Prof Katherine Brickell FBA

Published today on #WorldHomelessDay: my book Debt Trap Nation – a deep dive into how government policy is driving families into homelessness & debt. All royalties to @seacharity.bsky.social 💜 Families aren't failing. They're being failed. 📖 www.agendapub.com/page/detail/... #DebtTrapNation

One in 10 adults in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse in last year, ONS finds

Harold Moody PGR Studentship 2027/28 – now open The scheme is named after King’s alumnus and civil activist, Dr Harold Moody, provides full funding to support Black UK residents to carry out a PhD at King’s. www.kcl.ac.uk/study/fundin...

When eviction becomes a source of profit for those tasked with delivering justice, something is fundamentally broken.... See the Louisiana courts for information 👇 www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Submissions to our Early-Career Paper Prize 2027 would be very welcome! Deadline is 15th January 2027. £1,000 will be paid to the Prize winning author. files.taylorandfrancis.com/economy-and-...

I have never seen coverage of a live trial, one involving allegations of multiple sex attacks on multiple women, framed in a more distasteful way. It's not 'Fame under fire' it's a rape trial. And it involves actual women. And this from the *checks notes* BBC

“Housing stability is an important driver of physical, mental, and economic wellbeing... Persistently high eviction filing rates point to structural issues in the system that warrant a collaborative, regional approach.” atlantaregional.org/news/33n/lat...

We're recruiting 3 Research Associate (Impact) posts (Grade 6, 60% FTE) in Social Science & Public Policy at King's College London. Ideal for recent PhD grads and postdocs keen to develop expertise in research impact, engagement and REF2029 preparations. 🔗 Apply here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...

What a dream to become a Fellow of The British Academy! Thank you @britishacademy.bsky.social + its Fellows for the honour and privilege. It was wonderful celebrating with my parents – felt like another graduation day. With unexpected sparkle on top, meeting the amazing Kimberle Crenshaw FBA ✨

‘The report is expected to say that there is no direct evidence of widespread overdiagnosis of autism and ADHD in Britain’ Preview of what is expected in the independent review led by @britishacademy.bsky.social Fellow Peter Fonagy liveapp.inews.co.uk/category/476...

🥳 An exciting moment! 📔 We literally just pressed submit on our edited book "Scholar-Activism in Legal Geography: Rising for Social Justice in the World of Law". ⭐ It's gone to LSE Press as part of the @rgs.org book series. 🌠Super working with co-editors incl. @sklosterkamp.bsky.social

"People are really mad and however mad you are, it’s not enough. Because there is something so profound about no longer believing in the future, about seeing no value in our shared home, in the natural world. They’re traitors to creation.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...

There’s been a lot of talk about cutting housing benefit in the news today. Here’s our take 👇 This country has already experimented with cutting housing benefit. Spoiler alert: it hasn’t worked out well. A thread [1/5]

In news that will surprise absolutely no one in HE... ‘It notes that institutions “routinely” hire consultancies for these restructures as well as change management specialists, however, these processes often introduce additional management layers, “adding cost rather than removing it”…’

You have the energy! @rgs.org delegates, the final session of the conference is going to be a fantastic one. The @tibg.bsky.social plenary panel on ‘justice work’ in and beyond the discipline. Info on photo. See you there! #RGSIBG #RGSIBG2026 #RGSIBG26 #AC2026i

And this is just ONE of the benefits, remember.

Interested in exploring the topics discussed in this episode a bit further? 💡 Migration is the theme of our 2026 School Essay Competition, with @financialtimes.com. Submit essays on the factors that drive migration, how patterns have shifted, and their consequences, by 9 November: bit.ly/4gta0xS

We’re delighted to support SALO SALO: Come Together, an exhibition celebrating British-Filipino stories through intergenerational storytelling. From 3-6 September at Oxo Gallery, London, this free exhibition asks: What does a British-Filipino home look like? Learn more 👇 https://ow.ly/lxZh50ZBoTU

Greater Manchester's decision to provide free bus travel for children living in temporary accommodation is fantastic news and a policy other local authorities should adopt #Homelessness #TemporaryAccommodation #PublicTransport #ChildrensRights #Manchester #GreaterManchester

The Temporary Accommodation Notification Duty comes into effect today. It’s a statutory duty for Local Authorities: to implement a consent-based notification, alerting a child’s School, GP + Health Visiting Team when child moves into TA. sharedhealthfoundation.org.uk/temporary-ac...

Tomorrow Mel Nowicki and I are honoured to have an "author meets critics" session at the RGS for our book Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State. 📍 9-10.40am (session 1) in Physics Blackett Building Lecture Theatre 2, Imperial College London #RGSIBG #RGSIBG2026 #RGSIBG26 #AC2026

Only 45 days until the petition to save disabled children’s rights closes. If everyone who has signed was able to get at least 3 more people to sign we could still make the target of 100,000. It just takes a moment and children can sign too. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...

My post from this week on the right's latest obsession: "suicidal empathy". Where it comes from; why it's so dangerous; and what a proper analysis of empathy tells us about policy. samf.substack.com/p/the-war-ag...

More evidence of worrying bordering of reproductive life. More reason to challenge bordered policing of everyone’s life conditions

The love letter in house buying - fascinating paper which I suspect is also used in some parts of the UK housing market

The devastating events in Nepal & Tibet originated from a glacier collapsing on the N side of Langtang-Lirung mountain. @gunjan87.bsky.social recent paper on Langtang glaciers shows that they are rapidly warming, and that the rate of recession is accelerating. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The order to stop teaching about human-caused climate change came at a Sept 2025 meeting of the geography program. Faculty were told to “remove all mention of human causes of climate change from their courses.” & warned if they went to press or politicians, the entire dept would likely be dissolved.

A thread on the dispute at Exeter Uni. #ucu #defendexeteruni @ucu.org.uk On 15 June HR called Exeter UCU into a confidential meeting and informed us they would be putting over 500 colleagues at risk of redundancy and expected to loose around 200 staff. The number of c.150 you’ll have seen is FTE.

Children's health outcomes can be profoundly affected by housing instability. ❗️From 1st September, local authorities will be required to notify GPs when a child moves to temporary accommodation. GPs can then take practical steps to support children and families throughout their homeless journey.

Coming to @rgs.org conference next week? Visit The Playhouse Tent – an interactive installation exploring neurodivergent children's lives in temporary accommodation. 🖊️ Sign up for a Weds PM slot here: www.tickettailor.com/events/senso... #AC2026 #RGSIBG26 #RGS2026

🔎 Calling SHAPE researchers: share your research impact @britishacademy.bsky.social is developing a new SHAPE Research Evidence Hub to showcase its contributions to society, culture, policy and the economy. Submit your impact here 🔽 forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon... 📅 Deadline: 18 Sep 26

Rest in peace, Jason.

This is heartbreaking www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

📢Editor appointments!📢 We will soon be welcoming James Esson and @drsarahhall.bsky.social to our editor team in Transactions. A massive thank you to @kbrickell.bsky.social for all of her work on the journal over the past few years.

I've just heard that the BA/BSc Geography programme is to close at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Geography and Environmental Science (CGES) in Cornwall. This programme was made up of excellent modules with original and content, taught brilliantly—often with real innovation—by extremely 1/9

Geography is so often a casualty of destructive neoliberal restructuring. Forcing geography into a merger with geology is painful enough, but with chemistry really is a step too far and is rightly described as a reckless form of academic vandalism www.uculeicester.org.uk/an-end-of-di...

A machine for living in may soon become a machine for dying in. "At what point do we respect architecture and history over people’s living conditions?"

Rather cool - researchers at the University of Exeter describe how estate agents in the 19thC used ‘cosmoramas’ to give immersive views of high end properties. Large paintings with special lighting had to be viewed through peep show style convex lenses www.thetimes.com/article/1318...

Isle of Wight council are currently consulting on their updated housing allocations policy. Rewarding to see that one of these changes is to exempt domestic abuse survivors from housing-related debt disqualifications. www.iow.gov.uk/article/4181...

This is simply wonderful news for the Migration Museum and its ongoing project to create the UK's first permanent museum exploring migration to and from the UK. The new Museum will be in the City of London, but is already working with collaborators outside London and outside England. 1/3

Are you a social science society looking for small scale funding to support work to pilot or scale up inclusivity initiatives or interventions? As part of the Academy’s collaborative EDI Project, the 2026-2027 funding round for the EDI Small Grants Fund is open.

Good editorial from the FT saying our new PM must take a strategic approach to universities www.ft.com/content/1419...

The saddest news of all. A business there for just shy of 90 years. And a casualty of the closure of St David’s College. This is going to happen all over the country where and when universities and colleges start closing down due to the higher education funding crisis.

The Leverhulme Trust, as part of its major (£100 million) centenary investment in UK research, has announced 3 new partnerships designed to enhance opportunities for underrepresented groups at the early stages of research careers. @leverhulme.ac.uk Terrifically good news, and sorely needed. 1/3

This is a great piece - avoids the hysteria that rent controls often seem to induce & takes a more balanced look at critiques & solutions. Points out that 23 of the 38 OECD nations have some form of rent controls Was a pleasure to talk to the FT about our work on this: www.ippr.org/articles/hou...

Who said it couldn't get any worse: 12% of London properties originally intended for private sale sold in bulk deals this past year. Housing as an asset class, it's coming home.