iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by James Kneale

Since the announcement of redundancies at the start of summer, we lost 10 staff from 20 from our Centre for Geography and Environmental Science. Let's hope things improve at Exeter...

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 21h

#onthisday, 3 Oct 1870, Dr Richard Barter died aged 68. An Irish physician, he built the 1st experimental Victorian #TurkishBaths at his St Ann's Hydro, realising David Urquhart's 30 yr dream of reintroducing the bath to the Br Isles. Barter associated with 9+ Tbs in Ireland, & 1 in London. 🗃️ #C19th

Dr Richard Barter, shortly before his death, standing next to the entrance to the latest of the Turkish baths built at St Ann's.

Portrait bust of Dr Barter by his namesake, the sculptor and architect Richard Barter, who designed all of the doctor's Victorian Turkish baths in Ireland, as well as the one in London.

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Kristof Smeyers @kristofsmeyers.bsky.social · 17h

Tenure track position for a social/cultural anthropologist here in Leuven, apply before 1 December: www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...

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Dundee UCU @ducuuo.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Day 10 of 26 of our strike action. After the incredible support from politicians, members and students at ours Holyrood rally yesterday, we return to Dundee and our picket line outside the Tower Building. Join us and make the University of Dundee a better place.

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James Kneale @jameskneale.bsky.social · 18h

Celebrating @2000ad.bsky.social's Day of Dredd by following Edwin Parsey's example and confessing to a crime I didn't commit. Prog 135, 1979, Howard/Smith/Frame

A panel from the Judge Dredd story 'The Invisible Man'. Dredd tells Edwin "It's serious this time, Edwin. You realise if you're guilty I'll send you down for fifty years." Edwin looks delighted, saying "Serves me right!"

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 21h

#onthisday, 3 October 1863, Dr Charles H Shepard added Victorian #TurkishBaths to his hydropathic 'sanitorium' at No.63 Columbia Street, #Brooklyn Heights, #NewYork &, in doing so, opened the first Turkish bath in the USA. www.victorianturkishbath.org/_2HISTORY/At.... The baths closed 1913.🗃️ #C19th

Engraving showing the front of the baths building. Originally the baths occupied only No. 63 Columbia Street (on the left of the building), but in 1867 a new Men's bath was opened next door at No. 65, while the original baths at No. 63 were converted for use by women.

Illustrated cover of a booklet, 'Rheumatism and its treatment by Turkish baths' published by Dr Shepard in 1892.

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European Review of History @euroreviewhistory.bsky.social · 19h

📢 We’re hiring a Junior Associate Editor! We’re looking for a current or recent PhD researcher in European history to help manage our Special Issues. Gain academic publishing experience, work with an international editorial team, + receive a £1,500 annual stipend! See below for more info:

euroreviewhistory.com

We're Hiring! | Euroreviewhistory

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Speculative Insight journal @speculativeinsight.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

A Christmas Carol --> The Female Man How does that work? That's the essay. Read it now: www.speculativeinsight.com (it's by @effjayem.bsky.social, who knows their stuff)

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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Bournville Lantern Lectures… Disrupted Sat 17 Oct Bournville Quaker Meeting House Step back in time for an immersive performance & lively retelling of an original Bournville Lantern Lecture, brought to life by Birmingham Rep’s Creative Learning Department. sellymanormuseum.org.uk/events/2026-...

A magic lantern slide showing an aerial view of houses and gardens in Bournville, Birmingham in 1906.

A magic lantern slide showing houses on Linden Road, Bournville in 1906.

A magic lantern slide showing children playing in a park in Bournville, Birmingham in 1906.

A magic lantern slide showing children gathered either side of a small river in Bournville Park, Birmingham in 1906.

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Society for the Social History of Medicine (SSHM) @sshmedicine.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

📣Latest blog📣 @ukdishisthub.bsky.social reflect on two SSHM/@wellcometrust.bsky.social Networks Grant funded networking events to connect academics, researchers, heritage professionals, artists, activists, and others interested in histories of disabled, neurodiverse, and D/deaf people.

sshm.org

UK Disability History and Heritage Hub 2024 and 2025 Connecting + Sharing events.

By Samuel Goldstone-Brady, Alexandra F Morris, Louise Bell, Kirstie Stage, and Alice Conibere. Across 2024 and 2025, the UK Disability History and Heritage Hub (UKDHHH) organised two networking eve…

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Reposted by James Kneale

Morgan L. Ventura (they/she) @morganvl.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

P. Djèlí Clark’s short story, “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington” I still think about it today firesidefiction.com/the-secret-l...

firesidefiction.com

The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington

“By Cash pd Negroes for 9 Teeth on Acct of Dr. Lemoire” –Lund Washington, Mount Vernon plantation, Account Book dated 1784.

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New York Genealogy Links @nygenealogylinks.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Newspapers.com is allowing free access to its site from now until Monday, Oct. 5 at 9:59 p.m. ET Search for marriages, obituaries, hometown news, and much more. A free user name and password will need to be set up. To start searching, go to: www.newspapers.com/go/freeaccess/ #genealogy

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Because otherwise these kinds of things don't get read, boosting my 2023 article on the origins of 'the living fossil short story' genre and its descendant, cryptofiction. Includes an analysis of W. A. Curtis’s unforgettable ‘The Monster of Lake LaMetrie’ (1899): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

Discovering the Living Fossil Short Story in the Late Nineteenth Century

The founders of cryptozoology in the 1950s implied that their objects of investigation, animals elsewhere presumed mythical or extinct, were beyond respectable science. Back in the late eighteenth ...

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UCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Day 5 of the UCU workers' strike against massive job cuts by highly remunerated senior management. “We are looking at hundreds of job losses, dozens of course closures ... Without even mentioning the removal of opportunities for people up and down Scotland." Jo Grady, UCU President, 01.10.2026

A pop-art depiction by Roy Lichtenstein of a blonde blue-eyed woman crying. Accompanying text highlights the worsening teaching conditions and likely impact on student education.

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University of Nottingham UCU branch @uonucu.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What a gorgeous day to stand in solidarity with your community. Thank you all for standing with us and showing this university what courage and determination looks like. Here's to our strength as the fight continues. But more importantly, here's to us winning. Solidarity, UoNUCU

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Phil Mellows @philmellows.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Without doubt a clumsy intervention by the 'nature minister', but elements of the far right are, indeed, using the myth of a 'lost' English pub | Morning Advertiser: www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2026... See @amit-singh.bsky.social @jameskneale.bsky.social: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

morningadvertiser.co.uk

‘Country pub is not a fantasy’: Publicans hit back at minister’s remarks

Country pub operators have hit back at remarks linking rural pub nostalgia with the far right, arguing village pubs remain vital community hubs facing real financial pressures.

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Reposted by James Kneale

Religious Archives Group @religiousarcgrp.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

@uknatarcsector.bsky.social is advertising for expressions of interest in a Collaborative Doctoral Landscape Award PhD on 'Archives of Religion and Belief in Contemporary Britain: Sustainability, Inclusion, Digital Transformation and Community Memory' www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/professional...

nationalarchives.gov.uk

Archives of Religion and Belief in Contemporary Britain: Sustainability, Inclusion, Digital Transformation and Community Memory

This project examines how the landscape of religious archives across the UK has changed and identifies strategic interventions needed to safeguard collections.

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Reposted by James Kneale

Roger Protz @rogerprotz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A shout out for @alcs.co.uk (Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society), an entirely beneficial non-profit that collects secondary royalties for writers in the UK. Do sign up if you have books likely sold second-hand. I receive a twice yearly tidy sum.

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Religious Archives Group @religiousarcgrp.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Our 2026 conference is at @thejohnrylands.bsky.social on Wednesday 11 November 2026. Our theme is 'Unearthing the unexpected in religious archives.' Our speakers will cover subjects ranging from poltergeists to royal love letters! Tickets are available from Ticketlab: ticketlab.app/event/39602-...

2025-06-07 John Rylands Library 01.jpg
Burkhard Mücke, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Draft programme for the Religious Archives Group conference 2026

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Reposted by James Kneale

University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 29/09/2026

“It’s time for us to stand together.” After fighting off cuts to modern languages, Aberdeen UCU is now facing another major restructure and the threat of further job cuts. Join staff, students and the community at their rally on 6 October. Solidarity with Aberdeen UCU.

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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 30/09/2026

Our members at Nottingham University commence strike action today over threats to hundreds of jobs and course closures. Please show them solidarity as they head onto picket lines this morning.

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mick @midofo.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Stop listening to these Silicon Valley AI charlatan sales people

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James Kneale @jameskneale.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

'Gothic Anthropocene' workshop series at UCL, free to attend, running throughout October. Organised by Yichun Zhang and Qin Wu (both UCL)

A poster for a series of workshops. Text reads:

GOTHIC ANTHROPOCENE: NONHUMAN ENTANGLEMENT IN MULTICULTURES

What happens when the Gothic meets the Anthropocene?
Through four interactive workshops combining talks and creative activities, we rethink the boundaries between humans, non-humans, and the environments we inhabit.

WORKSHOP ONE • Seafood, Pollution and Colonial Waterscapes
9 OCT, 5-7PM
Speaker: Dr. Niranjana Ramesh (QMUL) & Yichun Zhang (UCL)
Creative activity: Mapping Your Own Waters, Yichun Zhang (UCL)

WORKSHOP TWO • Flesh and Bone: Gothic Animals as Cultures and Materiality
15 OCT, 3.30-5PM
Speaker: Maria Dragoi (UCL)
Creative Activity: Gothic Animals Show-and-Tell, Qin Wu (UCL)

WORKSHOP THREE • Gothic Sounds in the Anthropocene
23 OCT, 5-7PM
Speaker: Dr. Gavin Williams (KCL)
Creative activity: TBD, Francesca Balestro (UCL)

WORKSHOP FOUR • Gothic Objects: Dolls in the Cinema
30 OCT, 5-7PM
Speaker: Dr. Joana Jacob Ramalho (UCL)
Creative activity: TBD

All Welcome
Workshop One, Three and Four: Engineering Front Building, Executive Suite 104, UCL main campus
Workshop Two: Object-based Learning Lab, Old Refectory, Wilkins Building, UCL main campus
Food and drink provided
Enquiries: yichun.zhang.21@ucl.ac.uk and qin.wu.22@ucl.ac.uk
Generously supported by The University Council of Languages (UCFL) and SELCS-CMII, UCL

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Reposted by James Kneale

Alice Reid @amrcampop.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Interested in a PhD in historical demography/population studies at @camunicampop.bsky.social, @camunigeography.bsky.social, Cambridge University? We have 3 suggested topics (see thread): contact me to discuss, or to suggest your own idea. Apply by early December for funded places.

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Science Fiction Foundation @sffoundation.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Applications are now invited for the Support a New Scholar 2027-2028 programme, which will be reserved this year for the Track A, Graduate Student route. Application forms and eligibility criteria are available on the SFRA website at sfra.org/support-a-ne...

sfra.org

Support a New Scholar | Science Fiction Research Association

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Reposted by James Kneale

Mountain Stories, Mountain Futures @futuremountain.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

CFP: Towards a Posthumanistic Mountain Humanities, Online Workshop 11 December 2026. shorturl.at/wnsS8 #Mountains #EnvHist #EnvHums #HistGeog #IndigenousKnowledge #AnimalHist #NewAnimism #NewMaterialism #AssemblageTheory #Posthumanism

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Martin Hewitt @vicmanch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

New ECR opportunity, courtesy of JVC and BAVS. Please spread the word as widely as you can!

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Journal of Victorian Culture @jofvictculture.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

NEW: JVC–BAVS Early Career Mentorship Scheme; a collaboration between the Journal of Victorian Culture (JVC) & British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS) to support PhDs & early career scholars in developing their first peer-reviewed journal article. More here: jvc.oup.com/2026/09/28/j...

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Liverpool University Press @livunipress.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

EVENT: 'Accommodating the Victorian & Edwardian Working Woman' by Emily Gee, author of Hostel, House and Chambers. 📍 St Mary Abbots Church, London 🗓️ Wednesday 7th October, 7PM - 8:30PM 🎫 Tickets: bit.ly/Gee-event-VS @thevicsoc.bsky.social @indyhistnetwork.bsky.social @modbritstud.bsky.social

A black and white image of a chamber accommodation room, with white text overlaid which reads: 'Accommodating the Victorian & Edwardian Working Woman
by Emily Gee'.

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Simon is on strike ✊🏻 @simonxix.com · 28/09/2026

Historic England outsourced their digital image provision to a third-party company. Then the company went bust and now all their images are inaccessible. Tell me again how outsourcing to the private sector is sustainable?

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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 28/09/2026

Our members at the University of Nottingham will strike this Wednesday and Thursday in their fight against compulsory redundancies and course cuts. Show your solidarity as they head onto picket lines, ahead of sustained strike action from 5 October to 11 December. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1466...

ucu.org.uk

University of Nottingham staff to strike for three months from October in redundancy fight

Staff at the University of Nottingham will strike on Wednesday 30 September and Thursday 1 October, and then solid strike action from 5th October until 11 December in a row over jobs and course cuts, ...

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

'University and College Union (UCU) branches refused to grade coursework and exams at the universities of Nottingham and Edinburgh and Goldsmiths, University of London, in response to managers’ plans for sweeping job cuts.'

timeshighereducation.com

Hundreds of students still without marks after boycotts – union

Learners left unable to graduate or progress by ‘last resort’ industrial action

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Nina Markl 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @ninamarkl.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

if anyone wants to understand the finances at the University of Edinburgh, the unions have done excellent work on this:

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cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!

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James Kneale @jameskneale.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

First all staff email of the year sent, pray for me

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Ms Marchmont @msmarchmont.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

UCU picket at the Infomatics Building, Edinburgh University

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Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray) @boakandbailey.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

"Amit Singh and Sivamohan Valluvan... [wage] battle against those who see the pub only as a poignant symbol of a bygone England... [taking] on private equity, yuppie gentrifiers and culture-war blowhards who use the pub as a prop for their rage-baiting patriotism."

waterstones.com

Pubs for the people by Sivamohan Valluvan, Amit Singh | Waterstones

Buy Pubs for the people by Sivamohan Valluvan, Amit Singh from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 28/09/2026

Our members at Edinburgh University commence a 5 week strike today over crippling job cuts. Please show them solidarity as they head onto picket lines this morning.

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Samantha Asumadu @samanthaasumadu.substack.com · 23/09/2026

So I think maybe I just figured out why @timeshighered.bsky.social has not reported anything negative about James Orr. I could very well be wrong, but here we go: In 2024, THE signed an agreement with Hungary's Culture and Innovation Ministry which oversees Hungarian higher education..

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

#onthisday, 23 September 1889, died author Wilkie Collins, advised by his friend and doctor, Francis Carr Beard, to visit #TurkishBaths for his health. He wrote to his mother, 'excellent shampoos and great care in attendance.' (Thanks to @paullewismoney.bsky.social) 🗃️ #C19th

Caricature of Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) by Adriano Cecioni. Caption read "The Novelist who invented Sensation".

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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 23/09/2026

OTD in 2019, Thomas Cook travel agency declared insolvency. In this piece from the archive, Alan McNee considers how the rise of Thomas Cook was perhaps the greatest force for popularising and democratising travel in the 19th century.

historyworkshop.org.uk

We're All Going On A Summer Holiday: The Rise of Thomas Cook

After the recent dramatic collapse of the tour provider Thomas Cook, Alan McNee explores how the firm was perhaps the nineteenth century’s greatest force for popularizing and democratizing travel.

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Journal of Historical Geography @jofhistgeog.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

New article! 'Reading place and race through J.B. Harley and Stuart Hall: Memory and ideology in the United States Civil War maps of a nineteenth-century student', by Jacob C. Barton. @elsevierconnect.bsky.social @elseviersej.bsky.social

doi.org

Reading place and race through J.B. Harley and Stuart Hall: Memory and ideology in the United States Civil War maps of a nineteenth-century student

Journal of Historical Geography

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James Kneale @jameskneale.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It's very fitting that the first (very generous, *open access*) review of 'Temperance Lives' I've seen comes from historical geographer David Beckingham, plus Andrew Davison's fantastic 'The Built Heritage of the Temperance Movement' in @jofhistgeog.bsky.social. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

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Salvation Army International Heritage Centre @salvarmyarchive.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This week sees 55,508 pages of 'The Musician', a weekly newspaper of Salvation Army band news, join 'The War Cry', 'The Social Gazette' and 'The Young Soldier' on the British Newspaper Archive. www.britishnewspaperarchive.com/newspapers/e... 🔒

Cover of The Salvation Army's Bandsman, Songster and Local Officer for 6 November 1910, showing four female Salvationists wearing bonnets holding musical instruments - captioned 'Bandswomen Bellchester, Leening, Holland and Crumbleholme, [from] Preston II [corps]'.

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EASLCE @easlce.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

CFP: Conference ‘Fantastic Spaces and Places' Karlstad, Sweden 15-17 June, 2027 Deadline for abstracts: 1 November, 2026 Info: www.kau.se/kufo/aktivit... #speculativefiction #ecocriticism #ecopoetics

kau.se

Fantastic Spaces and Places | Karlstads universitet

The second European Conference on the Fantastic Karlstad, Sweden 15-17 June, 2027

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James Kneale @jameskneale.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Me and my colleagues hurtling towards the start of term

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

'The records have been digitised and indexed by the genealogy company Ancestry, which has partnered with the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at University College London.' Leaps and bounds forward in our understanding of the histories of the British enslaved. #Skystorians

theguardian.com

Nearly 4m records of enslaved people in 20 former British colonies now searchable online

Exclusive: Collection’s 300,000 pages record lives of enslaved people in countries including the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Mauritius, South Africa and Trinidad

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

'In the most notable case, the University of Nottingham’s University and College Union (UCU) branch has declared strike action of 67 days, expected to last for the majority of the autumn term, as the institution looks to cut 600 full-time equivalent jobs.'

timeshighereducation.com

UK universities face autumn of chaos as ‘prolonged’ strikes planned

Unprecedentedly long strikes at Nottingham, Edinburgh and Dundee could be the shape of things to come, observers say

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