Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Is it not on the cards? This is fascinating to me. 010
Reposted by Serian CarlyleSaima Nasar @saimanasar.bsky.social · 05/08/2026These Black Feminist Residences at The Feminist Library look brilliant! They’re open to Black feminist artists, researchers, writers, or organisers in London. Deadline Oct 15th feministlibrary.co.uk/2026/07/29/b... 012
Reposted by Serian CarlyleScientists for Global Responsibility @responsiblesci.bsky.social · 06/08/2026"Drivers who are told about the safety risks posed by SUVs to cyclists and pedestrians are very unlikely to be deterred from buying one." -> This is despite a 44% and 82% increased risk of death depending of whether an adult or child pedestrian is hit. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...theguardian.comSUV buyers undeterred by warnings of risk to pedestrians, UK study findsExclusive: Research suggests financial penalties necessary if number of large vehicles on roads is to be reduced 222
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/08/2026This is a beautiful love letter to language and place. www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...theguardian.com‘The war leaked into every lesson’: learning Ukrainian in a country under siegeThe long read: Soon after my first visit to Ukraine four years ago, I began language lessons. It taught me more than I ever expected 011
Reposted by Serian CarlyleFrances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026This is the point that should be made over and over again in the prison overcrowding row. The focus is on releasing violent male prisoners but the majority of female prisoners are not a threat to the public - and should always have been given community orders. 36817
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 28/07/2026Excited to see this in the flesh - I helped out with editing the transliterations. It is a great resource and I enjoyed reading it. 010
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 26/07/2026I did my Our Future Health questionnaire about 4 months post-partum and I remember looking at my answers/results slightly mournfully. 000
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Unsurprisingly the more money you have, the more you exercise. And women in their late 20s and across their 30s are not meeting the recommendations for enough exercise (can't think what major life changes might factor in there). 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 26/07/2026This is fun*! (*Definitions of fun may vary, but I had fun.) ourfuturehealth.org.uk/news/physica...ourfuturehealth.org.ukRevealed: what our data tells us about our physical activity levelsAnalysis of data shared by almost 2m Our Future Health participants highlights differences in how we exercise, depending on our sex, age, income and location 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 10/07/2026Given that it is 33 degrees at gone 5pm in the UK, this seems like a good reminder. (If anyone needs me, I will be melting) youtube.com/shorts/vJqzJ...youtube.comWelcome to the Chevron heatwave!YouTube video by Simon Clark 000
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 08/07/2026I just repeatedly typed Soviet instead of Society. I am not sure that this says good things about my academic choices. 000
Reposted by Serian CarlyleLiesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 07/07/2026Indeed we do! docs.google.com/document/d/e... I would add a line about the stupidity of cutting even further in the Strategic Priorities Grant, but may need to stop seething about that first. Do contact your MPs, many of them are too reliant on deeply stupid briefings from the DfE.docs.google.comUKHE MP template 02019
Reposted by Serian CarlyleHistory Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 01/07/2026🚨 If you are an Exeter University alumnus or alumna, please sign this petition in solidarity with our colleagues. More than 500 are at risk of compulsory redundancy, 85% of whom are in the humanities and social sciences. 👇 @exeterucu.bsky.social 078
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Becoming parents is the greatest thing that has happened to either of us and we are extremely aware of our luck and privilege. But both of us are less likely to be able to stay in academia because it is hostile to caring responsibilities in so many ways. 000
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 01/07/2026My partner was able to get 2 weeks paid paternity leave (when he pushed for it) but if we want genuine equality, it has to be longer. At the end of the 2 weeks, I was still in hospital - which is not standard but is not uncommon. And even if you're at home, you're likely still recovering. 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Without access to the funded childcare, you need to find over a grand a month on a PhD stipend or no funding. My PhD has taken much longer because of that and my career has gone backwards, looking for any work I could fit around both the PhD and parenting. I don't have time for publications. 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 01/07/2026My stipend included paid maternity leave, but only until the end of your funding, not the writing up period. It took us 2 years to conceive, so we were not eligible for pay - but equally not willing to stop trying and then reset the clock in the timeline for access to fertility support from the NHS. 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Excited to see this development and hope to see it strengthened further - including provisions for the writing up period, extended paid paternity leave, and access to childcare subsidies as a PhD student (because you're not a worker, you have no funded childcare hours). 100
Reposted by Serian CarlyleBen Phillips @benphillips1989.bsky.social · 23/06/2026A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide. 16231273
Reposted by Serian CarlyleLola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 18/06/2026Really pleased to share the comic by the fantastic @karriefransman.bsky.social on Sex Work and AIDS Activism in Edinburgh. Research by me and based on an oral history interview with Ruth Morgan Thomas of Scot-PEP. 21610
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Had never come across Berit Stueland until reading about her in @rachelcdailey.bsky.social 's book Ramping Up Rights, but what a fascinating woman! www.theguardian.com/society/2012...theguardian.comBerit Stueland obituaryOther lives: Disability rights campaigner who aroused controversy with her translation of The Little Red Schoolbook 110
Reposted by Serian CarlyleFrances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Regular reminder that what Britain desperately needs is “low skilled” care workers - and that these jobs are not actually low skilled at all and should be welcomed by an immigration system that appreciates their huge value. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.comWes Streeting plans to increase high-skilled immigration if he becomes PMLeadership hopeful to also say tax revenues from new North Sea oil and gasfields should be used to cut energy bills 28460133
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 15/05/2026I have been reading Rebecca Solnit's Hope in the Dark which felt very timely (though, to allow a moment of nihilism- also always timely!) 000
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 01/05/2026I had a very successful reading month, to my great surprise. (I also really enjoyed Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan). Suspect I will end up rereading all three of these. 040
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/04/2026I wasn't sure I was going to like this but the second half really grew on me. I think it tries to cover a bit too much, and as a result I am now keen to read more about Albania, if anyone has any recommendations! 000
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 02/04/2026I think the fact that it has taken me 8 months to finish these books (on average) says something about how little I have been reading for the last year or so. 000
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 17/03/2026If anyone is free tomorrow evening, I am speaking at the Reconsidering Soviet Studies seminar series in Cambridge about depictions of "gypsy" characters in late Soviet youth cinema. It is a hybrid event, please message me for the Zoom link if you would like to join online. 120
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 11/03/2026The more I read of this, the more jaw-droppingly cruel and obviously ridiculous it became. 010
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 11/03/2026So students are abusing the asylum system because *checks notes* they participate in an extremely competitive scholarship system that requires them to return to their home country for at least two years and come from countries in the midst of extreme suffering? Incredible logic from the Home Office 110
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 26/02/2026See also - what does it mean to do pro-marriage research? 000
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 26/02/2026I follow several parenting and community-focused Substack newsletters and it is amazing how quickly that means that Substack will repeatedly offer me anti-abortion content. 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 20/02/2026Maybe this needs to be your goal for 2026? A new smorgasbord every month? 010
Reposted by Serian CarlyleDr Surekha Davies, Historical Monster Consultant (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 19/02/2026Have been commenting "Alt-text, please" when big accounts post images without alt-text. No one has eaten me alive - yet. In Bluesky settings (gear icon, bottom left), click Accessibility, check the "require alt-text before posting" button and it will remind you to add it if you forget. 1/press.princeton.eduAlt Text Guidelines 24218
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 18/02/2026Enjoyed a brief moment of A accepting to wear the hat I knitted him. (He rejected the mittens, despite it being freezing, and ten mins later handed me the hat and asked for his bike helmet. Still counts as a success I think.) 040
Reposted by Serian CarlyleNatalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 22/01/2026The UK government is proposing radical and punitive changes to settlement rules. This is settlement, not citizenship. The consultation is open until 12 February; please respond to it and oppose these evil proposals. Amnesty have a good guide: www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/gu...amnesty.org.ukGuidance for responding to 'A Fairer Pathway to Settlement' consultationWe are Amnesty International UK. We are ordinary people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights. 2215227
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Big changes in parental leave (especially paternity leave) needed across the board, definitely! 010
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026I'm definitely not saying don't do a PhD - my stipend was the longest contract I'd ever had, I'd always had annual contracts, so that was a big plus! But I also think it is easy to romanticise and I'm wary of that. 000
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026UK gov data on annual salaries looks at people who have been in role for a year so it's a bit dodgy. But the current average annual salary for people aged 18-21 (lower than most graduates) is 23k (33k for 22-29 age range but that's a big range of experience!). 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026I'd probably still disagree. My graduate scheme salary in 2019 was £21k and entry level jobs at the company I moved to the in 2020 paid the same. That charity then moved to pay entry level jobs at £25k. Looking at jobs currently, coordinator roles are often around 25k (not always ofc!). 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026(Equally my experience when talking about the realities of the academic job market is that men still think that they might as well give it a shot, whereas women and people of colour aren't as likely to risk it. And my cautions here will absolutely contribute to that split. No right answers!) 000
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Both of us have loved so much about doing a PhD and we don't regret any of our choices. There are many wonderful things that come from a PhD. But we also need to be careful about how we talk about them - especially to young people who haven't got alternative experience. 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026You also don't get the new subsidised childcare hours (because you're not a worker). So you have to have childcare in order to finish the PhD, but you also need to pay for that childcare privately - especially as fewer and fewer universities have any coverage. We spend a lot of time chasing money. 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026I didn't get any parental leave through my PhD because we had infertility issues - so while I got pregnant while funded, my due date was after my funding ended (though before my student status ended). So all I could do was extend my writing up time (after the fact). 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Also, speaking personally, there's the question of family life. My partner and I had our child while we were both PhD students. He got 2 weeks parental leave and had no entitlement to shared parental leave (because you're not a worker). 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Obviously this is just anecdotal and maybe it was bad timing, etc etc. But I have also heard this from other people. At the very least, it takes a lot of work to make your academic experience sell. 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Not to brag, but my CV is very strong - I have a lot of experience both in and out of academia because I've worked throughout my PhD. I applied for 15 jobs recently (at varied levels of seniority) and got no interviews. I then took my PhD off my CV and got offered the first job I applied for. 100
Serian Carlyle @serianc.bsky.social · 05/02/2026It's also 3 years of no NI contributions (so no access to state pension) and no pension contributions. For a lot of people in their early twenties thinking about a PhD, that doesn't mean much but it will make a huge difference over their lives. (Especially given the existing gender pension gap). 100
