Arts Matter Bristol

2025: Dr Charlotte Faucher makes policy recommendations | School of Modern Languages | University of Bristol

Dr @charlottefaucher.bsky.social (@frenchatbristol.bsky.social) has published a new report which examines three decades of UK cultural diplomacy and offers insights for shaping future strategies

Read more about Charlotte's key recommendations on UK soft power 👇

www.bristol.ac.uk/sml/news/202...

Books of the Year 2025: Part 2

'Empire Without End is an accessible work that confronts the legacies of colonialism – it deserves to reach a wide, general audience.'

Prof Sumita Mukherjee (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) selects her favourite new history books of 2025 for @historytoday.com

www.historytoday.com/archive/revi...

We're launching a 3-week Hong Kong History Summer School in June-July 2026 for all of you interested in HK history! And you will have the opportunity to explore our Hong Kong collections too. Just how exciting is that? @uobartsmatter.bsky.social @uobrishistory.bsky.social #hongkonghistory

Also open for application at @hongkonghistory.bsky.social at the moment is our Visiting Scholar Scheme for 2026/27, for colleagues/PGR students working on project(s) relating to the history of Hong Kong! #hkhist

@uobartsmatter.bsky.social @uobrishistory.bsky.social

We have now announced TWO full PhD studentships at Bristol's Hong Kong History Centre @uobrishistory.bsky.social @uobartsmatter.bsky.social! Please spread the word to anyone you know who are working towards/have a Master's degree, and are interested in pursuing further research in HK history.

…The campaign aims to enable the Malaysian public to explore their history through transregional and inclusive perspectives.’ Read more about Allan Pang’s public history research on the History blog!https://historiansatbristol.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/archives/944

‘Since January 2025, I have collaborated with Imagined Malaysia, a Malaysia-based NGO, and started a public history campaign titled ‘Malaysia Unbound: Transregional Histories through Documents’…

#ICYMI: Dr @stevedehailes.bsky.social (@bristolunienglish.bsky.social) introduced us to his Medieval Mountain AHRC project which raises awareness of our historical relationship to mountains and our continued role in their preservation

Read more about Steve's research 👉 brnw.ch/21wXUsn

Recent research by @kitopie.bsky.social also discussed in The Archaeology Channel 👇🏽👏🏽

www.archaeologychannel.org/audio-guide/...

@uobartsmatter.bsky.social

The Gulf states look towards a joint defensive strategy at the 46th GCC summit - Monocle As Gulf leaders convene for the 46th GCC summit during a tense time for the region, we discuss what role...

Interview (from 17.00) for the Briefing with Monocle_Radio
on State formation: grain, tax and writing - from research (with @quentinatkinson.bsky.social) @nathumbehav.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41....

monocle.com/radio/shows/...

Nice to have heard Kit on the radio yesterday discussing his recent publication on @nathumbehav.nature.com!

Congrats on all the engagement 🙌 🎉

@uobartsmatter.bsky.social

2025: Dr Christophe Fricker awarded prestigious translation award | School of Modern Languages | University of Bristol

Congratulations to Dr Christophe Fricker (@germanatbristol.bsky.social) who has received the Zuger Anerkennungspreis, one of the most prestigious translation awards in the German-speaking world 🥳

Read more about the award presented at a ceremony in Switzerland 👇

www.bristol.ac.uk/sml/news/202...

The real reason states first emerged thousands of years ago – new research New findings add weight to the theory that states didn’t just spring up from any kind of farming – it had to be grain.

'It may feel worlds apart, but the challenges and choices facing states today have been playing out since the dawn of the earliest states, thousands of years ago.'

Dr @kitopie.bsky.social (@bristolantharch.bsky.social) writes in a new piece for The Conversation

theconversation.com/the-real-rea...

State formation across cultures and the role of grain, intensive agriculture, taxation and writing - Nature Human Behaviour Opie and Atkinson conduct a global phylogenetic analysis of 868 cultures and find evidence indicating that cereal grain cultivation, not agricultural surplus, drove state formation. Their findings als...

The invention of agriculture (around 9,000 years ago) spurred the rise of early states? NO. Our research www.nature.com/articles/s41... (with @drqueue.bsky.social) in @nathumbehav.nature.com supports an alternative theory that States almost invariably formed in societies that grew cereal grains.

We loved hearing all about our own Steve De Hailes' Medieval Mountain project! 🏔️ #medievalsky #skystorians

This was a compelling biography of man at the helm of the UN in the turbulent 60s. Here I tried (in 750 words!) to give more context on the #afroasian world, its engagement with the UN, and Burma's decolonisation. Read it just for U Thant and Kruschev bobbing along together in the Black Sea.

Burmese days In the same year, 1960, when Nikita Khrushchev famously banged his shoe on the desk at the UN, leaders of the decolonizing world – Castro, Sukarno, Nasser, Nkrumah, Nehru – took turns to lambast the o...

'He exuded a sense of Buddhist calm and tolerance, yet was at home among the international elite.'

Prof @sulinlewis.bsky.social (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) reviews a 'riveting new biography' of U Thant, former Secretary-General of the UN, in a new piece for The TLS

www.the-tls.com/history/twen...

@bristolcms.bsky.social

✍️🗻 Dr @stevedehailes.bsky.social (@bristolunienglish.bsky.social) tells us about his Medieval Mountain AHRC project which seeks to raise awareness of our historical relationship to mountains & our continued role in their preservation

Read more about the project 👉 brnw.ch/21wXUsn

Curious about what a Bristol Medieval Studies Summer School might look like? Check out this wonderful video made by one of this year's summer school students! #medievalsky #skystorians

🚨 Hwæt, medievalists: following its successful inauguration last year, the Bristol Medieval Studies Summer School will be running again in 2026! 🚨 Please share the good news or—even better—sign up yourself: www.bristol.ac.uk/centre-for-s... We're so proud of this course, and we'd love to see you! 🚨

Please share: 2 fully funded 4 year PhD studentships for autumn 2026 entry at the Hong Kong History Centre @hongkonghistory.bsky.social here at @uobartsmatter.bsky.social @bristoluni.bsky.social

Christopher Bertram | ‘Core Protection’ Refugeehood is not supposed to be like this. The ideal envisaged by the Refugee Convention is that refugee status should...

'Refugeehood is not supposed to be like this.'

Emeritus Prof Chris Bertram (@crookedfootball.bsky.social) comments on Labour's new immigration policies in a new piece for the @lrb.co.uk

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...

🗣️ TONIGHT: Join Jonathan Stamp, former consultant on the award-winning HBO series Rome, for a public lecture on Bringing Ancient Rome to Life

The FREE event organised by @igrct.bsky.social takes place in the Wills Memorial Building, 5-6.30pm, tickets 👉 brnw.ch/21wXs5g

@clahbristol.bsky.social

Editing is well underway with @blackbarkfilms for the #SOMS project documentary, a showcase of 5 self-employed women's stories from the 1990s and 2000's.

Please get in touch if you would be interested in finding out more about the film preview and Q&A at the #watershed in December.

#uniofbristol

BBC has survived allegations of political bias before – but the latest crisis comes at a pivotal moment Allegations of political bias - generally that the BBC leans to the left - have existed for almost as long as the corporation has.

'This crisis comes at a pivotal moment in the broadcaster’s history, as it approaches the once-a-decade renewal of its royal charter.'

Prof Simon Potter (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) considers the potential implications of the leaked BBC memo for The Conversation

theconversation.com/bbc-has-surv...

🗣️ TONIGHT: Join Prof Beth Johnson (@leedsunimedia.bsky.social) for the final #AutumnArtLecture as she examines how deep inequalities in the TV industry shape both production & representation on screen

📍 Wills Memorial Building
⏰ 6.30-8pm
🎟️ brnw.ch/21wXs2k (free, all welcome!)

For this week's CMS seminar, we are lucky enough to be joined by Bristol's own Dr Kathleen Thompson for a paper on 'Leperhouses and Lordship: Some Ideas from Medieval Bristol'. We can't wait to find out more! #medievalsky #skystorians

Women and the law of the exchequer in the early thirteenth century* Abstract. This article explores the status and treatment of women under the law of the exchequer in the early thirteenth century and more specifically duri

Very proud of my former PhD student, Dan Booker, whose important study on women and the law of the exchequer has just been published by @ihrlibrary.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/histres/adva...

Emma Parker holds a copy of her 2024 book Life Writing and the End of Empire

Over the 🌙 that Life Writing & The End of Empire is joint winner of the 2025 @bacls.bsky.social Monograph Prize 🎉

Congrats to co-awardee @drdominicdean.bsky.social & brilliant shortlistees @olihaslam.bsky.social @gabriele-lazzari.bsky.social. I can’t wait to read your books!
bacls.org/news/187/