Dr Eleanor Hopkins
@drejhopkins.bsky.social
Deputy Head of Policy (Research) at The British Academy. Interested in all things research, development and innovation. C19th infrastructures nerd (former and forever). She/her. All views my own.
Fantastic opportunity for SHAPE experts to contribute to DSIT's College of Experts and to provide impartial scientific and technical advice.
DSIT is looking for experts in areas including AI, cyber security, digital infrastructure, economic security, R&I and regulatory innovation, to name a few!
DSIT is looking for experts in areas including AI, cyber security, digital infrastructure, economic security, R&I and regulatory innovation, to name a few!
DSIT is now accepting applications for its College of Experts, a network offering independent advice to shape UK tech and innovation policy.
Expertise from across the social sciences and humanities is essential to DSIT’s work – from AI to digital identity.
Apply by 16 Jan 2026: bit.ly/44JVc98
Expertise from across the social sciences and humanities is essential to DSIT’s work – from AI to digital identity.
Apply by 16 Jan 2026: bit.ly/44JVc98
Quick Check Needed
bit.ly
December 10, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Fantastic opportunity for SHAPE experts to contribute to DSIT's College of Experts and to provide impartial scientific and technical advice.
DSIT is looking for experts in areas including AI, cyber security, digital infrastructure, economic security, R&I and regulatory innovation, to name a few!
DSIT is looking for experts in areas including AI, cyber security, digital infrastructure, economic security, R&I and regulatory innovation, to name a few!
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
“The restarting of REF2029 brings welcome clarity and allows universities to resume preparations with purpose."
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social reflects on the government's announcement today on the restarting of REF2029 - see our full response here: https://bit.ly/4pre8Sl
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social reflects on the government's announcement today on the restarting of REF2029 - see our full response here: https://bit.ly/4pre8Sl
The British Academy responds to the resuming of REF2029
The British Academy has responded to the Department for Education's announcement regarding the resumption of REF2029
bit.ly
December 10, 2025 at 11:50 AM
“The restarting of REF2029 brings welcome clarity and allows universities to resume preparations with purpose."
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social reflects on the government's announcement today on the restarting of REF2029 - see our full response here: https://bit.ly/4pre8Sl
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social reflects on the government's announcement today on the restarting of REF2029 - see our full response here: https://bit.ly/4pre8Sl
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
For another year, it appears, this article I wrote with @nccomfort.bsky.social is the most read of @nature.com's News articles...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
December 9, 2025 at 11:29 AM
For another year, it appears, this article I wrote with @nccomfort.bsky.social is the most read of @nature.com's News articles...
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
'the thing that’s been really nagging at me since October is the cheek of proposing to fundamentally restructure quality assessment without looking at whether the National Student Survey (NSS) – which sits at its heart – is fit for the purpose OfS wants it to serve.'
You can’t fix OfS’ quality proposals without fixing the NSS
There's a lot wrong with OfS' proposals on quality regulation – like the punishment of students in providers that get Bronze, the abandonment of educational gain despite students repeatedly requesting...
wonkhe.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:18 AM
'the thing that’s been really nagging at me since October is the cheek of proposing to fundamentally restructure quality assessment without looking at whether the National Student Survey (NSS) – which sits at its heart – is fit for the purpose OfS wants it to serve.'
I knew the chilli peppers were right …
‘When everything turns into television, every form of communication starts to adopt television’s values: immediacy, emotion, spectacle, brevity’
www.derekthompson.org/p/why-everyt...
‘When everything turns into television, every form of communication starts to adopt television’s values: immediacy, emotion, spectacle, brevity’
www.derekthompson.org/p/why-everyt...
Everything Is Television
A theory of culture and attention
www.derekthompson.org
November 27, 2025 at 8:28 AM
I knew the chilli peppers were right …
‘When everything turns into television, every form of communication starts to adopt television’s values: immediacy, emotion, spectacle, brevity’
www.derekthompson.org/p/why-everyt...
‘When everything turns into television, every form of communication starts to adopt television’s values: immediacy, emotion, spectacle, brevity’
www.derekthompson.org/p/why-everyt...
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:27 AM
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
Good to see the problems facing our colleagues @britishlibrary.bsky.social being raised here by @hetanshah.bsky.social (of @britishacademy.bsky.social). If this had happened in France it would be considered a national problem to be urgently addressed! www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Good to see the problems facing our colleagues @britishlibrary.bsky.social being raised here by @hetanshah.bsky.social (of @britishacademy.bsky.social). If this had happened in France it would be considered a national problem to be urgently addressed! www.cityam.com/the-british-...
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
Publication day! My special issue on Algernon Blackwood and the Gothic is officially out: www.euppublishing.com/toc/gothic/c...
My heartfelt thanks to all the contributors. So much in here - will cover in future posts. The issue positions B as a major force in C20th British Gothic.
My heartfelt thanks to all the contributors. So much in here - will cover in future posts. The issue positions B as a major force in C20th British Gothic.
Edinburgh University Press Journals - Table of Contents - gothic: Vol 27, No 3
www.euppublishing.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Publication day! My special issue on Algernon Blackwood and the Gothic is officially out: www.euppublishing.com/toc/gothic/c...
My heartfelt thanks to all the contributors. So much in here - will cover in future posts. The issue positions B as a major force in C20th British Gothic.
My heartfelt thanks to all the contributors. So much in here - will cover in future posts. The issue positions B as a major force in C20th British Gothic.
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
The Economic and Social Research Council core budget for 24/25 was £134m, not £8 billion.
November 12, 2025 at 12:22 PM
The Economic and Social Research Council core budget for 24/25 was £134m, not £8 billion.
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
'people who are multilingual are half as likely to show signs of accelerated biological ageing than are those who speak just one language.'
Good thing that schools, universities and governments are so actively promoting modern languages then, isn't it? 1/2
Good thing that schools, universities and governments are so actively promoting modern languages then, isn't it? 1/2
Want a younger brain? Learn another language
A vast study suggests that being multilingual can slow down cognitive ageing.
www.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:58 AM
'people who are multilingual are half as likely to show signs of accelerated biological ageing than are those who speak just one language.'
Good thing that schools, universities and governments are so actively promoting modern languages then, isn't it? 1/2
Good thing that schools, universities and governments are so actively promoting modern languages then, isn't it? 1/2
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
The value of public R&D
www.gov.uk
October 30, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
Read our response to the Government's Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, published today: https://bit.ly/48z0QOe
The UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences, The British Academy responds to the Government’s Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk
October 20, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Read our response to the Government's Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, published today: https://bit.ly/48z0QOe
A personal opinion is that if an archive is moving to ‘structured content releases’, it is no longer an archive but a private comms repository. What an incredible loss to our understanding of UK culture and heritage.
"The BBC has clanged their doors shut on those histories, those stories, those lives and ways of working that are revealed through the joint industry of the historian and the archivist." @helenwheatley.bsky.social on the devastating decision to limit access to BBC archives. tinyurl.com/y4tnyw9a
Defending the WAC: All the things I haven’t (yet) written by Helen Wheatley
People following the last few weeks of the Critical Studies in Television blog will have seen my brilliant colleagues discussing the essential work that they have been able to do thanks to the…
cstonline.net
October 19, 2025 at 8:36 AM
A personal opinion is that if an archive is moving to ‘structured content releases’, it is no longer an archive but a private comms repository. What an incredible loss to our understanding of UK culture and heritage.
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
The cover of my upcoming special issue of @gothicstudies.bsky.social - 'Algernon Blackwood and the Gothic' - is here! Eight essays on Blackwood's fiction, delving into questions of genre, war, empathy, occultism, and much more. Full issue out soon! @edinburghup.bsky.social @igagoths.bsky.social
October 14, 2025 at 6:56 AM
The cover of my upcoming special issue of @gothicstudies.bsky.social - 'Algernon Blackwood and the Gothic' - is here! Eight essays on Blackwood's fiction, delving into questions of genre, war, empathy, occultism, and much more. Full issue out soon! @edinburghup.bsky.social @igagoths.bsky.social
'I didn’t study Old and Middle English [...] because I thought a great job awaited me at the end. I did it because I love learning, and studying the middle ages enriched my life while connecting me to the fears and longings and delights of the past.'
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon
I studied Old and Middle English. Although I didn’t know it, I couldn’t have chosen a better subject to train me to become a children’s author, says author Francesca Simon
www.theguardian.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:09 PM
'I didn’t study Old and Middle English [...] because I thought a great job awaited me at the end. I did it because I love learning, and studying the middle ages enriched my life while connecting me to the fears and longings and delights of the past.'
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
Something cosmic this way comes... the special issue of Gothic Studies I have been working on - Algernon Blackwood and the Gothic - is now in production ready for its November publication. Thrilled with the depth and breadth of insight and expertise from the contributors. More updates soon!
October 11, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Something cosmic this way comes... the special issue of Gothic Studies I have been working on - Algernon Blackwood and the Gothic - is now in production ready for its November publication. Thrilled with the depth and breadth of insight and expertise from the contributors. More updates soon!
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
October 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
Does STI policy need a strategic brain?
Join us at 5pm on 30 Sept for a talk by @stianwestlake.bsky.social, Executive Chair, ESRC @ukri
Hosted by STEaPP-UCL & RoRI, w/ responses by @britishacademy.bsky.social’s Molly Morgan-Jones & UCL’s Sarah Chaytor
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/does-sti-p...
Join us at 5pm on 30 Sept for a talk by @stianwestlake.bsky.social, Executive Chair, ESRC @ukri
Hosted by STEaPP-UCL & RoRI, w/ responses by @britishacademy.bsky.social’s Molly Morgan-Jones & UCL’s Sarah Chaytor
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/does-sti-p...
Does STI policy need a strategic brain?
A seminar on how metascience might sharpen investment decisions across the UK’s research system
www.eventbrite.co.uk
September 17, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Does STI policy need a strategic brain?
Join us at 5pm on 30 Sept for a talk by @stianwestlake.bsky.social, Executive Chair, ESRC @ukri
Hosted by STEaPP-UCL & RoRI, w/ responses by @britishacademy.bsky.social’s Molly Morgan-Jones & UCL’s Sarah Chaytor
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/does-sti-p...
Join us at 5pm on 30 Sept for a talk by @stianwestlake.bsky.social, Executive Chair, ESRC @ukri
Hosted by STEaPP-UCL & RoRI, w/ responses by @britishacademy.bsky.social’s Molly Morgan-Jones & UCL’s Sarah Chaytor
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/does-sti-p...
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
Hot off the press, the British Academy's Cold Spots: Mapping Inequality in SHAPE Provision in UK Higher Education report. Read it if you care about universities or access to the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences for the rising generation. 1/5
Cold spots: Mapping inequality in SHAPE provision in UK higher education
This British Academy report reveals that many parts of the UK are becoming subject cold spots – areas with no provision in a subject within a commutable distance. These are often in rural, coastal or ...
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk
September 10, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Hot off the press, the British Academy's Cold Spots: Mapping Inequality in SHAPE Provision in UK Higher Education report. Read it if you care about universities or access to the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences for the rising generation. 1/5
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
The time Steve Martin and Gregory Hines showed off their tap dancing skills in 1981.
Happy 80th Steve.
Happy 80th Steve.
August 14, 2025 at 9:03 PM
The time Steve Martin and Gregory Hines showed off their tap dancing skills in 1981.
Happy 80th Steve.
Happy 80th Steve.
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
“Gender studies as a discipline…is defined by a set of debates and problematics.” In this 10-Minute Talk, Judith Butler FBA discusses gender as a field of study and its interdisciplinary contributions to research, social analysis and social movements.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEvH...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEvH...
August 11, 2025 at 9:15 AM
“Gender studies as a discipline…is defined by a set of debates and problematics.” In this 10-Minute Talk, Judith Butler FBA discusses gender as a field of study and its interdisciplinary contributions to research, social analysis and social movements.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEvH...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEvH...
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
This is extraordinary. An East End woman remembers the arrival of television. I would listen to this woman give a ten hour lecture on the history of media in her lifetime.
www.instagram.com/reel/DMw4yrg...
www.instagram.com/reel/DMw4yrg...
July 31, 2025 at 8:40 AM
This is extraordinary. An East End woman remembers the arrival of television. I would listen to this woman give a ten hour lecture on the history of media in her lifetime.
www.instagram.com/reel/DMw4yrg...
www.instagram.com/reel/DMw4yrg...
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
Ozzy going out after raising $190 million for sick kids and a Parkinson’s cure is metal AF.
Ozzy Osbourne Farewell Show Was The Highest-Grossing Charity Concert Of All Time
On July 5, Ozzy Osbourne put on a farewell concert, performing as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath for the last time in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, UK. Billed as the “Back To The Beginning”...
www.stereogum.com
July 22, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Ozzy going out after raising $190 million for sick kids and a Parkinson’s cure is metal AF.
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Hopkins
This, on the frailties of human bodies fighting the passage of time and Ozzy Osbourne’s last gig, is well worth a read. thequietus.com/opinion-and-...
Confronting & Celebrating the Limits of the Body: Black Sabbath Live at Villa Park | The Quietus
Black Sabbath began with a broken body – Tony Iommi's industrial accident – it is both fitting and inspirational they end in the same way.
thequietus.com
July 22, 2025 at 6:45 PM
This, on the frailties of human bodies fighting the passage of time and Ozzy Osbourne’s last gig, is well worth a read. thequietus.com/opinion-and-...