Liesbeth Corens

About me: I'm really interested in how (Catholic) minorities persevere. Confessional Mobility: oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093... Archives & Information: britishacademy.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5871... Social History: academic.oup.com/past/issue/2...

Extrrrrrrrrremely funny to find out that Gates should have been in court in the Netherlands (for a mad covid conspiracy theory trial; wish it were actually noble) and was avoiding having to listen to that madness by hiding in London. What an honour for QMUL... web.archive.org/web/20261022...

Food for thought. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sophie-harma...

Academic fanmail for @tobidahmen.bsky.social - great to see how #historians appreciate #comics 👏

Why have some of Britain’s most famous photographers – Martin Parr, Nick Danziger, John Bulmer - peddled stereotypes of the North? ‘Photographing the Calder Valley: or social history at the “mouth of hell”’. Matthew Hilton with Aditya Chakrabortty 19 Nov PhotographingCalderValley.eventbrite.co.uk

Good thing that this guy came to tell our students that they should work in software. He can’t even be bothered to value the people he has, and I doubt he’ll be keen to train up the next generation. But hey, the sycophantic linkedin posts were worth the 56K for 1 hour of vague AI commercial, right?

The only redeeming factor is that consultancy firms did not need AI to start saying stupid things about universities

WE'RE OFF! You can still join!

"Well, did it work for General Electric, US Steel. and Enron?" "No, it never does. I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but... but it might work for us."

"We paid a management consultant a mountain of cash for a report on how we might reinvent ourselves, and the recommendations concocted by a group of 20-something college graduates working 80-hour weeks, paid six figures, with little familiarity with our institution turn out to be nonsense"

if you will allow me to invoke the ordinary soul's imprescribable right to gallows humor, this is so funny

Seriously, can #UKHE please learn from Australia? The addiction to consultancies is dangerous (they make you think you can't do this task; then your dependency on them means you can no longer do the task that in-house people had done for decades) and a waste of money not-invested in the institution.

This cat was sleeping in the 1650s. #catcontent

Time to recognise that consultancies' entire business model isn't equipped for the complexity of universities. You can't reduce universities (legacy, future building, the fact that our 'outputs' are multiple and large chunk of it is humans) to simple transaction. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

*What's in a scream?* Our next @ihrscb.bsky.social is Thursday 29 October, 5.30 pm. Ana Struillou @anastruillou.bsky.social on the Spanish Inquisition, scribes, and recording screams! Sign up here to attend this free talk: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

UK higher education policy: financial viability sounds like a *you* problem! Get creative! ...oh, international students? No, that doesn't fly with the electorate. Franchising, you say? That doesn't work either. Financial viability? That *still* sounds like a *you* problem. Get creative!

SIGN-UP LINKS ARE UP! 🥳 Get your zoom links ready (ignore the 2025/26 heading for now 😅 We always live a bit in the past, but more past than just a year ago): www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... Mondays, 17:30 @ihr.bsky.social or on Zoom #earlymodern #skystorians

We'll welcome back our former co-convenor Filippo de Vivo (@oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social / @oxfordcems.bsky.social) in a week's time! He'll talk about Venice and the Ottoman Empire: changing practices of knowledge production 2NOV 5:30PM @ihr.bsky.social or zoom: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

sometimes Mondays are REALLY on the nose..

Perfect week to have only the first quarter of the foot tunnel lighted. 👻 There is … no light at the end of the tunnel?

Warning: ‘intolerance’.

"to act redundantly, to be unbannable" sounds like a wise communication strategy. Such relief. Such gratefulness to all Brazilians refusing their democratic future (and the globe's future...) to be impossible.

Prove to me we don’t, as cultures, hate and fear the youth; you can’t, it can’t be done

Same goes for the funding of English universities. Also: the number of students has gone up in those 15 years, while the today of money seems to be back at 2010 levels. How is any of this fair to this generation? Or wise... commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

Also think that the info pack shouldn't just include the same old briefings about tuition fees and student loans, but for instance the report that declared the Office for Students is not fit for purpose: committees.parliament.uk/committee/51... #UKHE

And frankly, those two points alone should lead any moral country to reform the way it funds its higher education system. It's structurally destroying what made it good in the first place. commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri... Westminster Hall debate about #UKHE funding on Wednesday morning

Also think that the info pack shouldn't just include the same old briefings about tuition fees and student loans, but for instance the report that declared the Office for Students is not fit for purpose: committees.parliament.uk/committee/51... #UKHE

Kudos to UCU for securing a Westminster Hall debate on Higher Education funding, led by Sheffield Central MP Abtisam Mohamed, on the morning of the budget announcement. It's 28 October 9:30-11:00am.

And frankly, those two points alone should lead any moral country to reform the way it funds its higher education system. It's structurally destroying what made it good in the first place. commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri... Westminster Hall debate about #UKHE funding on Wednesday morning

"Chris Wickham (1950-2026): A Portrait" by current Past & Present Editor and Chichele Professor of Medieval History Alice Rio (@ox.ac.uk) for @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social www.history.ox.ac.uk/articles/chr...

"When politicians & pundits take to the broadcasting studios to discuss higher education, the funding crisis is often talked about like an unstoppable force of nature. But it isn’t–it’s a political choice." #UKHE A little dispute with the Secretary of State? As a treat? unison.org.uk/magazine/fea...

A 1000 times this. Staff who are trying to protect something they care about, they know the value of beyond the mere accounting tricks get treated like trespassers and troublemakers by those who don't seem to actually value what the institution is? #UKHE in a nutshell unison.org.uk/magazine/fea...

"Chris was generous with his time and expertise. He was a mentor to countless medievalists, historians of all periods, and scholars in other disciplines too, especially archaeology. He listened and he heard, and made real conversation happen." #Skystorians

lol "But ever the pragmatist, he joined the Communist party because it demanded only one night a week of his time instead of the three or four the Trotskyist Socialist Workers required."

right. What's with LinkedIn bots? Because not a single tag on this and the most random of 'people' liking this within minutes. Is it the AI mention? The Bill Gates mention? Or quoting QMUL...

Extrrrrrrrrremely funny to find out that Gates should have been in court in the Netherlands (for a mad covid conspiracy theory trial; wish it were actually noble) and was avoiding having to listen to that madness by hiding in London. What an honour for QMUL... web.archive.org/web/20261022...