Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · Sep 8

Yesterday morning I woke up from a being chased dream where the only escape was on the ferry to "dissertation island" (no joke) but I couldn't get on the ferry...
In unrelated news, today I submitted my PhD thesis

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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · Sep 1

Keep in mind that when we talk about family reunification routes, they only apply when someone has been granted refugee status. That means this government is saying, "we know you have fled persecution. We know your family remains at risk therefore. We are going to ensure you cannot see them again".

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Joe Jukes @joejukes.bsky.social · Aug 26

This is a 5-year postdoc position! One for the queer STS / medical humanities and other scholars out there. What a cool opportunity

The Love Tank CIC @thelovetankcic.bsky.social · Aug 25

Exciting new post-doc fellow post just announced at University of Edinburgh - working alongside The Love Tank on the new Medicine Without Doctors collaboration.

Closing date 02 Oct 2025.

elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Postdoctoral Fellow LGBTQ

The Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society at the Usher Institute within The University of Edinburgh is looking for a 5-year postdoctoral Fellow to work on the Wellcome funded Discovery Award Medici...

elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com

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Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · Jul 11

Proud of the work we've done on this report and hope it's useful for people in the youth sector!

PIR at Royal Holloway @rhulpir.bsky.social · Jul 11

Kaat Smets, @jamessloam.bsky.social and @ainebennett.bsky.social are today launching their report "Pathways to Participation for Marginalised Young People" in collaboration with Partnership for Young London and the Pan-London CiCC
hollodec.github.io/images/ssia_...

The front page of the report. The background is navy blue. The Royal Holloway and Partnership for Young London logos are in the top left hand corner. Underneath this is the title "Pathways to Participation for Marginalised Young People". In the centre of the page is an image of three young people talking intently. Under the image is the text "Kaat Smets, James Sloam and Aine Bennett in collaboration with Matthew Walsham and Nora Zia from Partnership for Young London and Louisa Foyle from Pan-London CiCC".

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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · Jul 7

Important that you keep any protests against this quiet and discreet, so that nobody notices.

Israeli plan for forced transfer of Gaza’s population ‘a blueprint for crimes against humanity’

Military ordered to turn ruins of Rafah into ‘humanitarian city’ experts call an internment camp for all Palestinians in Gaza

www.theguardian.com

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Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · Jul 3

Cold comfort I'm sure but I do think you've produced fascinating work in that time!
Just would be nice if the employment overlords could recognise that too

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Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · Jul 3

Feinberg, Leslie; Fianna Fáil is a personal fave

naoise murphy @naoisemurphy.bsky.social · Jul 2

indexing is boring so here are the most fun/incongruous pairings that the alphabet is throwing up for me (my book is weird)

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Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · Jul 3

Reading this immediately after receiving another rejection
At a recent conference, everyone else I spoke to who's on the market this year talked about it being harder than other years
Glad 10 years of higher education are paying off!

Charlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · Jul 3

Friend was round last night depressed and despondent to be rejected from job interview. Bars and shops full of frustrated workers with postgrad degrees. Potential unfulfilled in dismal economy. Downward mobility. At least we have political leadership committed to sorting this out, eh?

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Vanessa is the name of the Doctor! @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · Jul 3

👀👀👀

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Trans Feminism and the Women's Liberation Movement in Britain, c. 1970–1980

The history of the British women's liberation movement (WLM) is a growing field of study, but it has had little to say about trans participants in the movement. Drawing on feminist and LGBT+ archives...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · Jun 25

None of those newspapers (or the BBC) that gleefully ran stories when the EHRC gave trans people a shoeing will now report on the EHRC admitting they (and hence those stories) were wrong. Are those outlets craven - or dishonest?

Thank goodness for the legal press. www.law360.com/articles/235...

EHRC Drops Workplace Toilet Advice Amid Legal Threat - Law360

Britain's equal rights watchdog has dropped its advice to employers that they must provide single-sex toilets in the wake of a landmark U.K. Supreme Court decision in the face of a court challenge.

www.law360.com

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Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · Jun 23

Short thread on Yvette Cooper's decision to ban Palestine Action. 🧵

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Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · Jun 17

In the Linen Hall library finishing prep for this roundtable and panel I am very excited to be on tomorrow at #BISA2025
If you're also in Belfast, come and join us! 🌈🎓

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Daniela Lai @danielalai.bsky.social · Jun 9

"diverted" is when the 75 bus goes through an alternative route due to roadworks, not when a boat is seized in international waters

The Associated Press @apnews.com · Jun 9

BREAKING: A Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists has been diverted to Israel, Israel's Foreign Ministry says.

A Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists has been diverted to Israel

Israel’s Foreign Ministry says a Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists has been diverted to Israel.

bit.ly

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Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · May 30

Very proud seeing some former students' work included here!

PIR at Royal Holloway @rhulpir.bsky.social · May 30

The in-person exhibition of student work from the Visual Writing module was a huge success and you can now see the students' work exhibited online: visualwriting.org/exhibition/ 🧑‍🎨🖼️

A group of young people stand in a brightly lit room deep in conversation. Some people in the background are looking at or gesturing to artwork hung densely on the wall.

Another angle of the same room. Two of the groups in the foreground feature a young black woman appearing to explain something to an older white woman. Behind them, two people are seated, looking at the art. In the background a small group of white men are listening intently, with another work of art on a screen behind them.

Two young women stand at the other end of the brightly lit room while the exhibition is being installed. One looks at her phone while the other looks thoughtfully at the work on the wall. In the foreground we can see one of the art pieces: a collage of a mythological scene with an american flag and photographic faces.

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Karia Hartung @kariahartung.bsky.social · May 21

An academic in our department gave a "trans-sceptical" talk on campus today. We have written an open letter to the Principal and University Secretary expressing our opposition to transphobia on our campus - we hope others in the RHUL community will sign: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Open letter to Julie Saunders, Vice Chancellor and Principal and Andrew Boggs, University Secretary, about the hosting of a talk on "Trans-scepticism"

Please note: Dr Gascoigne is an active member of teaching staff. We have therefore allowed the option for anonymous signatures. We would encourage initials for those who are comfortable, or otherwise ...

docs.google.com

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Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · May 21

An academic in our department gave a "trans-sceptical" talk on campus today. We have written an open letter to the Principal and University Secretary expressing our opposition to transphobia on our campus - we hope others in the RHUL community will sign: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Open letter to Julie Saunders, Vice Chancellor and Principal and Andrew Boggs, University Secretary, about the hosting of a talk on "Trans-scepticism"

Please note: Dr Gascoigne is an active member of teaching staff. We have therefore allowed the option for anonymous signatures. We would encourage initials for those who are comfortable, or otherwise ...

docs.google.com

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naoise murphy @naoisemurphy.bsky.social · May 15

Today! Oxford people, see you there!

naoise murphy @naoisemurphy.bsky.social · May 8

Looking forward to hosting some absolutely brilliant thinkers next week in Oxford, on a topic that only seems to get more and more urgent. All welcome - please share with comrades and friends!
www.torch.ox.ac.uk/event/why-cr...

Why Critiques of Gay Imperialism Still Matter

www.torch.ox.ac.uk

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Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · May 8

Closely followed (for no immediately pressing reason 👀) by thinking whisperers and gum chewers in libraries should be banned

Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · May 8

This has gone some way towards dissuading me from my (I hope) most reactionary opinion that you should have to pass a cycling proficiency test before renting a lime bike...

Dan Hancox @danhancox.bsky.social · May 8

New Substack from me, about why the most annoying cyclists on the road are actually helping make everyone safer open.substack.com/pub/danhanco...

Forwards! To the Lime-bike critical mass singularity

In defence of the most annoying cyclists in London

open.substack.com

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Uygar Baspehlivan @ubaspehlivan.bsky.social · Apr 30

Just going to slowly introduce some of my research to BlueSky.

I'm a critical theorist interested in political possibilities of new media, particularly memes. My first journal article was a theoretical framework for the political study of internet memes.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Theorising the memescape: The spatial politics of Internet memes | Review of International Studies | Cambridge Core

Theorising the memescape: The spatial politics of Internet memes - Volume 50 Issue 1

www.cambridge.org

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Aine Bennett @ainebennett.bsky.social · Apr 30

I have just signed the open letter "Not In Our Name: Feminist Academics and Educators Speak Out Against Transphobia" in response to the recent hateful and harmful Supreme Court ruling
I hope others will too: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Not In Our Name: Feminist Academics and Educators Speak Out Against Transphobia

We call on all trans-inclusive feminist academics and educators to sign this statement: ‘Not In Our Name’ We are non-trans feminist academics and educators. We write in support of trans rights, tran...

docs.google.com

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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · Apr 16

Trans women are women and no court judgement can change that. Without wanting to diminish the negative effect that legal oppression has on trans lives, there is no reason why lawyers and judges are qualified to make this argument over actual experts in the field.

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👻madeline boOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · Apr 16

regardless of today’s outcome, it is morally indefensible to have a court ruling on something that affects a population, using evidence and findings that did not consult a single member of that population.

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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · Mar 31

And then we were 91.

Royal Holloway already has had so many interventions and threats of redundancies in recent years. 😥

Dan Elphick @danelphick.bsky.social · Mar 31

@qmucu.bsky.social sadly, time to add Royal Holloway to your master list royalhollowayucu.wordpress.com/2025/03/31/h...

How Not To Announce A Voluntary Severance Scheme: A Contextual Q&A

What is happening? A Voluntary Severance (VS) scheme has been launched, asking members of staff to volunteer for redundancy. The announcement of this scheme were emailed today, on Monday 31st March…

royalhollowayucu.wordpress.com

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Senthorun S. Raj @senthorun.bsky.social · Mar 28

“Research into sexuality and gender is vital for identifying social, cultural, and medical needs of populations, and addressing inequalities across populations.”

It’s good to see editors of academic journals refuse to comply with increasing state censorship of sexuality and gender scholarship.

🌈🎓

Statement on the Importance of Sexuality and Gender Research

Published in The Journal of Sex Research (Ahead of Print, 2025)

www.tandfonline.com

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