Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Katie McDonough

@kmcdono.bsky.social

2.6K followers 1.7K following 730 posts

History + DH @ Lancaster University. MapReader, computational history, history of infrastructure and information. Writing a book about people & highways in 18th c. France.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Katie McDonough @kmcdono.bsky.social · Jul 30

Join us in signing and sharing this petition to prevent layoffs of over 400 people (both academic & professional services staff) at Lancaster University. We are all at risk and it's a scary time.

Jenni Hyde @wallyberry.bsky.social · Jul 30

Hello UK friends - please, please could you sign this petition against the job cuts at my place of work - 1 in 4 us will be out of a job by August next year if we don't stop the cuts. And once you've signed it, please share. We need your help! www.change.org/p/stop-mass-...

Sign the Petition

Stop Mass Redundancies at Lancaster University – Hold Senior Management Accountable

www.change.org

2 42 44

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Jackman Humanities Institute @jhievents.bsky.social · 2h

📢 The JHI invites applications for the 2026–27 Critical Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship, a 1 year fellowship supporting a recent PhD.

Theme: Doubles, Doppelgangers

📅 Apply by Nov 25, 2025 | 4pm EST
🔗 More info: uoft.me/cdh26-27

#digitalhumanities #DH #postdoc #postdoctoral

A long hallway flanked by a series of floor to ceiling mirrors that reflect infinitely. The text overlay is Call for Applications: 2026-27 Critical Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship. The deadline is November 25, theme is Doubles, Doppelgangers.

3 2

Katie McDonough @kmcdono.bsky.social · 5h

The brilliant Kelly Summers (MacEwan Uni) will be speaking on Frances Burney & Napoleonic France @lancasteruni.bsky.social in November.

www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affai...

History Research Seminar: Dr Kelly Summers (MacEwan University, Canada), ‘Burney Abroad: Writing and Resistance in Napoleonic France’, Tuesday 4 November, 5:00pm - Lancaster University

The History Research Seminar welcomes Dr Kelly Summers of MacEwan University, Canada, to present her current research.

www.lancaster.ac.uk

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Erin A. McCarthy @erinannmcc.bsky.social · 1d

Last day to apply! Applications must be submitted online by 5 pm Irish time.

Erin A. McCarthy @erinannmcc.bsky.social · 21d

Join the @stemma.bsky.social team! We've just advertised a two-year postdoc on WP2, "Networking Early Modern Poems." Apply by 30 September; details at link below. #earlymodern #dh #postdoc #jobfairy

www.universityofgalway.ie/human-resour...

011345 - University of Galway

www.universityofgalway.ie

2 3

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Briony Neilson @brionyneilson.bsky.social · 1d

Attention French historians and researchers in adjacent fields: the call for papers is now open for the next George Rudé conference. 8–10 July 2026, in Perth, Western Australia. Generous funding ($3300AUD) is available to support research students' travel. Deadline for proposal is 15 December 2025.

George Rudé Society @georgerudesociety.bsky.social · 5d

We're very excited to announce our Call for Papers for the 25th George Rudé Seminar, the largest gathering of scholars of French history & culture in the southern hemisphere! Taking place in beautiful Boorloo/Perth at the Uni of Western Australia 8-10 July 2026. Pls share!
h-france.net/rude/cfp/

3 4

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Máiréad Enright @maireadenright.bsky.social · 2d

"We honestly feel the whole institution could crash. You can’t cut and cut and then bring in extra students and even more pressure.”

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3d

Finally, an article that at least touches on teaching quality and staff workload issues. Not that it suggests any viable alternatives to the current state of play. (And for 'colleges' in the headline, read 'universities', a telling choice of nomenclature.

Grade deflation, overcrowding and ‘chaos’ as colleges scr...

Russell group hoovers up international students to stave off budget deficit fears

observer.co.uk

9 10

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Political Quarterly @politicalquarterly.bsky.social · 6d

There have likely been 10,000 or more university redundancies in the academic year 2024-25.

@gsoh31.bsky.social, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Oxford Brookes, argues that the Higher Education system as we know it is coming to an end.

Where now for Britain’s Universities?

UK higher education now faces a very bleak future, retreating in the face of little public sympathy and limited political interest.

politicalquarterly.org.uk

3 29 35

Reposted by Katie McDonough

dan sinker @dansinker.com · 2d

Portland never stops being Portland.

competentposter @competentposter.bsky.social · 3d

wizard frog is insane

160 1.4K 6.3K

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 2d

Seriously though. Where are Fred and Carrie?

1 1 4

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Jo (unfunded hobbyist) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 4d

#MedievalSky #EarlyModernists you may not be aware that I offer several services: transcription (no hand too tricky), archival visits and more. I’m happiest in the period 1200-1700 but will consider anything. Get in touch via my website!

joanneedge.co.uk/freelance-wo...

Freelance Work

Transcription, scholarly editing, archival visits Joanne is available for freelance work: transcriptions and editions of late medieval and early modern Latin, English and Anglo-Norman manuscript te…

joanneedge.co.uk

1 54 65

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 4d

"Among articles stating that data was available upon request, only 17% shared data upon request." (Or: you keep saying these words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean)

Ian Hussey @ianhussey.mmmdata.io · 4d

My article "Data is not available upon request" was published in Meta-Psychology. Very happy to see this out!
open.lnu.se/index.php/me...

LnuOpen | Meta-Psychology

open.lnu.se

3 23 60

Reposted by Katie McDonough

scott b. weingart @scottbot.bsky.social · 4d

The next Historical Network Research conference will be held in Turin, Italy in July 2026, and submissions are now open.

Proposals due December 1. Bursaries available for early career scholars.

This year's theme is "Networks and their Sources." See you there!

hnr2026.sciencesconf.org

HNR2026: The Historical Network Research Conference 2026 (Turin, Italy) - Sciencesconf.org

Call for Papers – Historical Network Research Conference 2026

hnr2026.sciencesconf.org

2 17 21

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Luca Scholz @lscholz.bsky.social · 4d

Join us online for another instalment of the Environmental Digital Humanities Seminar on October 15:

Iason Jongepier and Vincent Ducatteeuw will present their digital historical work on the river Scheldt.

Artemis Project: A Digital Bridge to Historical Landscapes and Maps

Join us for a discussion with Iason Jongepier (University of Antwerp) & Vincent Ducatteeuw (Ghent University)

www.eventbrite.co.uk

4 4

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Andy Arthur💃🏰⚓🦌 Threadinburgh 🧵 @threadinburgh.scot · 13d

Look what we have here then.

51 940 3.4K

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Dan McQuillan @danmcquillan.bsky.social · 5d

Wtaf? "Software giant Palantir snubs ‘undemocratic’ digital ID scheme". This would actually be funny if we weren't living in an emergent technofascism powered by the likes of Palantir...
archive.ph/MncRd

screenshot of Times headlines reading "Software giant Palantir snubs ‘undemocratic’ digital ID scheme. The US-based company, which had been touted as a potential bidder, said that it would not seek any contracts around it"

6 16 51

Katie McDonough @kmcdono.bsky.social · 5d

Are you interested in the history of rivers? Do you wonder how historians and environmental scientists can work together? Join the EDHS seminar to hear from the ARTEMIS team about their amazing project exploring the histories and ecologies of the Scheldt. #envhist #histsci #skystorians #dh

Katie McDonough @kmcdono.bsky.social · 7d

The Environmental #DH Seminar (EDHS) is back!

Co-organised by Lancaster & Manchester w/support from @n8cir.bsky.social, our first event features the ARTEMIS project.

Join us ONLINE at 12pm (UK) on Oct 15 to hear about this digital historical investigation of the Scheldt River Valley.

RSVP 👇

Artemis Project: A Digital Bridge to Historical Landscapes and Maps

Join us for a discussion with Iason Jongepier (University of Antwerp) & Vincent Ducatteeuw (Ghent University)

www.eventbrite.com

1 11 15

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Pleiades gazetteer @pleiades-gazetteer.hcommons.social.ap.brid.gy · 5d

This account is now bridged on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/pleiades-gazetteer.hcommons.social.ap.brid.gy

2 3

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 6d

Good news! The full table of contents for THE CAMPUS CRISIS TOOLKIT, edited by @thetattooedprof.bsky.social and Lisa Di Bartolommeo, is now available on the @sunypress.bsky.social website: sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-.... Follow the link or see next post for screenshots. 🤗

The Campus Crisis Toolkit

sunypress.edu

1 26 46

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 5d

Attention I ask from all the sacred people, greater and lesser offspring of Heimdall! Congress has not authorized the use of military force.

Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) @nora.zone · 5d

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Congress has not authorized the use of military force.

geoffrey, 💀 mode @parsnip.bsky.social · 5d

why is sentence two in every story not "congress has not authorized the use of military force"

10 27 280

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) @nora.zone · 5d

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Congress has not authorized the use of military force.

geoffrey, 💀 mode @parsnip.bsky.social · 5d

why is sentence two in every story not "congress has not authorized the use of military force"

22 85 500

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Sidra Collaborative @sidracollaborative.bsky.social · 6d

Introducing Sidra Co-Founder Hannah Alpert-Abrams! Hannah has over 15 years of experience in arts, culture, and the humanities as a practitioner and funder. Hannah can help establish new grant programs, manage funding processes, and understand the impact of your work.

sidracollaborative.com/team/

6 13

Katie McDonough @kmcdono.bsky.social · 5d

super useful!

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Heather Froehlich @heatherfro.bsky.social · 5d

ITHAKA S&R has started a Generative AI Licensing Agreement Tracker sr.ithaka.org/our-work/gen...

Generative AI Licensing Agreement Tracker - Ithaka S+R

In recent months, several publishers have announced that they are licensing their scholarly content for use as training data for LLMs. These deals

sr.ithaka.org

1 9 6

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Prof. Liz Oakley-Brown @earlymodlancs.bsky.social · 6d

We are watching the deliberate destruction of the humanities in UKHEI

One example 👇

Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 6d

This against one of History's most successful admissions cycles and a clearly thriving degree scheme (healthier than some that have been taken out of scope).

This isn't 'cannot rule out' but 'chooses not to rule out' compulsory redundancies.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6d

'The affected staff, in the schools of foreign languages, history, religion and music, have been warned the university cannot rule out compulsory redundancy.'

1 4

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 6d

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6d

'The affected staff, in the schools of foreign languages, history, religion and music, have been warned the university cannot rule out compulsory redundancy.'

Almost 200 Cardiff University staff left in limbo as they face losing jobs

Cardiff University confirmed it cannot rule out compulsory redundancies as it also apologised to students for problems with a new timetabling system as the academic year begins

www.walesonline.co.uk

1 7 21

Reposted by Katie McDonough

Julie Hardwick @juliehardwick.bsky.social · 7d

Fantastic new work by @drbernard.bsky.social - on the sexual policing side hustles of a humanist in 17th-c higher education, and its relationship to absolutism and much else.

Ben Bernard @drbernard.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 New article! I'm excited to share “The sodomy consultant of Paris, 1688–1737,” published this week in French Historical Studies: read.dukeupress.edu/french-histo... . A 🧵:

The Sodomy Consultant of Paris | French Historical Studies | Duke University Press

read.dukeupress.edu

2 12 22