Charlotte Boyce

This makes for incredibly - if predictably - depressing reading.

UK Govt, if you want to upskill everyone, why not invest in your tertiary education sector rather than pushing this slop?!?

I mean, given your research interests it was a plausible guess! 😂

This sounds amazing! 🤩 What kinds of objects do you cover?

We're now accepting applications for our 2026 Patrick Leary Resource Development Grants and Mitchell Dissertation Prize! Both awards offer 💵 for tools and research relating to the #19thC periodical press. More information about each award can be found in the thread below.

Is neo-Victorian Fiction getting more unhinged? Helena Esser ponders three new and three upcoming offerings from the popular fiction shelfIs it me, or is neo-Victorian fiction getting darker and more unhinged?I mean, not that I’m complaining. Ma…

Looking for some unusual neo-Victorian reads? The @vpfa.bsky.social blog's got you: victorianpopularfiction.org/is-neo-victo...

The risks of AI in schools outweigh the benefits, report says A new report warns that AI poses a serious threat to children's cognitive development and emotional well-being.

An invaluable new report. A "premortem" is exactly what we need.

Incredible article which points out that it often collectively costs more to apply for scarce research funding than the funds awarded to the successful proposals.

What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Students overwhelmingly want more choice and optionality, even as managers impose compulsory programmes and limit choice due to cost.

And in 3 to 5 years when those students go elsewhere, managers will ask us wh our numbers have declined, shortly before they shitcan us.

I once had tulip bulb soup at a conference on hunger in Amsterdam - they didn’t charge us €10.50 for the privilege though!

A Victorian-style collage including a sitting woman in 19th century dress with her hand on her hip, some flowers, and words ‘Re-articulating the third sex: Victorian and Neo Victorian engagements with LGBTQIA+, edited by Helena Esser and Claire O’Callaghan’. The artwork is by Helena Esser.

A Victorian-style collage with a picture of George Sand, and the words ‘The Search for a Liveable Life: George Sand, Scandal and Queer Possibility in Briefly, A Delicious Life’ by Charlotte Boyce. The artwork is by Helens Esser.

In the pre-Christmas excitement, I forgot to mention that I have a new article out in a special issue of VPFJ. If you’re interested in neo-Victorian representations of George Sand and queer possibility check it out! victorianpopularfiction.org/publications...

🙋‍♀️

I mean, let’s hope so!

A promotional still from the BBC’s new adaptation of the story The Room in the Tower, starring Tobias Menzies and Joanna Lumley.

Nearly time for one of my favourite Christmas traditions - wrapping some last minute presents while watching the BBC’s latest Ghost Story for Christmas.

This year it’s E F Benson’s The Room in the Tower, starring Tobias Menzies and Joanna Lumley - can’t wait!!

#Gothic

Many congratulations! 🥳

Indulging Passion for Private Lives of Notable Men and Women:  Victorian Readers, Writers, and the Allure of Biographies The Bookman, a trade organ of booksellers and publishers, announced in December 1892 how reminiscences were “Among the most successful books of the month” and “Memories of living men” were more suc…

Be like the Victorians and read a biography or two during the holidays 📚🎄
cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com/2025/12/22/i...

My mum’s verdict on Amber’s show dance: well that was a lot of throwing around 🤣 #Strictly

A flyer for the paperback edition of The Edinburgh Companion to Romanticism and the Arts, with a 30% discount (use code PAPER30 at the EUP website)

Exciting news - The Edinburgh Companion to Romanticism and the Arts is out in paperback! And EUP are offering a 30% discount! Why not treat yourself??

Oh, I literally just used this in a Narrative Medicine session for dentistry students to introduce them to how to do a close reading! So helpful!

A twofold plight: for researchers and for Library staff (some of whom are also researchers). Past time for DCMS to take note.

If that changes as AI becomes more adept, I might switch to an accompanying reflective conversation (sort of like a mini viva - but hopefully not as intimidating!)

I’m also grappling with this, Lucie. I’m hoping (maybe naively?) that having students submit a reflective piece with their creative artefact will help root out AI - or, at least, make it easier to identify? In my experience, AI (so far) is not great at reproducing authentic self-reflection …

Cookbook page stained from use featuring a recipe for corn bread dressing with crossed-out words, ingredient adjustments, and cooking notes in pen, including instructions to cook onion, broth, and celery together.

Cookbook page stained from use featuring a recipe for hot cakes with handwritten ingredient adjustments in pen.

Family cookbooks, filled with handwritten notes, sometimes held together with rubber bands, tell the story of generations of homemakers. They are irreplaceable treasures.

🦃 Celebrate the cultural & family histories on their worn & stained pages ➡️ blog.archive.org/2024/09/30/v...

#Thanksgiving

British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS) conference The Centre for Modern and Contemporary History, with the Centre for Port and Maritime History, are delighted to welcome BAVS delegates to Liverpool in 2026.

BAVS2026 has a shiny new website! www.ljmu.ac.uk/bavs2026! To celebrate, we are extending our CFP to December 12th. Do come and join us

RSVP Conference 2026 – RSVP Dates July 23-25, 2026

Don't forget to submit an abstract for RSVP's Dublin conference on movements and migrations by tomorrow!
conference.rs4vp.org

Pam’s writing retreats are great! She’s previously run some for our PGRs at Portsmouth, and they always had excellent feedback 😊

Congratulations Adrian! 👏👏👏

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

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-...

The Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize – RSVP The Colby Book Prize was endowed in 2006 in memory of Robert Colby by his wife, Vineta Colby, distinguished scholars and long-time members of RSVP. In 2011, following Vineta’s death, the Board of Dire...

📣 Save the date! Nominations for our annual Colby Book Prize opens next week on 15 November. To comply with tax laws, books must be nominated by somebody other than the author, so tell us about the best book YOU read on #19thC periodicals published in 2025. rs4vp.org/awards/colby...

Do come and join us in Liverpool next July, we look forward to welcoming you!

Might be of interest to philosophy of medicine people:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...