Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
Leadership academic with a focus on EDI. Bewitched by geography, reading, jazz, metal and psych rock. All views mine, not those of my employer
Owain Jones FGS is a Professor of Environmental Humanities at Bath Spa University (UK). He was previously Reader in Cultural Geography: Place, Nature and Landscape at the Countryside & Community Research Institute and member of staff of the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment and Technology, University of the West of England. .. more
Political science
18%
Sociology
18%
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Oct 11
We Are Genocide Survivors. But Our War Is Far From Over.
We in Gaza will remember the martyrs—those who died teaching, reporting, healing, mothering, surviving. We will carry their memory like fire in our hearts. And we will begin again.
www.thenation.com
A powerful account of what the ceasefire means to Gazans, by Ali Skaik, published in The Nation. ‘We, the ones who made it out alive, carry the duty of memory. We survived to speak the names of the martyrs, to share their stories, and to keep their voices alive.’
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
'Half my mind is still in Gaza': Evacuated teacher begins studies in UK
Sanaa el-Azab is one of 58 people who have been evacuated from Gaza to study at universities in the UK on scholarships.
www.bbc.co.uk
Sana is one of the students our charity, the Durham Palestine Educational Trust, funded to study for a Master’s programme. She did amazing work in Gaza, delivering education in a refugee camp www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Nightmares asleep, nightmares awake
Israel targeted and destroyed a high-rise tower adjacent to our building but we refuse to leave.
electronicintifada.net
My friend Ali Skaik provides a visceral view of life in Gaza City right now, a reality that lives in dreams as well as waking hours electronicintifada.net/content/nigh...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Sep 20
Israel is forcing us out of Gaza City, with no return
Huda Skaik shares her harrowing experience of Israel’s invasion of Gaza City, and her fear of permanent displacement & the erasure of her people.
www.newarab.com
Huda Skaik writes powerfully from within Gaza City: ‘Remember that every corner, every street, and every whisper of life in Gaza City was once a part of me.’
www.newarab.com/opinion/isra...
www.newarab.com/opinion/isra...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Sep 19
“They Fear Our Lenses”: Gaza Photojournalists Speak Out
Photographers in Gaza risk their lives to witness the war. Their images speak louder than the critics trying to discredit them.
theintercept.com
A compelling feature by Huda Skaik and Ali Skaik on the work of photojournalists during the genocide in Gaza. They are heroes. So brave, demonstrating a commitment to truth knowing that they could be targeted for death by the Israeli occupation forces at any time
theintercept.com/2025/09/16/g...
theintercept.com/2025/09/16/g...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Sep 19
We counted the days of war, until they started counting us - We Are Not Numbers
Now they have decided to occupy all of Gaza. And the world does what? The world is still silent.
wearenotnumbers.org
The v talented Nadera Mushtha has published a new piece that draws out the theft of time, space and life by Israel in Gaza, but also the beautiful defiance of Gazans amidst these dynamics. She’s a poet distilling what is essential about humanity in prose wearenotnumbers.org/we-counted-t...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Sep 17
If you’re wondering why there are fewer images and videos coming from citizens on the ground in north Gaza today, it’s because the Israelis bombed and destroyed internet and phone centres this morning. I guess they really don’t want you to see what’s going on
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Sep 13
A friend’s neighbourhood, Gaza City, today. There is no other objective here other than eradicating a people
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Sep 13
Gruff Rhys on reinventing Welsh language music and taking it global
An album written and performed entirely in the Welsh language at one time may not have travelled far beyond Wales, but for the singer-songwriter Gruff Rhys it has become an intrinsic part of his inter...
www.channel4.com
The absolute legend that is Gruff Rhys, aka the best, aka Yr Arwr, pops up to speak eloquently about yr iaith Gymraeg, its politics and the ongoing genocide in Gaza as “the defining event of our times”. His new album, Dim Probs, out now, and it’s ace
www.channel4.com/news/gruff-r...
www.channel4.com/news/gruff-r...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Sep 13
A few streets away from a friend in Gaza City. The only thing that will work against this brutal Israeli regime is hard sanctions and criminal prosecutions
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Sep 10
The Israelis have just bombed and destroyed Al-Tiba Tower on the coast in Gaza City. As you can see from the video, it is surrounded by the tents of the displaced. When you search for the tower in Google Maps, you get a video of a mixed gender group of youngsters playing football outside it
My gifted friend Huda Skaik’s poem, Alone Beneath the Rubble, was recited at the Milton Keynes vigil for Gaza yesterday. Huda is an inspirational writer and journalist. She is currently in Gaza City, and is in my thoughts continuously. Text here wearenotnumbers.org/alone-beneat...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Aug 19
Inside Gaza’s Only Catholic Church, One Month After Israel’s Attack
A reporter in Gaza finds a Catholic community grieving those killed by Israel’s bombs, but still worshipping together.
theintercept.com
My friend Huda Skaik, on the ground in Gaza, has visited the Strip’s only Catholic church a month on from Israel’s attack. She speaks to survivors and reports their experiences with considerable care. theintercept.com/2025/08/18/g...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Aug 14
Links to Nadera’s Instagram page some of her writing
www.instagram.com/nadera_musht...
wearenotnumbers.org/contributors...
www.instagram.com/nadera_musht...
wearenotnumbers.org/contributors...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Aug 14
Here is a poem by my friend Nadera Raied Mushtha, an exceptionally gifted writer and journalist in Gaza, Palestine. Recited by another friend, Jackie Andrew-Barrett at a vigil in Milton Keynes. Nadera, your words echoed through our city this evening and we are with you
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Aug 14
MK ANSARS – Welcoming & Empowering Palestinian Students and Graduates in Milton Keynes
This week, a powerful new initiative, MK ANSARS, has been launched to support Palestinian students and recent graduates from Gaza and the West Bank as they resettle and thrive in Milton Keynes.
www.mkfm.com
The MK ANSARS are doing important work to help settle Palestinian students and recent graduates. Please read, donate (time and/ or money) if you can, and share www.mkfm.com/news/local-n...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Aug 11
MK ANSARS : Supporting Palestinian Students Settle in Milton Keynes | Localgiving
localgiving.org
Launching today: MK ANSARS, a new Milton Keynes initiative to support Palestinian students from Gaza & the West Bank 🇵🇸. Mentoring, friendship & practical help to rebuild futures. Led by @KurshidaMirza & @nela-smolovic.bsky.social
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Jul 23
Ministers urged to help students trapped in Gaza with places at UK universities
Forty people who have been offered scholarships unable to travel without biometric data they have no way of getting
www.theguardian.com
A simple request for the UK government to get students with offers to study here out of Gaza. Please do what you can - raise it at a meeting, write to your MP. Governments in Germany, France and Ireland have managed to evacuate offer holders, so why not the UK? www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Jul 21
Thrilled to see the announcement for our new journal, Feminism and Organization, I will be co-editing with @profalisonpullen.bsky.social, and a legion of superb feminists around the globe everyone would be honoured to work with: bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/new-journal-... @bupjournals.bsky.social
Bristol University Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk
A much needed, critical journal on feminism and organization, with a brilliant group of scholars leading and supporting it
Reposted by Owain Jones, Jo Littler
Bristol University Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk
Thrilled to see the announcement for our new journal, Feminism and Organization, I will be co-editing with @profalisonpullen.bsky.social, and a legion of superb feminists around the globe everyone would be honoured to work with: bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/new-journal-... @bupjournals.bsky.social
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Feb 25
Well, Adwaith were fantastic in Newcastle this evening. The new record is a proper rocker eh
*plays the new Adwaith album* Amdaniiiiiiiiii …
A big night on the Toon fair play. Lovely to be amongst so many joyful people. Tell me ma me ma, I’m not coming home for tea. I’m going to Wem-ber-ley, tell me ma me ma!
Oh well I finally deactivated my Twitter account. Promoting fascists and fascism is too much. I don’t like this platform - I get tonnes of US and cats content - but it will do for now or until I give up on social media entirely
‘Why not us?’: Welsh language trio on their forthcoming double album
Post-punk band Adwaith will release their third album Solas, a Celtic word meaning enlightenment, in February
www.theguardian.com
I’m super excited for this. Album ordered and a couple of tour dates booked in. Let’s gooo
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Owain Jones
Lynne Segal
@lynne-segal.bsky.social
· Dec 28
Beyond the Fragments: 45 Years On
Earlier this year, a one-day conference was held to mark 45 years since the publication of the seminal socialist-feminist text, Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism. Co-author…
sslh.org.uk
Beyond the Fragments: 45 Years On sslh.org.uk/2024/12/28/b...
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Dec 24
Oh goodness. And Goat too obviously
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Dec 23
9. The Mystery Lights, Purgatory; 10. Y Sybs, Olew nadroedd
Owain Smolović Jones
@osmoj.bsky.social
· Dec 23
Top albums 2024: 1. Gruff Rhys, Sadness sets me free; 2. The Cure, Songs of a lost world; 3. La Luz, News of the Universe; 4. Beak>, >>>>; 5. Daisy Rickman, Howl; 6. The Soundcarriers, Through Other Reflections; 7. Blood Incantation, Absolute elsewhere; 8. Julie Christmas, Ridiculous & full of blood
Leadership
Leadership: Limits and Possibilities offers a critical discussion of leadership that draws upon a wide range of approaches, material and examples to demonstrate…
www.bloomsbury.com
There’s a big old discount on Keith and I’s book on leadership. It’s packed full of power, resistance and intrigue. If you buy no other book in leadership that’s fine by us.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/leadershi...
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/leadershi...