Matilda Fitzmaurice
@matildaf.bsky.social
Bi. Geographer & lecturer: int. climate politics, (non)reproduction and the Anthropocene. UCU NEC LGBTQ+ rep (HE), 25/26 Equality Chair
UCU Commons, queerness, food, ABBA. Vera enthusiast.
My views. She/her
Website: https://linktr.ee/matildafitzmaurice
UCU Commons, queerness, food, ABBA. Vera enthusiast.
My views. She/her
Website: https://linktr.ee/matildafitzmaurice
Pinned
Matilda Fitzmaurice
@matildaf.bsky.social
· Aug 12
so this came out yesterday! First article from my PhD. Long slog but it was worth it. academic.oup.com/ips/article/...
Whiteness as Epistemological Orientation in International Climate Change Discourses
Abstract. This article argues that in contingent and context-specific ways, international climate change discourses reproduce whiteness as a form of signif
academic.oup.com
Bumping this for mid-August reading - I put so much into framing the argument in just the right way, and it's indebted to so many wonderful scholars: Geoff Mann, Joel Wainwright, Stuart Hall, Meera Sabaratnam, Polly Pallister-Wilkins, Ida Danewid and many others
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
College lecturers in England are paid £7,000+ less than their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
Our members aren’t having it anymore.
Proud to stand alongside thousands taking strike action today.
Our members aren’t having it anymore.
Proud to stand alongside thousands taking strike action today.
January 14, 2026 at 4:28 PM
College lecturers in England are paid £7,000+ less than their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
Our members aren’t having it anymore.
Proud to stand alongside thousands taking strike action today.
Our members aren’t having it anymore.
Proud to stand alongside thousands taking strike action today.
This was an excellent launch event today. I'm hugely grateful for the invite to contribute as a discussant, and to be in such great company among the respondents. Huge thanks to the research team for the report, for organising the event, and for creating such a supportive space.
Today we launch States of Precarity in UK HE Geography.
Thank you to the 364 colleagues whose experiences shaped this work.
Download the report, share widely, and join us in advocating for change.
Launch event (1:00-2:30GMT):
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Read report:
www.rgs.org/research/hig...
Thank you to the 364 colleagues whose experiences shaped this work.
Download the report, share widely, and join us in advocating for change.
Launch event (1:00-2:30GMT):
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Read report:
www.rgs.org/research/hig...
States of precarity in UK Higher Education geography
Findings from a discipline-focused research project exploring the lived realities of precarious academic work within UK Higher Education geography.
www.rgs.org
January 14, 2026 at 4:19 PM
This was an excellent launch event today. I'm hugely grateful for the invite to contribute as a discussant, and to be in such great company among the respondents. Huge thanks to the research team for the report, for organising the event, and for creating such a supportive space.
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
Banning social media for kids may be good or bad but that guy is a comically obvious bullshit artist with entire books full of trite lessons extrapolated from anecdotes that are themselves barely half-true.
January 14, 2026 at 7:31 AM
Banning social media for kids may be good or bad but that guy is a comically obvious bullshit artist with entire books full of trite lessons extrapolated from anecdotes that are themselves barely half-true.
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
🔉Call for Papers! This September Jay Todd @jaytoddgla.bsky.social & I will be organising a session on "Queering Environmental Justice" at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference @rgsibg.bsky.social
⏰ Abstract deadline: 18 February 2026
🔗 Conference website: www.rgs.org/research/ann...
⏰ Abstract deadline: 18 February 2026
🔗 Conference website: www.rgs.org/research/ann...
![This session aims to bring environmental justice praxis into conversations around queer and trans liberation and subjugation. Anti-gender politics and the transnational eliminationist movements against trans and gender diverse people (Holvikivi et al. 2024) are increasingly affecting environmental policy and advocacy, and gender has become hotly contested in global environmental governance processes (Balayannis 2026). In response, this session asks: how do queer and trans liberation matter for environmental justice?
The exclusion and regulation of trans and queer bodies from and within public spaces is now routinely making headlines in the UK and well beyond (Butler 2025; Faye 2022). Meanwhile, the environmental sciences also have a long history of eco-normativity and structurally pathologising queer lives; often characterising transness, intersex bodies, and same-sex sexual behaviours, as the adverse effects of pollution exposure (Di Chiro 2010; Zabalegui 2024). Despite its focus on power and difference (Schlosberg et al. 2025), environmental justice praxis has yet to address these enduring epistemic harms and (up until recently) has lacked engagement with queer and trans politics.
Recent calls to queer environmental justice are configured as an “inclusion” issue (e.g. Goldsmith and Bell 2022), and overlook the more fundamental structural harms of dominant science (Liboiron 2021). Geographical research has tended to reinforce the boundaries between environmental politics, and queer and trans politics, suggesting that existing work in queer and trans geographies holds limited relevance for expanding on environmental justice. This session confronts this assumption and considers the potentialities of queer and trans studies, beyond making sense of gender, sexuality, and heteronormativity. [continued on next image]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kgdfqnolcmjydc3uu34kgets/bafkreia2pszeu4qoyxhjk4bt4h3tmy2jm2uhvrdbkvjcnqr3wmtile26he@jpeg)
January 13, 2026 at 2:57 PM
🔉Call for Papers! This September Jay Todd @jaytoddgla.bsky.social & I will be organising a session on "Queering Environmental Justice" at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference @rgsibg.bsky.social
⏰ Abstract deadline: 18 February 2026
🔗 Conference website: www.rgs.org/research/ann...
⏰ Abstract deadline: 18 February 2026
🔗 Conference website: www.rgs.org/research/ann...
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
Today we launch States of Precarity in UK HE Geography.
Thank you to the 364 colleagues whose experiences shaped this work.
Download the report, share widely, and join us in advocating for change.
Launch event (1:00-2:30GMT):
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Read report:
www.rgs.org/research/hig...
Thank you to the 364 colleagues whose experiences shaped this work.
Download the report, share widely, and join us in advocating for change.
Launch event (1:00-2:30GMT):
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Read report:
www.rgs.org/research/hig...
States of precarity in UK Higher Education geography
Findings from a discipline-focused research project exploring the lived realities of precarious academic work within UK Higher Education geography.
www.rgs.org
January 14, 2026 at 8:37 AM
Today we launch States of Precarity in UK HE Geography.
Thank you to the 364 colleagues whose experiences shaped this work.
Download the report, share widely, and join us in advocating for change.
Launch event (1:00-2:30GMT):
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Read report:
www.rgs.org/research/hig...
Thank you to the 364 colleagues whose experiences shaped this work.
Download the report, share widely, and join us in advocating for change.
Launch event (1:00-2:30GMT):
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Read report:
www.rgs.org/research/hig...
We are now in the era of government by grifter and moral panic entrepreneur
January 14, 2026 at 10:06 AM
We are now in the era of government by grifter and moral panic entrepreneur
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
I'm a STEM academic. All I really need to do my research, is a consumables budget of about £2k a year, some space, and some time. None of this I can have, without applying for multiple £500k projects a year, which consumes time which could actually be spent doing the research.
Incredible article which points out that it often collectively costs more to apply for scarce research funding than the funds awarded to the successful proposals.
What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
January 14, 2026 at 9:37 AM
I'm a STEM academic. All I really need to do my research, is a consumables budget of about £2k a year, some space, and some time. None of this I can have, without applying for multiple £500k projects a year, which consumes time which could actually be spent doing the research.
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
Haidt is not an expert, he’s a polemicist and a moral panic entrepreneur
Wes Streeting asks US expert Jonathan Haidt to address officials on social media ban for under-16s
Wes Streeting asks US expert Jonathan Haidt to address officials on social media ban for under-16s
Exclusive: Health secretary issues invitation in push for UK to consider copying landmark restrictions in Australia
Wes Streeting has asked Jonathan Haidt, a bestselling author and high-profile advocate of banning social media for under-16s, to speak to his officials in his push for the UK to consider following a landmark ban in Australia.
The health secretary has invited Haidt to address an event with staff, charities and MPs after the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said he was open to stricter limits for young people. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:50 AM
Haidt is not an expert, he’s a polemicist and a moral panic entrepreneur
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
In 2025 I submitted 4 grant proposals (2 Horizon Europe, 1 UKRI, 1 FCT). A conservative, back of a napkin, estimate of the person hours involved in their preparation across consortia/networks is about 800-850ph*, including several day-long workshops.
None were successful
None were successful
Costs of applying for grants amount to more than the value of the grants themselves. What excellent value for money for taxpayers!!!!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Client Challenge
www.nature.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:30 AM
In 2025 I submitted 4 grant proposals (2 Horizon Europe, 1 UKRI, 1 FCT). A conservative, back of a napkin, estimate of the person hours involved in their preparation across consortia/networks is about 800-850ph*, including several day-long workshops.
None were successful
None were successful
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
Our first newsletter of 2026 has landed! Featuring information about our equality rule change motion, the current New Deal for FE strikes, Holocaust memorial day, and more. #UCU #UKHE
ucucommons.org/ucu-commons-...
ucucommons.org/ucu-commons-...
UCU Commons newsletter #7, 14 January 2026
Dear subscriber
Welcome to the UCU Commons newsletter, a curated set of links and information about what's happening in UCU Commons, our union, and our sectors more generally. As always, we welcome a...
ucucommons.org
January 14, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Our first newsletter of 2026 has landed! Featuring information about our equality rule change motion, the current New Deal for FE strikes, Holocaust memorial day, and more. #UCU #UKHE
ucucommons.org/ucu-commons-...
ucucommons.org/ucu-commons-...
Costs of applying for grants amount to more than the value of the grants themselves. What excellent value for money for taxpayers!!!!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Client Challenge
www.nature.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:15 AM
Costs of applying for grants amount to more than the value of the grants themselves. What excellent value for money for taxpayers!!!!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Our first newsletter of 2026 has landed! Featuring information about our equality rule change motion, the current New Deal for FE strikes, Holocaust memorial day, and more. #UCU #UKHE
ucucommons.org/ucu-commons-...
ucucommons.org/ucu-commons-...
UCU Commons newsletter #7, 14 January 2026
Dear subscriber
Welcome to the UCU Commons newsletter, a curated set of links and information about what's happening in UCU Commons, our union, and our sectors more generally. As always, we welcome a...
ucucommons.org
January 14, 2026 at 9:08 AM
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
UCU members are on strike today in 25 colleges across the UK.
Their starting salaries are just above minimum wage and well below their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
This has to change. Let our members know you back them.
Their starting salaries are just above minimum wage and well below their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
This has to change. Let our members know you back them.
January 14, 2026 at 7:52 AM
UCU members are on strike today in 25 colleges across the UK.
Their starting salaries are just above minimum wage and well below their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
This has to change. Let our members know you back them.
Their starting salaries are just above minimum wage and well below their equivalents in schools and 6th form colleges.
This has to change. Let our members know you back them.
The intra-academic beef on display in this article is something else 👀
oh wow another obviously horseshit scare story that turned out to be bollocks
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body
Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’
www.theguardian.com
January 13, 2026 at 6:43 PM
The intra-academic beef on display in this article is something else 👀
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
Some funders like the British Council require that projects support or enhance social value in some way.
We can help: our disabled-led, disabled-majority, proudly intersectional social enterprise can supply transcriptions and closed-captions that come with a built in social impact.
Find out more 👇
We can help: our disabled-led, disabled-majority, proudly intersectional social enterprise can supply transcriptions and closed-captions that come with a built in social impact.
Find out more 👇
Home - Academic Audio Transcription Ltd
Get high-quality, human-made transcripts and closed captions from our specialist disabled-led and disabled-majority team of expert transcribers.
academicaudiotranscription.com
January 13, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Some funders like the British Council require that projects support or enhance social value in some way.
We can help: our disabled-led, disabled-majority, proudly intersectional social enterprise can supply transcriptions and closed-captions that come with a built in social impact.
Find out more 👇
We can help: our disabled-led, disabled-majority, proudly intersectional social enterprise can supply transcriptions and closed-captions that come with a built in social impact.
Find out more 👇
Looking forward to speaking at this!
Reminder that tomorrow (14 Jan) the @statesofprecarity.bsky.social Report Launch and Discussion will be held online, 1:00-2:30PM GMT.
Guest speakers: @matildaf.bsky.social, @jaytoddgla.bsky.social, Lekan Adekola, @profgillian.bsky.social.
Register here: www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Guest speakers: @matildaf.bsky.social, @jaytoddgla.bsky.social, Lekan Adekola, @profgillian.bsky.social.
Register here: www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
States of precarity in UK geography report launch
We're invitomh all geographers to the launch of the States of Precarity in UK Higher Education Geography report.
www.rgs.org
January 13, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Looking forward to speaking at this!
Tricky one. I do strongly believe that 'progressives' (dislike that word) need to take ownership of these issues. But it often seems to be anticipated that this will be on the far-right's terms. 'Progressives' must refuse the far-right's terms at all costs.
The US and other countries face aging, shrinking populations. Conservatives have shaped debate over the issue. Some liberals say it's time for progressives to weigh in. n.pr/3NH3yso
As birthrates tumble, some progressives say the left needs to offer ideas and solutions
The US and other countries face aging, shrinking populations. Conservatives have shaped debate over the issue. Some liberals say it's time for progressives to weigh in.
n.pr
January 13, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Tricky one. I do strongly believe that 'progressives' (dislike that word) need to take ownership of these issues. But it often seems to be anticipated that this will be on the far-right's terms. 'Progressives' must refuse the far-right's terms at all costs.
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
Here, we have the professional TERF, Maya Forstater, self-promoting her happy solidarity with the neo-Nazi and white supremacist Nina Power.
Every TERF is Max Naumann.
Every TERF is Max Naumann.
January 11, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Here, we have the professional TERF, Maya Forstater, self-promoting her happy solidarity with the neo-Nazi and white supremacist Nina Power.
Every TERF is Max Naumann.
Every TERF is Max Naumann.
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
TOMORROW:
Report Launch and Discussion
1:00-2:30PM GMT
Guest Speakers:
Matilda Fitzmaurice (@matildaf.bsky.social)
Jay Todd (@jaytoddgla.bsky.social)
Lekan Adekola
Gillian Rose (@profgillian.bsky.social)
Register:
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Report Launch and Discussion
1:00-2:30PM GMT
Guest Speakers:
Matilda Fitzmaurice (@matildaf.bsky.social)
Jay Todd (@jaytoddgla.bsky.social)
Lekan Adekola
Gillian Rose (@profgillian.bsky.social)
Register:
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
States of precarity in UK geography report launch
We're invitomh all geographers to the launch of the States of Precarity in UK Higher Education Geography report.
www.rgs.org
January 13, 2026 at 11:49 AM
TOMORROW:
Report Launch and Discussion
1:00-2:30PM GMT
Guest Speakers:
Matilda Fitzmaurice (@matildaf.bsky.social)
Jay Todd (@jaytoddgla.bsky.social)
Lekan Adekola
Gillian Rose (@profgillian.bsky.social)
Register:
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Report Launch and Discussion
1:00-2:30PM GMT
Guest Speakers:
Matilda Fitzmaurice (@matildaf.bsky.social)
Jay Todd (@jaytoddgla.bsky.social)
Lekan Adekola
Gillian Rose (@profgillian.bsky.social)
Register:
www.rgs.org/events/upcom...
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
Indian authorities raided a prominent climate activist Harjeet Singh's home and office, accusing him of using foreign funding to campaign against fossil fuels in ways that could undermine the country’s energy security.
www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...
www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...
India arrests top climate activist for campaigning against fossil fuels
Financial crimes agency raids Harjeet Singh’s home and office after accusing him of using foreign funds to promote an international green initiative
www.independent.co.uk
January 11, 2026 at 7:31 AM
Indian authorities raided a prominent climate activist Harjeet Singh's home and office, accusing him of using foreign funding to campaign against fossil fuels in ways that could undermine the country’s energy security.
www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...
www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...
where does this 'Bellingcat is CIA-funded' thing come from?
January 12, 2026 at 8:32 PM
where does this 'Bellingcat is CIA-funded' thing come from?
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
don't really understand how this article alone hasn't shamed Nandy into, y'know, appearing
If the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...
January 12, 2026 at 3:34 PM
don't really understand how this article alone hasn't shamed Nandy into, y'know, appearing
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
Solidarity with all @ucu.org.uk FE strikers this week 📢
🗓️14-16 January 2026
📍Find and support your nearest picket: bit.ly/FEPickets
1/3 @drjogrady.bsky.social
#StrikeMap #NewDealForFE #UCU #UCUStrike #FEstrike #Education #FurtherEducation
🗓️14-16 January 2026
📍Find and support your nearest picket: bit.ly/FEPickets
1/3 @drjogrady.bsky.social
#StrikeMap #NewDealForFE #UCU #UCUStrike #FEstrike #Education #FurtherEducation
January 12, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Solidarity with all @ucu.org.uk FE strikers this week 📢
🗓️14-16 January 2026
📍Find and support your nearest picket: bit.ly/FEPickets
1/3 @drjogrady.bsky.social
#StrikeMap #NewDealForFE #UCU #UCUStrike #FEstrike #Education #FurtherEducation
🗓️14-16 January 2026
📍Find and support your nearest picket: bit.ly/FEPickets
1/3 @drjogrady.bsky.social
#StrikeMap #NewDealForFE #UCU #UCUStrike #FEstrike #Education #FurtherEducation
Reposted by Matilda Fitzmaurice
Please show your support and solidarity to all FE teachers strking this week.
FE Teachers deserve better.
FE Teachers deserve better.
Solidarity with all @ucu.org.uk FE strikers this week 📢
🗓️14-16 January 2026
📍Find and support your nearest picket: bit.ly/FEPickets
1/3 @drjogrady.bsky.social
#StrikeMap #NewDealForFE #UCU #UCUStrike #FEstrike #Education #FurtherEducation
🗓️14-16 January 2026
📍Find and support your nearest picket: bit.ly/FEPickets
1/3 @drjogrady.bsky.social
#StrikeMap #NewDealForFE #UCU #UCUStrike #FEstrike #Education #FurtherEducation
January 12, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Please show your support and solidarity to all FE teachers strking this week.
FE Teachers deserve better.
FE Teachers deserve better.
What's the best food to eat during Dry January?
Soba noodles (sorry)
Soba noodles (sorry)
January 12, 2026 at 1:05 PM
What's the best food to eat during Dry January?
Soba noodles (sorry)
Soba noodles (sorry)