Dear colleagues, we are delighted to invite you to our DigiPol research seminar given by DigiPol visiting fellow Tomás Dodds. Wednesday 3.30pm to 5pm School of the Arts Library or email [email protected] to join online. Abstract below. Please re skeet!

When benefits are denied by data not humans: In a botched 'crackdown' on benefit fraud, a woman who booked a flight from London to Oslo but never got on the plane had her child benefit stopped by the UK government - because she didn't 'return'. HMRC told her their records showed she had emigrated!

For anyone in the Liverpool area, we are hosting a conversation and hands-on workshop on abortion rights and creative methods as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science - come join us! Sign up here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/claire-piers... @livunihss.bsky.social @livunipol.bsky.social

New publication from faculty members Dr. Rudi Palmieri and Dr. Ekaterina Balabanova! link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

If any Government can just snatch basic human rights away from any section of society when it pleases then none of us has rights – just privileges that can be taken away by people in power whenever they want

Why is @ucu.org.uk engaging in the very behaviour that we/it publicly call out when members’ employers employ such tactics? It is shameful. It undermines every branch of #UCU It’s utterly destructive to staff morale and our branches’ leverage Not in our name. Solidarity @uniteucu.bsky.social

Reminder! ⚠️ The deadline to submit your abstract and/or panel to our joint conference "Navigating Digital Democracy" with @psampg.bsky.social is fast approaching! ⌛ Full details on the CfP, with info on the topics for consideration, fees and prizes here 👉 www.bournemouth.ac.uk/navigating-d...

🔴 NEW 🔴 Trump’s ambassador to the UK has hundreds of millions invested in the Big Tech companies that will benefit from this week's trade deal. 📝 @desmog.com story 👇

🌟Submissions open: "Anti-Racist Feminist Politics: Thinking with Backlash, Creating New Worlds" at ECPG 2026 🌟 ecpr.eu/Events/Event... Organised by @drashleec.bsky.social Akwugo Emejulu, Leah Bassel & me @ecprgender.bsky.social @nclpolitics.bsky.social @psa-race.bsky.social @bsarace.bsky.social

Congratulations to Dr Antje Glück and her co-authors for winning Journal Article of the Year at MeCCSA 2025 for their Journalism Studies article 'Fighting Against the Machine: Inside a Solutions Journalism Campaign in UK Local Newsrooms'. www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-ant...

We have an exhibition accompanying our events at the British Science Festival this weekend about the voyager space probes! It explores the ideas and legacy of the Voyager space probes. You can read more context (and view the exhibition!) here: digitalheritagelab.liverpool.ac.uk/voyager

Actively resent the fact we’re expected to listen to a press conference on “mass deportations” as if this is a perfectly normal, mainstream thing and not the unhinged rantings of a racist who is somehow on my television.

Did Tommy Robinson put together this lead story? Half the British press seems to actively want pogroms

This Bloomsbury writing fellowship sounds great. It is 'open to UK-based, up-and-coming authors and researchers who identify as Black, Asian or Ethnically Diverse (BAED)' with a 1 October deadline. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/...

Far right groups are threatening to burn down hotels full of refugees at events attended by senior politicians, while people of colour live in fear after being falsely labelled as paedophiles How mainstream politicians and media organisations are allowing a violent far right movement to spread

As asylum seekers are engulfed by slurs and lies, our leaders shrug. Truly, this is shameful | Frances Ryan

🔴Online Safety Act is Forcing Brits to Hand Over Their Data to ‘Unregulated’ Overseas Corporations With Questionable Privacy Records Age verification firms used by social media platforms include company tied to a Trump-supporting billionaire and a firm set up by former Israeli intelligence ...

📢 Please share with your networks and anyone you think might be interested! 📢 I'm looking for participants for my research project on young women's understanding of paid work on and through social media, including phenomena such as the #girlboss #corporatequeen or #lazygirljobs.

Palestine Action co-founder wins permission to challenge ban

📣 Working on tech, journalism and politics. Making sense of the implications of tectonic changes? Submit to our @digitaljournalism.bsky.social special issue Info: drive.google.com/file/d/182p3... 🗓️ Abstracts: September 15 @curdknupfer.bsky.social @lenafrescamente.bsky.social @gehrke.bsky.social

Disabled people’s orgs have told the Guardian that plans to exempt only existing claimants from the cuts will create a “two-tier” benefit system that “condemns” future disabled people to poverty. As one said, “Is it even legal?” My story on the fallout: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Ahead of a crucial vote on cuts to disability benefits, our new evidence casts doubt on whether jobs are even available for disabled people facing cuts 📢 The analysis found that the parts of the country among the hardest hit by the cuts have fewer job opportunities 1/3

39 lecturers at Liverpool Hope face redundancy. “This will devastate our community, the university’s reputation, and the local economy.” Roberto Catello, branch secretary. #StopTheCuts #UCU www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

#Dreamteam 😍 Yesterday @digipol.bsky.social hosted the launch of the Online Safety Toolkit - a training resource for all those working in politics and how to stay safe online. Make sure to check it out here: saferpolitics.org

NEWS I Launched today in the @sotauol.bsky.social library, a vital new online safety resource for political parties and their communications teams. Read more ⬇️ news.liverpool.ac.uk/2025/06/09/u... @digipol.bsky.social @livunihss.bsky.social @jocoxfoundation.bsky.social @local.gov.uk

Yesterday we launched our SaferPolitics toolkit and training resources which are designed to support politicians and their staff with online safety based on research by @rosalynd.bsky.social & I. Find out more 👇 saferpolitics.org @digipol.bsky.social @commmedia.bsky.social

📢 @commmedia.bsky.social is looking for a fixed term lecturer (12 months) starting in Sept to cover teaching across news media, research methods and digital auidences. Deadline for apps 30 June 2025. Please share! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI734/l...

Temporary Lecturer (Media and Politics) in the Dept of Communication and Media, U of Liverpool Full time, from 1 Sept 2025 until 31 Aug 2026. Preference will be given to applicants whose research and teaching focuses on media, politics and society. Please share! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI734/l...

WHY DO NONE OF THESE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND WHAT FOREIGN AID IS FOR

Delightful evening celebrating my colleague Prof Yannis Tzioumakis at his inaugural professorial lecture!

Any politician who wants to ban migration for care homes should be forced to wait 9 hours for the toilet. I imagine pandering to anti-immigration groups would then feel as painful and illogical as it does to disabled and older people left without care workers. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Striking that this pitch rolling exercise to abdicate all responsibility for the coming disaster in U.K. unis is placed in the Telegraph Says a lot about who Labour thinks it’s speaking to, while avoiding doing anything about something will have a *huge* impact in many seats it (currently) holds

Terrifying but vital research from @Medact As I say in the piece: Landlords increase rents to eye-watering levels & now we're seeing the consequences – it's making people & our economy sicker. The govt must address the plague of unaffordable rents via controls & council housing

'Beyond the Manosphere: Exploring the Wider Phenomenon of Male-Centred Online Communities' 3rd June 4-6pm (Online) Our @craighaslop.bsky.social will be on this exciting panel exploring the ‘manosphere’. It's free and online! www.eventsforce.net/cugroup/fron...

This week, as part of World Press Freedom Day, DigiPol director Dr Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova and team launched the Global Index on Journalists' Safety based on data from the Worlds of Journalism Study and Unesco Data on journalist killings. Read more here- news.liverpool.ac.uk/2025/05/08/u...

Join us and our line-up of fantastic speakers on 21st May for our joint MeCCSA Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial network and Women's network event Paradoxes of Visibility: Negotiating Race and Gender in the UK Political and Media Landscape on Zoom! You can register here: tinyurl.com/4mn29cc4

We are now approaching 4,000 formally announced university redundancies in the UK since January alone. The real situation is far worse than that, and will also accelerate going forwards. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-univ...

Labour's new policy - of humiliating trans people by requiring them constantly to self-identify - we believe puts the UK (again) in breach of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and will seek a declaration of incompatability. goodlaw.social/0r6l

We unequivocally support UCU staff on strike today! They have been so supportive, knowledgeable and hard working for our branch over the years. We can always count on them to have our backs. It's time to have theirs. Read our branch statement to Jo Grady the GS too. It's time to resolve this dispute

Do you want to join a leading research centre on constitutional reform? We are welcoming applicants to The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme for September 2026 entry. In order to apply, get in touch with your proposed mentor by 13 May 2025. Find out more 👇

New survey of UK journalists shows how the profession has changed in the last 10 years: - A shift away from permanent contracts - Lingering inequalities in pay/promotions - Ongoing technological changes that bring benefits but also worsen risks - Shifting ideas of roles and ethics Thread here:

Not just foolish but dangerous, exposing already marginalised people to harassment and violence. And the callousness with which some politicians treat what they see as a "culture war" issue rather than actual lives feeds that permissive atmosphere of violent bigotry. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

abolish-sex.ghost.io/its-not-abou... It's not about defining Woman

Here's @leelum.bsky.social doing a fab job presenting our work with @psuwantawit.bsky.social at the final @techpolicy.bsky.social panel of the day! #psa25

As part of the Homotopia takeover of Museum of Liverpool and the Holly Johnson exhibition (Sat 5th April), @mbpearl.bsky.social and myself will be talking "Don't Relax! Culture, Protest, and Music during the AIDS Crisis" event info here: www.homotopia.net/events/homot...

Big news from our COSME PGR centre who are launching the CFP for their Conference "Disruption, Resistance and Change in Screen Media Industries"! 🎥 May 19th, UoL Campus. Please re-share and forward to relevant people. #commsky #AcademicSky #FilmSky www.liverpool.ac.uk/communicatio... 🧵🧵🧵

*PSA Event* Troubled Times: #Gender & #Politics in the 21st Century. 17 - 18 June, from @psawomenpol.bsky.social. Taking place at @gain-centre.bsky.social at the University of Southampton. Register online: buff.ly/kucPF9V #womenshistorymonth

Kemi Badenoch, who just declared Net Zero is "impossible" to reach, received donations from funders of a Tufton Street climate science denial group that campaigns against the target One donor, who chairs 'Net Zero Watch' hosted her campaign HQ in his home bylinetimes.com/2025/03/18/k...

📢📢 WE ARE RECRUITING PARTICIPANTS📢📢 If you are interested in Dungeons and Dragons or TTRPGs more generally and would like to be involved in research seeking to create accessible and inclusive games and resources for players and GMs then check out this #CFP @commmedia.bsky.social

📣 New artilcle from Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova, Mark Pogson and colleagues 'Media Capture, Survival of the Corruptest and Journalistic Agency: The Case of Bulgaria' published in International Journal of Press/Politics. Available open access here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...