Clare Stainthorp
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claregs.bsky.social
Clare Stainthorp
@claregs.bsky.social
University-Policy Engagement & ARIs at UPEN/UCL ∣ Impact at the RCA ∣ Researches Victorian literature, social history, freethought periodicals ∣ Book: Constance Naden: Scientist, Philosopher, Poet ∣ she/her
https://clarestainthorp.wordpress.com/
Pinned
Find out more about the work I’m doing at the Universities Policy Engagement Network, plus my desert island disks!
upen.ac.uk/news/meet-th...
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
What's lost when we lose staff, departments, programmes and faculties in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and what's that got to do with organ donation?

Amid the looming losses faced by Cardiff, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Leicester and Nottingham (among many others), here's a worked example. 1/8
The organ donation ‘opt-out’ has been a fatal failure | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
I skipped this article for a while because I figured I'd read enough about the NYT's Mamdani coverage. I don't want to say the headline does the article a disservice - it is also very much about that - but goes well beyond as well
November 9, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
This is most revealing part of @matthewcobb.bsky.social's piece on Rosalind Franklin: "Franklin did not succeed, partly because she was working on her own without a peer with whom to swap ideas. She was also excluded from the world of informal exchanges in which Watson and Crick were immersed."
If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.
If I see one more stupid Rosalind Franklin take I'm going to lose my mind. Thank god for @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @nccomfort.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 8, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
Someone at a Russell Group university was moved to almost-poetry by their Faculty Meeting… Can anyone do better?
November 7, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
Remember guys, @pcsunion.bsky.social staff at the BL are on strike for the next two weeks. Please don't cross the picket line to go to reading rooms, attend exhibitions or anything else. They've endured so much on low pay since the cyberattack in 2023 and the least we can do is have their backs now.
Secret Maps opens today! 🤫 🗺️

From medieval manuscripts to Cold War espionage, our new exhibition explores how maps have hidden as much as they revealed for over 600 years.

Book now: bit.ly/BLSecretMaps
October 26, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
I'm excited to share my piece in Los Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, which examines OpenAI's claims about ChatGPT's creative writing skills, Big Tech's weaponisation of grief and nostalgia, and the collapse of the academic humanities. lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...
Literature Is Not a Vibe: On ChatGPT and the Humanities | Los Angeles Review of Books
Rachele Dini discusses OpenAI’s “A Machine-Shaped Hand” and an academic sector in crisis.
lareviewofbooks.org
October 31, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.

Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
October 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
I want to book £20k’s worth of projects for my team between now and mid December—that’s actually only 10 projects at our average-ish spend of £2k per project, which gets you high-quality, research-specialist transcription support for 14 x 1-hour 1-2-1 interviews.

Qualitative researchers, say hi 👋🏻
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Contact us by midnight tonight quoting code SPOOKY10 for a tasty 10% off our services 🧟‍♀️
Home - Academic Audio Transcription Ltd
Get high-quality, human-made transcripts and closed captions from our specialist disabled-led and disabled-majority team of expert transcribers.
academicaudiotranscription.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Happening this evening - there’s still time to sign up and join us for what promises to be a fascinating conversation!
Join us on Wednesday for another "Nonreligion Past and Present" webinar, this time on nonreligion and science. In cooperation with @nonreligioncf.bsky.social. As always we have great scholars in the panel. Do not forget to register to get the zoom link: uottawa-ca.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
October 29, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Find out more about the work I’m doing at the Universities Policy Engagement Network, plus my desert island disks!
upen.ac.uk/news/meet-th...
October 29, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
Should we just give cash to homeless people? I wrote about what the evidence shows--and a London-based charity called Greater Change that has a simple, innovative way of making a difference:
Should we just give cash to the homeless?
A new charity is tackling homelessness with a simple approach. Does it work?
www.forkingpaths.co
October 29, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
A great conversation about two new books on the histories and future of disability rights and dignities. Highly recommend seeking out both Rachel Charlton-Dailey’s ‘Ramping Up Rights’ and Stephen Unwin’s ‘Beautiful Lives’ 📚 @conwayhall.bsky.social
October 15, 2025 at 6:31 PM
A great conversation about two new books on the histories and future of disability rights and dignities. Highly recommend seeking out both Rachel Charlton-Dailey’s ‘Ramping Up Rights’ and Stephen Unwin’s ‘Beautiful Lives’ 📚 @conwayhall.bsky.social
October 15, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Tomorrow I’ll be sharing some of my @leverhulme.ac.uk research, discussing ‘The British Freethought Movement and Periodical Form’ and the affordances of periodicals for Victorian radicals. Join us at Senate House at 6pm!
I’m delighted to be part of this term’s London 19th Century Studies Seminar line up, and on a periodicals panel with @andrewkingc19.bsky.social no less! Join us at Senate House on Tues 14 Oct - all welcome!
October 13, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
How can networks help the uncertainty of being a first-gen academic? How did the pandemic impact our attitude towards community? These are just some of the questions discussed in Ep 3 of #ConfessionsOfAnECR with Leonie Smith, @claregs.bsky.social & @devinasarwatay.bsky.social.

tinyurl.com/46cp3bjr
October 13, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
*FIFTEEN THOUSAND JOBS LOST*.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.
October 11, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
I have a set of hand-drawn comics/gossip sheets/newspapers donated alongside our aluminium foundry at @bclivingmuseum.bsky.social, dating from (I think) late 1940s. Does anyone know any lit that will help me explore this as a source? I've found work on company mags but this is very different.
October 10, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
A sneak peek of what I'll be up to on Sunday October 26: in the studio with the brilliant Cerys Matthews - and a cheesemaker! Tune in and join us! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
October 10, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
Just your basic reminder that for Israel under Netanyahu, "ceasefire" never actually means ceasing to fire...
October 10, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
Sent this q to VICTORIA, but also figure I should ask here — does anyone know of scholarship on strategies that advertisers (e.g. of fraudulent or illegal goods or services) used to evade surveillence, esp in Victorian Britain? Or strategies that advertisers used to track responses to ads in +
October 7, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
Submissions for the VPFA First Book Prize are now OPEN! Deadline is 31st December 2025. For full eligibility criteria and submission guidelines, go to: victorianpopularfiction.org/vpfa-book-pr...
October 7, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
My periodic call for pitches to the 19th-Century Networks section of ✨Literature Compass✨:

Do you have a state-of-the-field essay to propose on #Romantic or #Victorian topics? a little-known or understudied author to spotlight?

Please get in touch!

compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1741...
Literature Compass
Click on the title to browse this journal
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:19 PM
With contract signed and a couple of preliminary meetings today, it feels like time to announce that from October I’ll be joining UPEN as Policy Engagement Coordinator for the UK-wide ARI Programme. I’m looking forward to joining a fantastic team at UCL and getting stuck in!
upen.ac.uk
September 29, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Clare Stainthorp
From developing your PhD, adapting to UK higher education structures, or navigating LinkedIn – is there one right way to be an Early Career Researcher? Join Leonie Smith with @deseonu.bsky.social and Burcin Baskurt in Ep 1 of #ConfessionsOfAnECR podcast. www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/audio-video/...
September 29, 2025 at 11:15 AM