iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Draculosity Jones: Ghost Skeleton @brainmage.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

This kind of weather is particularly difficult for people with Autumn Spectrum Disorder, who are unable to eat their comfort foods of rich stews and hot chocolate, and strongly need to stim by standing on crunchy leaves and wearing nice thick jumpers.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I'm absolutely devastated for colleagues at Jodrell Bank who found out this morning that funding for the UK's e-MERLIN radio telescope array will be terminated. This is a short-sighted move, to save a tiny fraction of the overall UK science budget. #SaveJodrellBank 🔭🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Working in the Wellcome Library today & trying so hard to focus on my laptop and concentrate on a job app. I'm sitting opposite a book called "Lard & Longevity", and I think I'm going to crack.

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Post-92s have seen a 25% fall in the number of staff teaching history. 25% since 2018-19.

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Well this is quite lovely from the @wellcomecollection.bsky.social Library A whole range of sensory bits you can borrow to make your visit more comfortable, from blankets to fidget toys

A bookcase with six shelves
The shelves hold ear defenders, timers, fidget toys, blankets, tinted glasses, reading overlays, and stationery. A sign on the top of the shelves encourages visitors to borrow what they need and to ask for help if they need more.

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Daniel Benneworth-Gray @danielgray.com · 13/07/2026

Sam Neill on tackling depression and imposter syndrome when you’re between jobs.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Combing through humanities students, while combing over STEM students, while closing Humanities programmes and making Humanities academics redundant as surplus to the employability agenda. The market, in 2026.

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Lisa Smith @historybeagle.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

This is an excellent thread summarising the state of UKHE and why we should be angry. These intellectual losses have very real effects for UK society as a whole, making us less creative, less intelligent, less healthy, and altogether poorer.

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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

The crisis in UK higher education is worsening week by week — Exeter University is one of the best in the UK, with superb lecturers (and several You’re Dead To Me guests), but it’s planning massive job cuts in History, Archaeology, Classics — see the petition below to lend your voice in support

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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

the media and voter messaging should be this: the current government and the government in waiting do not want your children to be able to go to university, they will not support people in the UK to do original research, they do not care about job losses in one of the largest sectors in the economy

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

In 1908 the Lancet called for an 18+ age limit on reading in bed for U.K. children.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

How surprising that a government that's dismissive of the arts, humanities and social sciences in (and beyond) its universities and and is allowing the British Council to spiral in decline is floundering on the soft power front. Who could have guessed? giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

giftarticle.ft.com

UK soft power push has fallen flat, senior figures say

Body set up to promote British interests overseas has been ‘waste of time’ members complain

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

'The panel discussed the relevance of a humanities education in the age of AI and why, as Professor Abigail Williams described, AI leaders are advising their children to study the humanities rather than the sciences.' 1/2

kcl.ac.uk

'Humanities skills are essential for responsible AI development' | King's College London

Leaders of the BBC and UKIE, the trade body for the UK games industry, joined a panel at the King's AI Summit to discuss the future of the creative industries in the age of AI.

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Jenny Edwards CBE @jennyedwards.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

In a heatwave there is no protection for the wild birds in what is supposed to be their protected space in Hampstead Heath. There are public swimming lakes but people don't want to pay for them. The City of London is responsible for this park. Why doesn't it act? @rachelblakemp.bsky.social

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Nothing like getting an email at 7pm to let you know your entire work account is being deleted in 5 hrs And everyone who can stop it has already gone home. And no one has read the extension papers you've submitted *multiple times* And you're on holiday with your family. Your laptop is at home.

static.klipy.com

David Rose: Deep Breaths on Schitt's Creek

ALT: David Rose: Deep Breaths on Schitt's Creek

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David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Steel industry: £1.1bn in GDP and 20,000 employees University sector: £265bn in GDP and 400,000 employees What the fuck am I missing here.

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

This is obvious and has been so for some time now, but then I'm a historian so I would say that. A working world of low-quality derivative slop places a premium on genuine, original, articulate, and critically conscious employees. That is the literal type of graduate the humanities produce.

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Heading into the office for my last day after 8 years at Imperial and it feels very strange Just 2 papers to finish by the end of the day...

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Dónal Hassett @donalh.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

The personal toll the slashing and burning of large parts of the Higher Education sector, especially in Arts and Humanities, in Britain and now the North of Ireland on our colleagues should not be underestimated. This is horrendous but grimly unsurprising.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Higher education in the UK just got much lower. How much lower will it sink before your MP notices and speaks out?

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Thought I'd found a job that sounded great & I was qualified for... Going to take a wild guess they already know who they want and there's is 0 point in applying I'm so tired 😭

A cropped screenshot from a job advert, noting the advert was posted yesterday and will close in two days' time.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

'Artificial intelligence is transforming grant writing. A new wave of AI tools, known as agents, can now generate a research grant application, review it and submit it.' Want to get a grip on this issue? Hint, don't sack all your Philosophers/close down their departments. Ethics is relevant here.

nature.com

Could agentic AI topple grant-funding systems?

Funders must take action before an increase in submission of high-quality proposals written using AI models makes it impossible to sort the wheat from the chaff.

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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

academics watching the westminster drinking at work discourse like 👀 😅🙉

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Monday morning significantly improved by this distinguished chap. All dressed up & ready for work

A brown and white dog waiting for a bus, wearing a white harness. And a long blue patterned business tie

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

I always forget what a lovely time this is. And possibly the only day Londoners are nice to strangers #LondonMarathon

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Desperately trying to convince myself I can't do another PhD. This one looks like a lot of fun.

Screenshot of PhD advert: "PhD studentship: From the frontline: Witnesses to War - Exploring the role, perspectives and impact of war correspondents during the Cold War and late 20th century" ag the University of Bristol.

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Dr Icy Sedgwick @icysedgwick.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

It's Good Friday so it's time to bring out the Fabulous Folklore article and episode about the Widow's Son and its collection of hot cross buns... www.icysedgwick.com/hot-cross-bu...

icysedgwick.com

Why does a London pub hang hot cross buns in the bar?

The Widow's Son pub in Bromley-by-Bow is famous for its hot cross buns collection above the bar. But why are they there? Click to find out.

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Good morning. If I have to read this, so does everyone else.

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Recovering from the worst job interview by drowning myself in pastry. Maybe if I stay here long enough, the post-academic bookshop-coffeeshop-bakery will manifest itself, and everything will be fine 😭😭

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

First Parkrun... and my first 5k... Appreciate it's not far for actual runners, but thoughts & prayers please

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Just a reminder to Arts, Humanities & Social Science postdocs with 10 years of the PhD that membership in the British Academy's Early Career Researcher Network is free and available across the UK. Independent researchers welcome; if employed at an, you do not need to be in a research position. 1/2

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Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

"My name may be forgotten when it comes, but the time will arrive when great outbreaks of cholera will be things of the past. And it is the knowledge of the way in which the disease is propagated which will cause them to disappear" Happy birthday to John Snow! His name & his work is not forgotten.

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Christine Slobogin @slobogin.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Our ✨open access✨ research agenda essay for injury studies is now out! We argue that injuries are pivotal events deserving sustained attention within the critical medical humanities. And we have provided a ✨large✨ bibliography to give folks a place to start. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.com

Injury Studies: Setting the Agenda for a Critical Medical Humanities Approach to the Control, Perception, Representation, and Experience of Injuries - Journal of Medical Humanities

This article describes a new and expanding field in the health humanities: injury studies. Following a recent international conference sponsored by the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities, the ...

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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

This is a BRILLIANT thread!

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

In honor of the 30th anniversary of The Birdcage, I wrote about only some of the brilliant layers of its confrontations of gender performance. Truly, The Birdcage is an exceptional and important film for our moment for challenging bigots who can't wrap their minds around differences in human nature

blackwhiteandread.com

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (It's Expected Gender Performance) – Black and White and Read All Over

A Feminist (Kinda) Approach to The Birdcage (1996)

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

In the kind of presentation where you realise you've become the wrong kind of academic All this time I've been studying war & trauma, I could have been writing about whisky 🥃

A photo of a laptop showing a white title screen that says "War, Wine & Whisky".

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

In the first week of my PhD, I treated myself to a fancy fountain pen. It's been in my bag for 8 years, and now it's disappeared and I can't find it anywhere Sometimes the universe is very on the nose.

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

When you've got Reviewer 2 comments to sort, three days to write a book chapter, and a dozen jobs to apply to... But the sun is out for the first time in months, and suddenly everything will be fine & everything seems possible

A photograph of a laptop in the centre of a wooden table, under a red canopy, in the sunshine.

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

In yet another career change talk where the first thing they talking about is introspection and self-reflection mapping your values Is it unprofessional to snap and write a very long-form piece on the middle-class entitlement on these events I just want to be able to eat and pay rent 😭

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

At a training day on moving into non-ac jobs... The speaker's very proud that "all postdocs who decided to leave academia (by choice or force), 100% were successful" Like, the other option is accidentally staying and succeeding in a field that has a 90% failure rate when you're *trying to win*

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

'A statement on 23 February explained the Bloomsbury-based research institute will be “disbanded” at the end of July 2026 because it “in its current form is not sustainable”.' Goodbye utopia, hello myopia?

timeshighereducation.com

UCL axes ‘utopian’ Institute of Advanced Studies

Interdisciplinary research hub focused on arts and humanities will shut in July amid financial sustainability issues

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

While this might apply to STEM (I doubt it does) for the humanities I'm gonna tap the sign: How we say things is a huge, and irreplaceable, part of what we are saying.

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Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

The UK *is* losing a generation of scientists. I know lots of brilliant people who have left their jobs / the country because of the limited jobs & funding. Once lost, they cannot ever be replaced. The UK government is overseeing the death of UK academic science, and it doesn't seem to care.

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HistoryLab @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Our conference #cfp is now live! This year's conference, "Embodied Histories: Body, Mind and Experience" will take place on 17th July 2026 at University of Birmingham! Keep on reading to find out more...(1/9)

HistoryLab 20th Anniversary Annual Conference 2026 — Call for Papers

Embodied Histories: Body, Mind, and Experience

17th July 2026 | Hybrid Conference, in-person at University of Birmingham, Staff House, Grand Central Room

The human body is both a biological reality and a cultural construct. It is a site of meaning, experience, and power. From rituals of health and healing to practices of regulation, discipline, and display, bodies have both shaped and been shaped by their historical contexts.
We invite papers that place the body and lived experience at the centre of historical inquiry, engaging with themes such as medicine, disability, gender, the senses, and the emotions. We welcome contributions that explore how bodies and experiences have been represented, regulated, or performed, and how these processes intersect with broader questions of identity, power, culture, and society across periods and regions.

This conference also marks the 20th anniversary of HistoryLab. Since its founding, HistoryLab has provided a national platform for postgraduate and early career historians to share ideas, foster collaboration, and build community. We invite participants to join us in celebrating this milestone year.

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Sarah Dixon Smith @sarahds.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Found the perfect job in the perfect city. Clicked through to the recruiter's website... Perhaps not.

A screenshot reading: "Open Positions. Join our teams based in Israel, Ukraine, and the U.S..

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Imagine discovering that the entire structure of state secondary education was about to collapse, and musing "Ah well, we'll always have Eton, Harrow and Winchester..." This is basically how the political class thinks about higher education.

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