Florian Wieser
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florianwieser95.bsky.social
Florian Wieser
@florianwieser95.bsky.social
history PhD at UoEdinburgh, c16&17 colonial, queer, global history - opinionated, gay, and nerdy --- 🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈📖
https://edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/florian-wieser
https://edinburgh.academia.edu/FlorianWieser
Reposted by Florian Wieser
'The government will charge universities £925 per international student for each year of study from August 2028, in a blow to cash-strapped higher education institutions.' 1/3
International student levy set at £925 per student from 2028
Chancellor confirms details of controversial tax on income from overseas students, while universities also expect to be hit by changes to pension tax rules
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
Great news for all who care about telling the truth & the full story of American history. The Mississippi Delta barn where Emmett Till died is now owned by the Emmett Till Interpretive Center thanks to a major donation from Shonda Rhimes. It will open as a memorial by 2039.
New owner to open Mississippi barn where Emmett Till was killed as a memorial site
The new owner of the Mississippi barn where 14-year-old Emmett Till was tortured and killed is to be opened as a memorial site by 2030.
apnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
And we are hiring! We have been incredibly lucky to get this funding and are very grateful for the opportunity to work on this. Please circulate to people who would be interested in applying. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPN147/p...
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Edinburgh
Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on jobs.ac.uk!
www.jobs.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
🎨 In our final seminar of the semester, Neil McClelland joins us from @uofglasgow.bsky.social to discuss his ongoing doctoral research into the the history of art commissions from across the social strata from late medieval and early modern Naples.
November 24, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
We need it. Not only are the classes full, but also concert halls, libraries - we've gone to a bunch of classical concerts this year as an antidote to despair and guess what - they are full. They were not as full before, but they are now.

"Humanities are shrinking" is artificially imposed top down.
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
"The humanities really are a resource — a confidence for living in our times.” Dean Sara Guyer on the modern utility of humanities degrees
This interview originally appeared on the Division of Arts
bit.ly
November 23, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
It would have been hard to believe, when I moved to the UK over 15 yrs ago to start my PhD at Edinburgh, that successive Conservative and Labour governments would actively undermine one of the UK's most successful and strategic sectors and run it to the ground. Unbelievable, really. And here we are
November 23, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
"Wilderness: a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings."

That sound you hear is millions of Native Americans grinding their teeth.
November 22, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
Latest update from @britishlibrary.bsky.social says they are launching a new version of their main catalogue on Monday 8 December and around that time also launch an interim version of their Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. Hooray!
www.bl.uk/stories/news...
Restoring our services – November 2025 update
In the coming weeks and months we will be restoring a number of key functions.
www.bl.uk
November 22, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
"According to the report, [...]during the 2024-25 television season, queer characters increased across platforms by 4%, bringing the total to 489. However, the Thursday report found that 41% of those characters will not return." www.thewrap.com/glaad-where-...
Nearly Half of All LGBTQ+ Characters Will Disappear From TV Next Season, GLAAD Study Finds
The 2024-25 TV season recorded 489 queer characters across broadcast, cable and screenings, but cancellations and plot find a deep decline to come
www.thewrap.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
“History shows us that the right to literacy came at a heavy cost…those oppressed recognized that literacy is liberation. To my students & to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write & think when others once risked their lives & died for the freedom to do so”
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:26 AM
More buildings. When you keep constructing buildings and keep firing staff, what exactly is supposed to happen in those empty halls?
'Successful bidders had to demonstrate how they would help the government's industrial strategy or meet the needs of local employers, according to the OfS.'

If you're wondering how the White Paper's often incoherent and contradictory goals are to be achieved, this is a straw in the wind for you.
"Brighton and Chichester universities welcome cash for facilities - BBC News"
November 19, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
"Edinburgh university staff walk out in latest strikes over £140m cuts"
Edinburgh university staff walk out in latest strikes over £140m cuts
Members of the UCU union walked out in the first of three days of strikes over proposed cuts and the threat of compulsory redundancies.
bbc.in
November 18, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
When you really need to listen to Indigenous peoples: “We can’t eat money… We want our lands free from agribusiness, oil exploration, illegal miners and illegal loggers.” An exemplar of #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs.
November 12, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
We are thrilled to announce this year's rendition of the Prize Papers Talks Special Edition - an online lecture series organised by the German Maritime Museum and the Prize Papers Project! The first talk will be on November 10th, with Jane Ohlmeyer, Tom Truxes, and John Shovlin on the Amity Papers!
November 3, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
I am THRILLED to announce that ARCHIVAL IRRUPTIONS is officially published with @dukepress.bsky.social! For those who would like to order the book, you can get 30% off using coupon code E25GRBNR at this link: www.dukeupress.edu/archival-irr...
Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica
www.dukeupress.edu
October 15, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
On further reflection, handing operation of our Universities over to a professional administrative class with no personal investment in the educational mission of the university or the creation and maintenance of knowledge might have been somewhat in error.
October 31, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
#cfp Proposals are welcomed for the Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW) annual conference.

The conference will take place at University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès in June 2026.

Submit abstracts before 12th January 2026!
The Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW) 2026 Conference: Call for Papers - British Association for American Studies
The Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW) welcomes proposals for its annual conference, hosted by the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès.
buff.ly
October 29, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
ARCHIVAL FUNDING: Ann Ball Bodley Visiting Fellowship in Women’s History, to use Bodleian Libraries collections to advance scholarship in women’s history, of any geographical area and historical period. Deadline 28th Nov. www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowsh...
Bodleian Visiting Fellowships in Special Collections
www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
October 28, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
The only thing reliably Growing at the moment is everyone's singular disgust with the people in charge of our education and research funding systems. I can definitely demonstrate Growth in that area for the reviewers.
October 29, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
'Rising postgraduate fees combined with the increased cost of living, particularly higher rents, can make it impossible for some students to afford graduate study. Offer holders for these courses may reject places because they cannot secure the finance they need.'
Postgraduate study shouldn’t just be for the wealthy
Many students from underprivileged backgrounds can’t access postgraduate education – and Britain’s universities are suffering for it
observer.co.uk
October 29, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
Spare a thought for the people of Jamaica, who have a Cat. 5 hurricane barreling towards them.
October 27, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
For reasons too complex to explain here, I wrote an Apple II program designed for Early Modern Age Catholics to determine if they're allowed to have sex with their wife, or if it'd be a sin.

Here's the video of it running.
October 25, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
'murder and manslaughter rates have dropped to their lowest level since 2003, and youth violence continues to decline.'

And then there's the improvement in air quality.
‘Lawless London’ is safer than it’s been in decades
Viral clips and political rhetoric are contradicted by official data that suggests the capital may be safer than at any time in the past half century, co...
observer.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Reposted by Florian Wieser
"This white paper simply reinforces that we are on our own, that government is not interested in proactively reforming the HE system and has no new ideas to offer..."

Essential read from @davehitchcock.bsky.social
Somewhere in the Department for Education, a phone is ringing
On October 20th at a bit after 5pm, the UK government introduced its Education and Skills white paper to Parliament, to absolutely no…
hitchcockian.medium.com
October 23, 2025 at 8:13 AM