Thom Davies

The UK universities cutting geography have lost their bearings From climate change to geopolitics, the knowledge, skills and insights of geographers have never been more relevant, say five professors

The UK universities cutting geography have lost their bearings www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/uk-u...

With @jennypickerill.bsky.social @peterhopkins.bsky.social Beth Greenhough & Jamie Woodward

The children the world forgot Teacher marks World Children’s Day with rare treats for 5-year-olds suffering loss, displacement and trauma.

The Children the World Forgot by Lubna Ahmad Abu Sitta: “But in the context of a genocide, marking World Children’s Day by teaching Gaza’s children about rights they are being denied every minute almost seems like a cruel joke.” electronicintifada.net/content/chil...

New article in @proghumgeog.bsky.social about Necropolitics:

(Drop me an email if you want a copy of the PDF)
#necropolitics #geography

I did my bachelor's in Human Geography at Leicester. Best choice I ever made, genuinely some of the best years of my life!

We were on the picket lines with staff then, full support to them now. A lot of my favourite people have left since I graduated due to the state of academia, now more at risk.

📣 Important Launch Today 📣

A new organisation has officially launched to defend the rights of people crossing the Channel and to develop life-saving technology that keeps them safe. 🌊✨

👉 Please support them by sharing this post and giving them a follow. Your voice helps amplify theirs.

Thank you for your inspiration and encouragement! Publishing with @politicsandspace.bsky.social was a fantastic experience. ✨

Green hydrogen is hailed as a climate & development "win"—but in Namibia, a $10B project reveals another story. Instead of benefits, local people face extractive harms masked as progress. #ClimateJustice demands we rethink who pays for “green” futures.

#ClimateNecropolitics

Great to see this article published in @politicsandspace.bsky.social:

'Displaced decarbonization: Climate necropolitics and the contested spatialities of green hydrogen in Namibia'

By @meredeboom.bsky.social 📝

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

the real enemy arrives in a private jet, not a small boat

(no title) Visit the post for more.

New work from the www.channelcrossings.org team!

We have been gathering a dataset of contracts that the government has with private companies related to Channel crossings. We are calling this the ‘border economy’. We have identified over £3billion worth of contracts...

Incredible piece of work on the spending on border securitisation in the UK channel.

Government hands firms £3bn in bid to ‘stop the boats’ Research reveals the business of Channel security is booming, as companies profit off asylum seekers’ desperation

I've written an article with @mayblin.bsky.social, @isakjee.bsky.social and team revealing the MASSIVE amount of money being given to private companies to "stop the boats".

Who is really profitting from the UK border regime?

www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...

Obsession with tough borders creating a ‘booming £2bn industry for private companies’ UK border security industry worth billions and expanding, academics suggest

Our academic research about 'small boat' Channel crossings has been published in the @the-independent.com

"Obsession with tough borders creating a ‘booming £2bn industry for private companies’ ministers warned"
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home... @uniofnottingham.bsky.social @mayblin.bsky.social

‘It can break you’: life for parents of autistic children can be exhausting. One podcast is offering hope. Is it real? A podcast claims to show that autistic children with limited speech may be able to communicate via telepathy. What does the science say about the idea?

"The #exhaustion is constant – one study shows stress levels in parents of #autistic individuals are similar to those of combat soldiers and Holocaust survivors – and the lack of sleep leads to caregiver burnout."

www.theguardian.com/society/2025... #austism #parenting

There are some (far too few) corners of UK higher education that still give me hope. This is one of them:

Come work with us!

A wonderfully welcoming and supportive School who have been great in helping me find my feet as an ECR Geographer!

Very happy to chat to anyone interested in applying!

Job Vacancy at the University of Nottingham: Assistant Professor in Human Geography Applications are invited for the post of Assistant Professor in the School of Geography. We are seeking to appoint an academic to make a significant impact within the broad research and teaching area ...

NEW JOB 🚨: Assistant Professor in Human Geography at @uniofnottingham.bsky.social:

💰£41,421 to £56,921 per annum

Any of these research areas very welcome:

🔹Cultural and Historical Geography
🔹Economic and #Political Worlds
🔹Environment, Health and Society.

jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

Happy Birthday to all refugees arbitrarily assigned 1st January as their date of birth.

Congratulations on your perseverance despite the despicable treatment seeking asylum entails in the richest countries of the world.

Celebrate your persistence in ensuring your rights.

A tiny yellow digger next to the massive Ever Given container ship with the caption "Workload model" next to the digger, and "My Actual Workload" next to the ship.

I feel like videogames actually do provide a pretty accurate representation of real life right now because a lot of videogames are like “THE WORLD IS ENDING” and then you just collect herbs and pretend nothing is wrong

Leeds has a fully funded scholarship program for undergraduate and Masters study for Gaza students.

**Tell Everyone**

www.leeds.ac.uk/masters-scho...

Labour on immigration: 5 things you need to know - Corporate Watch The Tories’ 14-year run is over, but migrant solidarity campaigners are doubtful whether things look much brighter under Labour. How much has Keir Starmer’s government departed from the Conservatives’...

⭐️NEW EXPLAINER: Labour on immigration: 5 things you need to know
👉 the key policy developments
👉 companies who benefit
... with links to groups mobilising against them.

Summarised below for those who are short on time
corporatewatch.org/labour-on-im...
#starmer #homeoffice #immigration #noborders

First Post!

I am a migration and citizenship scholar and activist. In January I will be starting a new project at the Univeristy of Geneva titled "A Theory of Maritime Migration: Examining the intersection of mobile people and territory".

Below is a selection of work published this year.

Article in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social about the political economy of the UK border. We argue that both private and political actors are directly profitting from people seeking asylum (not just the "people smugglers")

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #OpenAccess

a woman is sitting at a desk writing on a piece of paper with a pen ALT: a woman is sitting at a desk writing on a piece of paper with a pen

in the marking bunker today

Guardian headlines: ‘Not all cultures equally valid’ when it comes to immigration, says Badenoch Kemi Badenoch says UK maternity pay benefits are ‘excessive’

While reactionaries may use women's rights to attack other minorities (Muslim communities, trans people, immigrants etc), you really don't have to scratch the surface much to realise that they are not attached to said rights, but to the exclusion of others (including women)

Eco-coloniality and the violent environmentalism of the UK–France border - Thom Davies, Tesfalem H Yemane, Joe Turner, Lucy Mayblin, Arshad Isakjee, 2024 This article examines the eco-coloniality of the UK–France border by tracing the transformation of the notorious Calais “jungle” refugee camp into a nature rese...

New article in @societyandspace.bsky.social:

"Eco-coloniality" and the violent environmentalism of the UK–France border.

What's at stake by converting a #refugee camp into a nature reserve? How's the #environment used to harm racialised #migrants at borders?
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

After a hiatus, Ep 4 of the Minor Revisions podcast is here! Gabriel Silvestre (Newcastle Univ) & Guillermo Jajamovich (Univ of Buenos Aires) discuss the 'behind the scenes' story of publishing "The afterlives of urban megaprojects" journals.sagepub.com/page/epc/col... #geosky #academicsky

Politics & Space has some new editors. Joining Luiza Bialasiewicz & me are:

-Thom Davies (www.nottingham.ac.uk/Geography/Pe... )
-Rachel Hughes (findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/3808... )
-Sarah Hunt (www.uvic.ca/socialscienc... )

Submit your paper: journals.sagepub.com/home/epc #Geosky

Happy to be part of the Politics and Space editorial team! Looking forward to working with some brilliant colleagues, authors, and reviewers :)