The University Unruined What are the practical means by which academic staff can get direct control over budgets and programme planning?

How do we learn enough about university finance and governance to unruin our great institutions? Great question posed by Chris Newfield of @isrfoundation.bsky.social -
isrf.org/blog/the-uni... - and some thoughtful answers.

I read this online when it first came out - a great contribution!

@reecejones.bsky.social - thanks for this important intervention.

Fergana Valley has the potential to become a model of cross-border cooperation, peaceful resolution of complex issues, and sustainable development This assessment was shared by Murad Uzakov, Head of the Center for Regional Studies at the Institute for Strategic and R

In 1997 Zbigniew Brzezinski infamously described the Ferghana Valley as a weak point in the unstable and fractured ‘Eurasian Balkans’ of Central Asia, itself at the heart of “the global zone of percolating violence.” Central Asian states have proved him wrong: uza.uz/en/posts/fer...

Superb post from an expert voice on the US border patrol.

The Demise of Conflict Studies - Dissent Magazine An entire industry specializing in mediation, peacekeeping, disarmament, and transitional justice has become largely obsolete.

dissentmagazine.org/article/the-... - great piece on the rise and fall of an academic field

'Warrington via Manchester Airpont please': Inaccurate railway map deleted "Good to see Manchester Piccadilly back west of the Pennines again"

Some embarrassment for West Yorkshire's mayor yesterday when she relied on AI for an unusual map of the 'northern powerhouse' railway system... www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

Professor Alexander Diener from the US to strengthen the University of Eastern Finland’s expertise in border studies The Research Council of Finland has awarded 2.5 million euros in funding for Alexander Diener’s professorship and the establishment of a new research group.

Great News! UEF is one of the great centres of border studies, and Alex is one of the field's great scholars - a match made in heaven! www.uef.fi/en/article/p...

Call for Session Sponsorship (RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2026) The Political Geography Research Group (PolGRG) of the RGS-IBG is pleased to extend an invitation to sponsor sessions at the next RGS-IBG Annual International Conference. The de…

Attending the 2026 RGS-IBG Annual Conference? 🤔
Don't miss our call for Session Sponsorship!

We welcome paper sessions & panels, but also practitioner forums, discussions, workshops, and other innovative formats.

More info 👇

"What Happened When My Yale Students Gave Up Their Phones for Four Weeks?" Thoughtful article for all educators. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

Uzbekistan sees 51% rise in international students in 2025 Uzbekistan saw a significant rise in the number of international students in the first ten months of 2025, according to data from the National Statistics Committee.

If the UK government keeps making it harder and more expensive for overseas students to study here, they will go elsewhere: Uzbekistan in many ways is a more attractive option for Indian students than the UK kun.uz/en/97387923

‘Good Contact in Spite of Static’: Advocating a Radio Geopolitics Assemblage Approach Through Analysing the Lindberghs’ 1931 North Pacific Flight In the summer of 1931 famed US aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife, Anne, flew their Sirius aircraft from Washington DC, westward across northern Canada, Alaska and the Bering Strait to Japan an...

Nice new piece on 'Radio geopolitics' by my colleague Alison Williams. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In the meantime, wet December morning photographs of three of my favourite parts of campus…

I have no idea how much longer I’ll stay here, but I always thank God that he has called me to work at Newcastle University as a geographer.

In the big picture, I remain convinced that universities are crucial to the flourishing of good human societies on planet Earth, and am excited to be part of that global community.

my research on borders, peaceful coexistence, and geopolitics in Central Asia and elsewhere fascinates and enthrals me; and I appreciate having so many great colleagues to do that with. Thank you, all my past and present students and colleagues.

I find it utterly exhilarating to teach our smart and engaged undergraduate students; it's an honour to work with the next generation of scholars in PhD supervision;

Two decades on – and despite some poor management decisions and cultures that have developed and worked their way across the institution in the past few years – I still love working here.

To have presented my work and ideas to future colleagues in a presentation and interview, and then for them to invite me to join them, in an open and collegial recruitment process, was an enormous honour.

After 14 years of preparation (4 years undergrad, 2 years language learning and working in the Ferghana Valley), 5 years PhD, and 3 years postdoc) that first day was, and remains, one of the proudest moments of my life.

It’s my 20th (Newcastle University) birthday!
On December 1st, 2005, I began work here as a political geography lecturer.

’The two worst days of the year to go to church’ In a guest post, Nick Megoran, Professor of Geography at Newcastle Universty, contrasts the way churches sacralise the nation on Remembrance Sunday with the biblical call to be a 'holy nation'.

My thoughts on the politics of Remembrance in the UK, written for John Heathershaw's excellent Substack blog 'Security After Christendom.'

johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/the-two-wo...

Thanks for this insight. Would you say that precarity has become a technique of management?
As @oliviamason.bsky.social and I argue in this piece, precarity is dehumanising in multiple ways. www.jstor.org/stable/48745...

Frontex and the University: Positivist Dissonance and the Institutionalisation of Border Violence through Research The paper examines the existing relationships between universities and Frontex, investigating and problematising the intersection between the higher education sector and the violence of the European ...

Concerning new article showing how European university researchers are involved in research that helps the EU strengthen Frontex's border regime. 'Impact?' - yes. 'Securing grant funding?' - yes. 'Ethical?' - dubious.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Warlike Christians in an Age of Violence- Wipf and Stock Publishers How should Christians respond to war? This age-old question has become more pressing given Western governments' recent overseas military interventions and th...

Why has the Christian church so often supported war and what might a pacific rereading of that history and the scriptures look like? My book on this topic is currently on half price sale with the code CONFSHIP at checkout.

wipfandstock.com/978149821959...

@jheathershaw.bsky.social

a university without its staff is nothing! On strike again fighting against the cruelty and economic shortsightedness of course closures and compulsory redundancies at the University of Nottingham

Newcastle professor recalls US-Japan picnic truce Prof Nick Megoran says the picnic on Aka island is as remarkable as the 1914 Christmas Day truce.

On Remembrance Sunday. I was delighted to retell this amazing story of a little-known WW2 truce. Sometimes it takes courage not to fight. @ncl-geography.bsky.social @hassfacultyncl.bsky.social

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Turkish Cypriots vote for hope, but can they be heard? - EUROPP Will Tufan Erhürman's victory lead to a federal Cyprus? Whatever happens, the international community must help Turkish Cypriots realise their political will.

What does the election in north Cyprus signify? Great blog by Rebecca Bryant
blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

Walls can reopen and come down, as well as close and go up. That's important intellectually and politically.