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Ruth Ahnert

@ruthahnert.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.5K following 309 posts

Digital humanist; literary historian; early modernist; collaborator; feminist; parent; FEA. Deputy Director of Cambridge Digital Humanities. She/her

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Ruth Ahnert @ruthahnert.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ooh I’m so excited to see this. Paget gets mentioned in my Tudor Networks book as someone who the stats make clear should have more scholarly attention! Glad he’s getting some. Looking forward to reading.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
'Numerous universities have begun employing staff through subsidiaries in a bid to cut pension costs. Institutions are not required to submit to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) pay data relating to such staff, whereas they are for directly employed staff.' Adding insult to injury.
timeshighereducation.com
Subsidiary companies leading to ‘skewed’ gender pay gap reporting
Universities are not obliged to report to Hesa salary details of staff employed by wholly owned companies, leading to fears of misleading figures
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CEMS KCL @cemskcl.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
We are delighted to be hosting another series of the 'Race and the #earlymodern' seminar with @folger.edu. This term we will be hosting three WIP sessions with Dr. Mira Zoubeida 'Assaf, Aman Williams, and Rebecca Adusei, respectively. Full details below! kingsearlymodern.co.uk/upcoming-sem...
kingsearlymodern.co.uk
Upcoming Seminars — CEMS KCL Blog
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Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's just weird isn't it when the British Museum is running a sold-out exhibition, when The Odyssey reports $1billion at the box office, when the V&A has just opened the most innovative and accessible museum model in Europe....and this is what our minister for research comes out with.
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Sarah May @sarahmay1.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
When did the UK decide it didn't need Higher Education? How did we move from deindustrialization, to a knowledge economy and then decide that we could do it all on vibes and 'entrepreneurial spirit'
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I know I’m a bore on this but here’s why the Science Minister should absolutely care about the humanities and social sciences rather than thinking it is for DCMS ukri.substack.com/p/why-ai-wil...
ukri.substack.com
Why AI will fail without the humanities and social sciences
AI can transform society. But only if society has a say in shaping it, writes Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of The British Academy.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
When asked in the Q&A about arts and humanities he says he personally values them (seems very genuine) but that he is the Science Minister, and it’s for the DCMS Minister to make the case for those. He’s perhaps not yet clocked he is responsible for all R&D. Would Wissenschaft Minister work better?
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Ruth Ahnert @ruthahnert.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
My job must be real because there’s a blog post! www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/about/news/c...
cdh.cam.ac.uk
CDH welcomes new staff - CDH
We are delighted to announce that four new staff members have joined Cambridge Digital Humanities. L-R: Dr Katherine Parsons; Professor Ruth Ahnert; Dr Stefanie Felsberger; Dr Thomas Watson. Professor...
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Jill Walker Rettberg @jilltxt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
My new article about LLMs is finally out in AI & Society! It argues that LLMs produce text metaphorically, through juxtaposing tokens that are related in some dimensions yet unrelated in others. This is why we see misaligned citations in scientific articles. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
LLMs are metaphor machines: orbital argumentation, misaligned citations, and scientific fabrication in AI-generated writing - AI & SOCIETY
Large language models are metaphor machines: they generate text based on similarities and proximity in their training data. I argue that this metaphor-based text generation leads to what John Gallaghe...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
'Research from the British Academy shows that graduates in the arts, humanities and social sciences are just as likely to be employed as their STEM counterparts. They are equally resilient during economic downturns and more likely to move between sectors without wage penalties.' 1/3
ibtimes.co.uk
Why Thousands of UK Students Are Ditching English and History Degrees for Business and AI
British universities are witnessing a decline in humanities enrolments as students opt for career-focused degrees. Rising tuition fees and employment prospects drive this shift, challenging the value ...
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ana valdivia @anavaldi.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
🚨 Excellent opportunity for grassroot organisations: The €2 million Building Narrative Power funding and learning programme offers grants of up to €150,000 to develop and test narrative strategies around three areas: data centres, jobs and young people’s lives europeanaifund.org/newspublicat...
europeanaifund.org
Call for proposals: New €2m Building Narrative Power funding and learning programme - European AI & Society Fund
For too long the tech industry has dominated our understanding of Artificial Intelligence. To counter this, the European AI & Society Fund is launching the Building Narrative Power programme to help p...
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Rev. Dr. Liz Gloyn @lizgloyn.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I often say the rise in students coming to our dept with diagnoses of various kinds of neurodivergence has been matched with a corresponding fall of students coming with generalised depression. Because, you know. They're getting a diagnosis of the actual problem rather than feeling they don't fit.
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Samuel Moore @samuelmoore.org · 15/07/2026
I wrote a report last year for @openfuture.bsky.social on the issue of the lack of community governance over the roll-out of AI tools in academic publishing. Editorial boards have a great deal of power here, especially if the journal is society-owned. openfuture.eu/publication/...
openfuture.eu
Governing the scholarly AI Commons – Open Future
New report explores how academic communities can shape AI governance in research and publishing, from regulation to community-led approaches.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
'Early career opportunities have rapidly declined in the fields of arts and humanities amid UK job cuts, with teaching-only roles increasingly the only positions available for those just starting out, an analysis by the British Academy has found.' 1/3
timeshighereducation.com
Humanities hardest hit as early career opportunities disappear
Analysis of staff data finds skew to teaching-only roles in entry-level positions, with scale of cuts not reflected at more senior levels
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 15/07/2026
A new resource from @britishacademy.bsky.social, out today, maps changes in UK academic staff numbers and contract types between 2012/13 & 2024/25 for the arts, humanities & social sciences bit.ly/4w47SmP You can search by subject (incl history), provider, region & forms of employment #Skystorians
Main page of new British Academy resource on Mapping SHAPE academic staff in UK HE.
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 15/07/2026
The Society will write up a summary for History for next week. Key points at this stage include: > 11% decline (-440 FPE) across all History staff between 2018/19 and 2024/25, compared with a 7% decline across all humanities > loss of 140 FPE History roles 2022/23 to 2024/25 #Skystorians 1/3
Screen shot from British Academy mapping SHAPE staff resource, showing change in History staff between 2018/19 and 2024/25. A loss of 440 FPE or 11% of the total.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
“Without intervention, we risk narrowing the UK’s research and development knowledge base, reducing opportunity and access to key subjects, particularly in regions already underserved, and weakening the long-term sustainability of the Shape disciplines". (Margot Finn) 1/3
researchprofessionalnews.com
British Academy urges ‘intervention’ over slowing academic pipeline - Research Professional News
Analysis shows decline in early career researchers across Shape disciplines and rise in teaching-only contracts
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Ruth Ahnert @ruthahnert.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Feel this so hard. Although of course respondent is right: all we humans just use a minus sign!
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Dr Ian McCormick @wokestudies.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Society for Renaissance Studies: Two scholarships of £4,000 each, to contribute to the costs of postgraduate study. rensoc.org.uk/apply/schola...
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
still waiting for the “difficult decision” not to fund the latest tech scam
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Ruth Ahnert @ruthahnert.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Trying to clear the decks a bit before starting the new job, and finally submitted something I’ve been fiddling with for 10 years - and I’m not rounding up for effect! That makes me feel old…
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Ruth Ahnert @ruthahnert.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
New chapter out in this OA book, which I co-authored with the inimitable Delfi Neto-Isabel. It’s called ‘Data Feminism, Network Analysis and the Pre-modern Archive’. www.peterlang.com/document/141...
peterlang.com
Peter Lang Verlag - Digitalizing the Middle Ages
This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the fast-growing panorama that lies at the crossroads between Digital Humanities and Medieval Studies. ...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
'When Labour took power in 2024, it was braced for a host of problems. One of those it did not anticipate, or perhaps want to deal with, was the financial crisis inherited in the university sector.' Except for universities being specifically named in Sue Gray's Top Ten Problems list, that is.
politicshome.com
Jacqui Smith: 'A Million Young People Not Earning Or Learning Is A Moral Outrage'
Skills minister and Labour veteran Baroness Smith talks to Matilda Martin about her party’s leadership troubles then and now, plus what can be lear...
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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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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Academics all over the country could put their hand up and say they're in the same boat. But when did you last see a big feature on redundancies at a post-92 university?
sslh.org.uk
RHS finds cuts to history courses fall disproportionately on post-92 universities
The Royal Historical Society has warned of ‘an alarming increase’ in the number of university history departments facing cuts to staffing and degree options – even as numbers studying the subject a…
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Neville Morley @nevillemorley.eurosky.social · 30/06/2026
The sub-head is seriously questionable: “how changing student preferences are fundamentally reshaping universities” buys into the university’s narrative that this is driven by falling recruitment leading to deficits. How can that be, when Exeter has been eating other people’s lunch for years?
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Ria Kapoor @riakapoor.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Consider applying! This is an incredibly rewarding role both because of the great and friendly team you work with, the ideas people share with you, and the editorial experience. Also fun!
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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I mean this in the kindest possible way but 'I thought we were safe' is exactly the wrong way to think at the moment. We are all on a sliding scale of precarity now. No job is permanent. The UK does not have tenure. #UCU #UKHE
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
I genuinely do not understand why vocational pathways are for working-class youths rather than for youths as a whole. Just as universities are meant to be available for higher education learners, not for middle-class learners or the posherati.
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Exeter UCU @exeterucu.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Hey Bluesky crowd! You also should be signing our petition opposing the announced redundancies at the University of Exeter. 📢 We're 17k and growing! Redundancies ARE NOT necessary and we must #DefendExeterUni 🩷 c.org/RFqMvrKb6z
c.org
Sign the Petition
Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter
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Roopika Risam @roopikarisam.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Don't miss the June issue of Reviews in Digital Humanities, brought to you by World Cup superfans @jenguiliano.bsky.social & me ! ⚽️ #ReviewsInDH reviewsindh.pubpub.org/v7-n6
reviewsindh.pubpub.org
Vol. 7, No. 6: June 2026 · Reviews in Digital Humanities
Vol. 7, No. 6 of Reviews in Digital Humanities, a peer-reviewed journal that facilitates scholarly evaluation of digital humanities work and its outputs, edited by Jennifer Guiliano (Indiana Universit...
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
the angry good meme. In the top frame, we see a close-up of a good with squinting eyes asking 'who achieved that?' In the bottom frame, we see the goose chasing a person in a nice goose-feather-filled bommer jacket while asking 'whose labour made that achievement possible in the first place?'
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
'Andy Burnham has set out ambitions to put universities “at the heart of local economies” and to make the UK the world’s leading “innovation nation”, in a speech making those goals central to his “Manchesterism” vision for the UK if he becomes prime minister.' What's left of universities, that is.
researchprofessionalnews.com
Burnham: ‘UK can be world’s leading innovation nation’ - Research Professional News
PM-in-waiting wants universities “at heart of local economies” but pledges education shift beyond “university route”
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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Nothing tells historians that someone is not a historian more than their belief that manuscripts should be handled with gloved hands.
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Hallie Rubenhold @hallierubenhold.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
If young people are being taught by society/government messaging/their parents/schools that they won't be able to make a living if they study a humanities subject we are creating a vicious cycle. We must ask who does this messaging serve and why is our society buying into it?
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Dr Lucy J.S. Clarke 🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️🌈 no human is illegal @lucyjsclarke.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
the cuts to higher education in the UK are ideological. they are based in a false valuation of the humanities that is entirely founded in erroneous concepts of employability and demand. these cuts are not financially necessary; they are a stripping of the humanities for political reasons.
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Lizzy Williamson @lizzywilliamson.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Humanities, arts and social sciences prop up stem - we cost less to run but are modelled as costing the same. Exeter does not have a financial deficit. This is ideological.
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Ruth Ahnert @ruthahnert.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
ANOTHER opportunity at Cambridge Digital Humanities: 2026/27 Methods Fellowship. Deadline 17 July. More details here: www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/methods/meth...
cdh.cam.ac.uk
Methods Fellowships 2026/27 - CDH
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Ruth Ahnert @ruthahnert.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Cambridge Digital Humanities (my new home from Sept!) is inviting proposals for the next round of British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship. Esp in memory studies, semiotics, semantics and AI and emergent literary forms. Details here: www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/about/news/b...
cdh.cam.ac.uk
CDH invites proposals for British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships - CDH
Cambridge Digital Humanities (CDH) at the University of Cambridge is inviting proposals for the next round of British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships. The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship offe...
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Ruth Ahnert @ruthahnert.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Thanks for this thoughtful review Adam!
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Adam Crymble @adamcrymble.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
My review of 'Tudor Networks of Power' by @ruthahnert.bsky.social and @sebastianahnert.bsky.social is now out in the Journal of British Studies. A really interesting work for those interested in the 'how' of historical research. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Ruth Ahnert and Sebastian E. Ahnert. Tudor Networks of Power Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. Pp 265. $45.00 (cloth). | Journal of British Studies | Cambridge Core
Ruth Ahnert and Sebastian E. Ahnert. Tudor Networks of Power Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. Pp 265. $45.00 (cloth). - Volume 65
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Ruth Ahnert @ruthahnert.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Just on the way home from an emotional day packing up my office, and saying farewells to my colleagues at the end of year bbq.
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 11/06/2026
This reminds me of widely reprinted C19 newspaper selections we study in the Viral Texts project that excerpt a passage from a work of fiction & credit its author, as if the text reflects the author’s perspective—when the excerpt actually reflects a character’s perspective, often not sympathetically
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Daniel Wilson @danielwilson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
In unexpected good news: !!JOB!! Come and work on our new multidisciplinary programme at UCL as a 'Lecturer in Digital Culture and Society'. Permanent full-time position in London. Deadline 28 June. Specialism open. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/... #dh #sts
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Daniel van Strien @danielvanstrien.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Can the new DiffusionGemma model help fix broken OCR? In theory, denoising tokens in parallel could work better for OCR correction since context is seen upfront? Pointed it at 19th-century newspaper OCR. It corrected better than the autoregressive baseline — at ~8x the speed.
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Danielle Terrazas Williams @drdanielletw.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Job Opportunity! Assistant Professor in European and or Global History (pre-1800) University of Limerick - School of History and Geography www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRU993/a...
jobs.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in European and or Global History (pre-1800) at University of Limerick
Discover Assistant Professor in European and or Global History (pre-1800) jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Should researchers still be posting their data openly online? It’s a question being debated by some researchers now that bots are routinely mining open-access databases and scientific publications to train artificial-intelligence tools'.
nature.com
Bots are scraping open data — how should researchers respond?
The snowballing ability of artificial intelligence to trawl open data sets has some scientists worried about losing control of their information.
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Emilie K. M. Murphy @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Really can't cope with the fact that Nottingham's now departed VC (now VC at Leeds - god help them) wasted £80 MILLION on a building it is now selling at a crushing loss (£14m), and is attempting to recoup some of that by sacking 100s of academics and decimating the institution. Absolutely criminal.
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Nate Angell @xolotl.org · 01/06/2026
See Living with Machines, edited by @ruthahnert.bsky.social, Emma Griffin, and @jonhistorian61.bsky.social "an innovative open access edition enhanced with interactive maps, datasets and visualisations, digital notebooks, and multimedia content" read.uolpress.co.uk/projects/liv...
read.uolpress.co.uk
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