frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6746/ 🗃️#FRHistory

This is an especially important blogpost, because ECRs know that senior scholars have far too much on their plate already, but the support of senior scholars (or lack thereof) makes a world of difference to the ECR experience. (My full response follows tomorrow!)

I need scans of 33 folios from the BnF. They quoted me €46, which seems high. Dear French historians, would it be cheaper to have someone photograph them? Recommendations welcome - happy to pay, of course.

"Children don't remember what you try to teach them," Jim once said. "They remember what you *are*." Look a child in the eye when you speak with them. Don't talk down to them. Love and support them. And remember: they're smarter than you think. Oh, and make them laugh. ALWAYS make them laugh. /7

Don’t wait - our 40% off paperback sale won’t last forever! What will you read next? Shop paperbacks 👉 buff.ly/ciNrRpl

For Gen Z men who voted for Trump, having children is their #1 priority, in a recent poll. For Gen Z women who voted for Harris, it ranked 12th. Major @jessicacalarco.com bait.

This is an especially important blogpost, because ECRs know that senior scholars have far too much on their plate already, but the support of senior scholars (or lack thereof) makes a world of difference to the ECR experience. (My full response follows tomorrow!)

Treat ECRs like people, prepare ECRs in our fields for other careers, only supervise students if you can really commit. It’s sad this stuff still needs saying. 2nd anon post in ECR in 2025 series on the French History Network asks “What can be done?” 🗃️#FRHistory frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6693/

What it sounds like when philosophers who are also anti-trans activists submit an amicus brief to a US court where they argue for banning trans girls and women from women's sports.

Everyone in academia should read this piece about our dear, brilliant colleague @durba.bsky.social www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

The Leverhulme Trust has teamed up with @britishacademy.bsky.social to produce Confessions of an Early Career Researcher, a new podcast by ECRs for ECRs. Tune in now: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/audio-video/... Read more about this collaboration: www.leverhulme.ac.uk/news/confess...

I'm very pleased to announce that the call for proposed Special Issues of the Historical Journal is now live, with a deadline of 12th December. Please do spread widely among your networks — @saracaputo.bsky.social and I look forward to reading your submissions! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

This is frustratingly unserious, essentially recommending that universities follow a corporate logic they are already following, but *better*. Corporate logic (concomitant with the marketisation of education) created this crisis in the first place – why would the solution be *more* of this logic?

This is frustratingly unserious, essentially recommending that universities follow a corporate logic they are already following, but *better*. Corporate logic (concomitant with the marketisation of education) created this crisis in the first place – why would the solution be *more* of this logic?

"As a First-Generation student...I’ve remained defiantly stubborn in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles throughout my life, but I’ve had to accept the sobering reality that I am statistically likely to run out of road in academia sooner or later" 🫩

First post of the new academic year and it's a good one: JOBS! There are THREE fixed-term research jobs in @kingshistory.bsky.social attached to my colleague Francisco Bethencourt's new ERC project on the Visual and Material Culture of New Christians. Please circulate! #EarlyModern 🗃️

Biden's decision to sideline Harris in the years 2020 to 2024 was such a grave mistake. She had to run a condensed campaign with all the baggage of the administration on her shoulders, while being unable to claim any credit for its accomplishments herself, which was the worst of all possible worlds.

do you work in a university/faculty/school in the UK that abolished “departments”? willing to share experiences (by DM if preferred)? RTs also appreciated

Yes, we are right to feel indignant in the face of this job market. Thanks to the FHN for inviting me to write about being an ECR in 2025. In this post, I reflect on being on the market this year. Sadly, my own experience is one that will be familiar to many ECRs on the market right now

Another powerful blog post and kudos @wadehistory.bsky.social I don’t think “ECR” works as a meaningful label any more E - “early” is based on an out of date PhD➡️ postdoc➡️ permanent timeline C - “career” is wildly optimistic for most of us R - how many of us in teaching jobs get paid to research?

This follow-up to the sobering first, anonymous assessment of the state of affairs for early career scholars in French history is a must-read. Waiving your anonymity @wadehistory.bsky.social made for a very powerful article.

I also think the assumption was “You need to be ridiculously lucky to get an open ended job, but only once”. And then the wave of redundancies began, and I realised you also only need to be unlucky once.