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Jo Laycock

@jolaycock.bsky.social
1.1K followers 652 following 487 posts

Historian: migration, refugees, humanitarianism, South Caucasus, Armenia. Sidelines in histories of Rochdale and of the Manchester Guardian. UCU Manchester equalities (disabilities) officer. Tired.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Jo Laycock
Dr Matilda Fitzmaurice @matildaf.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
the first UCU Brief on the failing HE funding model, authored by UCU VP @markpendleton.bsky.social, is out! This is exactly the sort of evidence and analysis we need to get in front of MPs and policymakers #UCU #UKHE educationitsours.org.uk/ucu-briefs/
educationitsours.org.uk
Evidence and analysis - Education. It's ours
UCU Briefs: the key evidence, analysis and policy proposals to make education truly ours.
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Reposted by Jo Laycock
Jo Stucke @jostucke.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's organ donation week! I am 1 of 7200 people on the kidney transplant waiting list in the UK. Last year 328 people died waiting. If you haven't discussed your wishes about organ donation, now is the time to discuss it and register your wishes register.organdonation.nhs.uk/start/
register.organdonation.nhs.uk
Register or update your decision - NHS Organ Donation
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Reposted by Jo Laycock
Kate Franklin @melucene.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
boosting signal--- The Center for Armenian Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, invites proposals for works in progress to be presented at its 16th Annual International Graduate Student Workshop (April 16–17, 2027). Submission by Sunday, November 15, 2026: myumi.ch/jVNQ4
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
How have I not learned yet that it is futile to try to achieve anything in welcome week other than surviving welcome week?
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Cora said we had to go for a walk to the pub for my birthday. Could you refuse this hound?
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It’s my birthday, which in my mind marks the start of black tights and boots season (hurrah!). Haven’t got the big jumpers out yet, but judging by today’s weather it won’t be long.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
family history - oops!
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Another unexpected snippet of fily history from my parents. Apparently my great grandad Joe Byrne, and my great great grandad Ignatius Byrne were tug of war ‘anchormen’ and champions in Ireland and then in Manchester. I didn’t even know it was a real sport! 🤷🏼‍♀️
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Chronic migraine and the intense screen time needed for the last push to finish a book manuscript do not go well together.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I was quite impressed that at least two people had managed to bring colanders to the British library yesterday. I barely remembered there was an eclipse.
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Reposted by Jo Laycock
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
'Strip away the grandiose language and a pattern emerges – some combination of fewer, larger modules, almost always wedges of 30 credits, an all-core or heavily prescribed first year, reduced optionality in later years, curated pathways instead of individual module choice... [cont.] 1/4
wonkhe.com
Curriculum reform is a wedge issue
With curriculum reform converging on fewer, larger modules across the sector, Jim Dickinson argues that consolidation solves institutional problems while reallocating regret onto students least able t...
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Katrina Navickas @katrinanavickas.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Just a reminder to everyone: join a trade union. And if you're already a member, please be active. Vote, volunteer, become a rep or an officer. You are the union. The larger the union membership the more strength and agency we have.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
It is too hot and Euston station is the worst place in the world.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Today at the BL I have managed to purchase the same lunch I ate every single day at school between the ages of 4 and 18 - a dairylea sandwich and a kit kat. (And you wonder why I am such a shining picture of health…)
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
London heat is unbearable, but the BL is so lovely and cool. Perhaps this was not the worst ever week to come on a research trip to London after all (trying not to think of the journey back).
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Reposted by Jo Laycock
OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Review | Weaving Culture — from Nagorno-Karabakh to Yerevan, knot by knot oc-media.org/review-weavi...
oc-media.org
Review | Weaving Culture — from Nagorno-Karabakh to Yerevan, knot by knot
Born from a residency in Armenia, this exhibition turns Anna Boghiguian’s watercolours into carpets woven by women displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Reposted by Jo Laycock
Birmingham UCU @birminghamucu.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Know the signs: heat stress, heat exhaustion, heat stroke. Act early – move to a cool place, rest, rehydrate. Heat stroke is a medical emergency: call 999. Let's have a workplace culture where stepping back in the heat is normal and not stigmatised. 3/3
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I am thanking my lucky stars for the super thick (if slightly crumbly) walls of my 300+ year old house today. I am more puzzled than ever as to why the last owners decided to attach a huge glass box (sorry, conservatory) to the back - it had topped 42 in there before this heatwave even started
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Reposted by Jo Laycock
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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Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Pretty much every academic at every UK university has a significant possibility getting the 'at risk of redundancy' email. Act accordingly.
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John Drury @profjohndrury.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
UCU - Global academic boycott imposed on University of Sheffield over job cuts & pay docking www.ucu.org.uk/article/1453...
ucu.org.uk
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Hannah Barker @historyhannahb.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Great job in modern British History @manchester.ac.uk - please share 🗃️
jobs.manchester.ac.uk
Lecturer in Modern British History (post-1800):Oxford Road
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Laurence Broers @laurencebroers.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
www.redthreads.media/p/armenias-w... I found this reading of the Armenian election to be highly instructive - a recommended counter-perspective to all the geopolitics.
redthreads.media
Armenia’s Working Class Is Missing from Election Coverage
Armenia's elections are framed as a geopolitical contest, but the real fault line is class. The ruling party's resilience reflects the legacies of postsocialist transition and the absence of a left.
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Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien (ZOiS) @zois.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
#Armenia votes this Sunday. After losing the war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, the country is looking towards Europe and the US. I a new episode of #Roundtable_Osteuropa, political scientists Anna Ohanyan (@carnegieendowment.org) & Hakob Matevosyan (ZOiS) discuss the small country's course.
zois-berlin.de
Armenia's Election: Between Moscow, Brussels and Its Own Path
Mit Anna Ohanyan und Hakob Matevosyan
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Spent an enjoyable day or so pretending to be a historian of Modern Britain, talking about Rochdale instead of Armenia. Listened lots, learned lots.
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Joshua Kucera @joshuakucera.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Armenia’s election is scheduled for Sunday, and issues of war and peace have been at the top of the campaign agendas. Candidates have debated dueling visions of Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Russia, and the West. Our preview from @crisisgroup.org: www.crisisgroup.org/qna/europe/a...
crisisgroup.org
Issues of War and Peace Gain Top Billing in Armenia’s Election | International Crisis Group
Armenians will head to the polls on 7 June for the country’s first general election since 2021. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Joshua Kucera explains why foreign policy has dominated the campaign an...
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
More depressing than infuriating. 17 years on from my diagnosis there has been virtually no progress in diagnosis/treatment. The ‘extreme’ option discussed, a hysterectomy, can relive pain but bring other horrible symptoms. I’m not sure that the surge in awareness has brought any tangible benefits.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Emma Barnett’s documentary on endometriosis is on BBC2 tonight at 9, and on iplayer. I suspect it will make me furious, but I’m glad it’s out there. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Emma Barnett: We can’t ignore endometriosis, a disease that leaves women like me in agony
Women tell the BBC presenter how endometriosis affects their lives, as she challenges ministers to take action.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
More good luck than good planning, but the roses in the garden this year are just amazing.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
A ’new‘ crossroads? FFS. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
‘A bridge, not an obstacle’: is Armenia a new crossroads between east and west?
As former Soviet Republic goes to the polls, it finds itself in a strategic tug of war between Russia, the US, Turkey, Europe and Azerbaijan
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
The way our hound is eyeing up the beer… Cora is as ready for this weekend as me!
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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Everyone read the end of it: "Governments in Scotland and Wales have finally realised that a viable, meaningful higher education sector needs greater oversight and control, and cannot be left wholly to the market. Now Westminster needs to wake up to this need for joined-up thinking"
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Excited to celebrate the end of my first year as CIDRAL director with the annual creations launch, this time in the wonderful setting of the John Rylands library.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Wonderful lecture from Anna today brought together colleagues from history, HCRI, CHSTM, REES and East Asian Studies and really showed the value of interdisciplinary, multilingual dialogue for scholarship in the humanities. I am a very happy CIDRAL director today.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Our CIDRAL visiting fellow for this year, Dr Anna Mazanik will give our keynote lecture this afternoon in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. All welcome!
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Reposted by Jo Laycock
Jo Grady @drjogrady.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?
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University of Hertfordshire UCU @uhertfordshireucu.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Petition to save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire: c.org/9JLppW5tMS
c.org
Sign the Petition
Save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Picture of the crazy hound being impossibly cute to counter the bleakness
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Grim week for the humanities in the UK, everywhere we look courses are closing or being reconfigured for the sake of ‘efficiency’ while the government says and does NOTHING. I‘m exhausted and I’m not even at the sharp end of this - solidarity to all of those who are.
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Dr Cath Feely @cathfeely.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
This is vandalism. Pure and utter vandalism.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
The joy of a day with no meetings!
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Reposted by Jo Laycock
UCU Commons @ucucommons.org · 30/04/2026
In response to the horrible antisemitic attack in London, Mark Pendleton and Bijan Parsia submitted the following late motion to tomorrow's NEC (1 May 2026). #UCU ucucommons.org/nec-late-mot...
ucucommons.org
NEC Late Motion: Solidarity with our Jewish members and communities
In response to the horrible antisemitic attack in London, Mark Pendleton  and Bijan Parsia submitted the following late motion to tomorrow's (1 May, 2026) NEC (in accordance with NEC standing order 3....
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Yuliya Komska @ykomska.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Today is a Chornobyl anniversary. After a Russian drone hit the metal safe confinement arch in 2025, it’s not been hermetic, the tech to make it hermetic again doesn’t yet exist, and it’s likely to start rusting around 2030. Meantime, more drones fly by almost nightly www.bbc.com/ukrainian/ar...
bbc.com
Чорнобильська катастрофа: чи захищає від радіації нове укриття після удару Росії - BBC News Україна
Що відбувається у новому об'єкті укриття після удару безпілотника, якими є наслідки російської окупації для ЧАЕС, чи загрожує світу знову Чорнобильська радіація, розбиралась ВВС Україна.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Bluebell time in our woods
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
obligatory trip up the cascade for some Ararat contemplation. Fitting conclusion to a productive trip.
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Little bit nervous about teaching a class of undergraduates in Armenia for the first time. Fingers crossed!
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Have any visitors to Yerevan found a way to buy a metro ticket without having an Armenian phone number or bank card. I was completely stumped today. Bring back the jeton!
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
One day in Yerevan, and I’ve already eaten more than it is reasonable for one person to eat in a week. 🤣
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Jo Laycock @jolaycock.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
I was kind of dreading turning my phone on to look at the news after a long flight today, but the joy of discovering some light from Hungary after all this darkness. ❤️
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