iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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edelsemple.bsky.social @edelsemple.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Another glimpse at my Introduction to the OWC #Shakespeare #Pericles, this time introducing two of the play’s female characters. Follow along for more and tune into my #OxfordWorldsClassics @engfac.bsky.social webinar with Prof Emma Smith @oldfortunatus.bsky.social on Tuesday 2 Nov! (1/5)

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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

There is still time left to apply for the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants. The scheme supports UK-based postdoctoral – or equivalent – researchers in pursuing primary research in the humanities and social sciences. Apply now: bit.ly/4iwQQtI

British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants, deadline of 4 November 2026. Independent scholars deadline 28 October 2026

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James Butler @piercepenniless.bsky.social · 20h

And, you know, it might be that in a world characterised by mistrust and outright deception, a rediscovery of Reithian virtues now reinforced by a sense of independence from government might actually be a winning news formula.

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 14h

This, by @starcrossed2018.bsky.social, has been my early autumn companion, and it’s such a wonderful and illuminating read. I love this eloquent observation about early modern making.

Book Textile Shakespeare by Hester Lees-Jeffries on table with plant, tray, and lit candle

surely made a difference that Shakespeare
(and Marlowe) grew up in an environment in which a single hide, already technologically and culturally transformed but still residually animalic, was cut into tiny, two-dimensional pieces in order to be crafted into complex, intricate, three-dimensional objects, objects which relied, for the full expression of their meaning and purpose, upon their embodiment, being inhabited and animated by human actors, whose body parts, and skin, they both concealed and resembled.
Recognising this, however, need not simply be a default to biography, to the facts (known or imagined) of a single life.

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Alice Wickenden @awickenden.bsky.social · 19h

Anne Carson should win just for these lines. the best writing about love I’ve ever found

Somehow Geryon made it to adolescence.
Then he met Herakles and the kingdoms of his life all shifted down a few notches.
They were two superior eels at the bottom of the tank and they recognised each other like italics.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 22h

An essay I wrote for Slightly Foxed about MacNeice's Autumn Journal, one of the great long poems of the 20th century. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/louis-macn...

mathewlyons.substack.com

Louis MacNeice and Autumn Journal

One of the 20th century's great history poems – and a joyous confession of faith in everyday life

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Autumnal colours: poached chicken with seasonal chanterelles picked up in Belgium

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Utterly dreadful. So sorry to hear.

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Onni Gust @onnigust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

41% staffing cuts in the Faculty of Arts at UoN. We're entering a wilderness of creativity and critical thinking.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

'The job cuts are one of the highest figures seen in a sector which has seen an estimated 30,000 cut in recent years as universities battle a financial crisis caused by declining international enrolments, rising costs and a long fee freeze.'

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

'The University of Nottingham has confirmed that it will close its music and languages departments as it presses ahead with more than 500 job cuts despite widespread opposition from staff and students.' A blight on East Midlands and UK higher education.

timeshighereducation.com

Nottingham confirms course closures with hundreds of jobs affected

Languages and music departments to close despite strikes and protests but university insists it has addressed staff concerns in revised plans

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Ooh, intriguing search... Perhaps a search of Malcolm Jones's The Print in Early Modern England or index (I don't have to hand) might throw something up? @profcatheriner.bsky.social any A Day at Home inspiration ringing a bell?

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Cover reveal 💅 Super job by the people @yalebooks.bsky.social @yalepress.bsky.social Out 27 April 2027. yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Ah yes of course, should have gestured to that really!

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A despatch from the reading room (after a summer hiatus) on Shakespeare getting a coat of arms and finding heraldry in the playhouse… shakespearestage.substack.com/p/up-in-arms...

shakespearestage.substack.com

Up in Arms

Shakespeare’s Heraldry and Coats of Arms on Stage

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Off to Toronto today & looking forward to exploring theatre records in the classroom for this celebratory Records of Early English Drama colloquium, marking 50 years of this amazing series! Lots of brilliant speakers lined up, online also available: crrs.ca/crrsevents/r... @reedproject.bsky.social

Yellow poster with purple etching of clown Tarlton playing tabor, reading “Applying REED to Reality: Pedagogy, Performance and Data Futures Records of Early English Drama 50th Anniversary Colloquium September 19-20.”

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Prof. Liz Oakley-Brown @earlymodlancs.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Fantastic programme of speakers - including my wonderful colleague Clare Egan and the equally wonderful @callanjd.bsky.social Online registration available 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 @reedproject.bsky.social REED 50th Anniversary Colloquium / September 19- 20, 2026 share.google/rkecbO66ktGE...

share.google

Records of Early English Drama 50th Anniversary Colloquium - Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies

Location Emmanuel College, Room 119 75 Queen’s Park Cres E, Toronto, ON M5S 1K5 September 19–20, 2026University of Toronto Applying REED to Reality: Pedagogy, Performance and Data Futures The internat...

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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

For the last nine months it's been my pleasure & privilege to be the editor of Renaissance Studies, and I think we're well overdue a romp through some fantastic articles we've published this year. See below for some of the finest new research in the interdisciplinary study of the Renaissance! 👇

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Daniel C. Blight @danielcblight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:

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Leonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Today my heart is with all colleagues facing redundancy (some for the umpteenth time), who were made redundant over the summer or who have simply had enough and left. Our sector is having its guts ripped out.

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Pascale Aebischer (she/her) @pascaleexeter.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Just in case you haven't signed this yet: The crisis in Exeter is not over. It's just in that dangerous phase where people forget about it unless they're affected. We're waiting to find out the results of the 'consultation'. There's still time to change course. Share and sign! c.org/VZDjrbTybJ

c.org

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

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Deidre Lynch @drbibliomane.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

You can/should read Emily Wilson's latest take on the Odyssey, but I'm logging on to convey my hairdresser's reaction. She was AGHAST that Nolan, with his million $ budget, gave Matt Damon ONLY 6 hair extensions. As a result, his hair did not blow around properly, & that ruined the film for her.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

📢PROJECT UPDATE📢 You may have seen the news that the University of Exeter, home of the wills project, has placed 500 academics at risk of redundancy. The project leader Prof. Jane Whittle & project co-investigator Dr Laura Sangha are both at risk, alongside almost all of the History department. 1/

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Some positive (!) announcements for UK research and scholarship from @leverhulme.ac.uk

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Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · 30/07/2026

As part of the Trust’s centenary commitment, the Trust Board is pleased to announce three new partnerships to strengthen the UK’s world-leading research base, providing direct support to underrepresented scholars at the earliest stages of their research career.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

The Leverhulme Trust, as part of its major (£100 million) centenary investment in UK research, has announced 3 new partnerships designed to enhance opportunities for underrepresented groups at the early stages of research careers. @leverhulme.ac.uk Terrifically good news, and sorely needed. 1/3

leverhulme.ac.uk

Investing in the future of UK research | The Leverhulme Trust

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Meryl Faiers @merylf.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Sunken Ships, Shakespeare, and Whale Watching open.substack.com/pub/shakespe... An evocative post from Callan Davies on all things watery and Shakespearean, from a Swedish warship to whales in Suffolk.

open.substack.com

Sunken Ships, Shakespeare, and Whale Watching

Maritime Shakespeare, Stockholm's extraordinary Vasa Museum, and whales in early modern East Anglia

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Reflections on a recent trip to Stockholm’s Vasa Museum (showcasing a retrieved 1628 warship that had lain in tact at the bottom of the brackish Baltic sea) and some Shakespearean resonances that came to mind in today’s new post: open.substack.com/pub/shakespe...

open.substack.com

Sunken Ships, Shakespeare, and Whale Watching

Maritime Shakespeare, Stockholm's extraordinary Vasa Museum, and whales in early modern East Anglia

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University of Southampton @unisouthampton.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The @britsciassoc.bsky.social Festival is coming to Southampton and the programme is live 🔬 🗓️ 16–20 September 2026 🎟️ Free tickets now available Join us for one of the UK’s biggest celebrations of science, browse and book events here 👉 britishsciencefestival.pulse.ly/qu1…

A person with curly hair is intently looking through a microscope in a laboratory setting, holding a printed page with text in their other hand. They are wearing a navy blue sweater and appear focused on their work. Various laboratory equipment is visible in the blurred background.

A person standing with arms raised, silhouetted against a dazzling display of blue and white lights creating abstract patterns. The scene appears futuristic, with the person facing a tunnel-like structure adorned with sparkling lights, centered around a large, illuminated circular design.

A male with a VR headset on. He is tilting his head back, has his mouth open in amazement and is wearing a suit jacket. Behind him is a screen with fluorescent colours projected.

A man stands in a dark room, looking up at a large digital display of Earth glowing with vibrant blue and green colors. The Earth's surface shows continents and cloud formations. The man wears casual clothing and appears pensive, with his hands in his pockets, creating a contemplative scene.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Business leaders back the Humanities and Social Sciences, noting their important to economy and culture in Exeter, Cornwall and the Southwest. This is one vital strand in defending the SHAPE subjects. Don't ignore it (or carp about it). Build on it. biz4humanities.com

biz4humanities.com

Business Leaders for Exeter Humanities & Social Sciences

An open letter from business leaders standing up for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Exeter — a shared asset worth protecting. Read it and add your name.

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Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

A depressingly long list of universities who are implementing cuts and redundancies, as well as the petitions and actions against them (via @onslies.bsky.social) qmucu.org/qmul-transfo.... This is a national emergency that should be responded to with national policy.

qmucu.org

UK HE shrinking

a live page of all the redundancies and restructures happening across UK Higher Education. Page is updated regularly.

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Tom Scriven @pigsmeat.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Also working-class autodidacts didn't just read alone - they read in groups, set up libraries and reading rooms, and battled for Mechanics' Institutes (many long ago merged into unis) to teach music, history, and politics. They built the public adult education infrastructure that's being destroyed

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David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

I'm getting so very tired of doing this every time these pundits do their whole 'I had a world class education, but maybe you shouldn't?' spiel: James Marriot studied English Literature at Oxford.

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

might prompt a rethink, and a wider sector conversation, as this surely can’t keep happening to our world-leading UK sector week on week in different institutions.

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Exeter made me a researcher, and I owe much to colleagues there past and present and so admire their scholarship and broader championship of our field. These cuts are evidently senseless, counterproductive, and cruel. I hope the union, petition, and other pressure…

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Finally got round to reupholstering our kitchen chairs with thanks to a wedding gift voucher for the material. It was previously clad in my grandma’s 1950s(?) velveteen (with a vaguely sinister hint of the human circulatory system). Now new and geometric and a bit more us.

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Francesca Stavrakopoulou @proffrancesca.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

I’d love it if you’d sign this. It might not prevent me and my colleagues losing our jobs, but it will draw attention to the ideological vandalism being perpetrated by the wealthy execs running our university. Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter - sign the petition below! c.org/NpvY4sR9gH

c.org

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Congratulations, this looks wonderful!

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Eoin Price @eoinprice.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

A long time in the making, Reprints & Revivals of Renaissance Drama, which I edited with Harry Newman (a long time friend), is now out! It's a collection about forms of renewal in print & performance & their importance to the production & reception of early modern drama.

Front cover of a book, Reprints and Revivals of Renaissance Drama

Back cover of a book, Reprints and Revivals of Renaissance Drama.

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

5 years of flowering and these geraniums still going strong.

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University English @univeng.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

This week, Andy Burnham – an English graduate with a love of poetry – stepped closer to becoming Prime Minister. Andy’s remarkable journey embodies the central message of the #EnglishCreates campaign: this subject has the potential to enrich lives, open up opportunities, and shape the future.

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

This is one of the dumbest and saddest things I've ever seen. We should not think of universities in this way, and if we do that'll destroy everything that is both useful and good about them. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Find out which university degrees could earn you most across your lifetime

New data suggests which university degrees have the highest and lowest financial returns over a lifetime.

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Ben Phillips @benphillips1989.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

'On average, graduates earn more than non-graduates – even when we adjust for differences based on background characteristics or prior attainment. And on average, the exchequer also sees a substantial lifetime return from state investment in educating an individual to graduate level'. 2/3

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

The news of brutal cuts to the Arts and Humanities at Exeter and elsewhere highlights the self-destructive nature of the ´strategies’ being pursued across UK HE. Exeter’s English Dept was rated the best research unit in English in the country in RAE 2008. 1/4

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

The cuts at Exeter University won't work. They never work. The high-ups will be back for more in a year or two, then even more a year or two after that. Unis just keep doing the same thing consultants tell them to do, over and over again. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

University of Exeter in talks to cut about 150 members of staff

The university says it is consulting with colleagues over "limited and specific potential changes".

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Just awful, I’m sorry; sending all my strength and solidarity!

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