Martin Willis
@profwillis.bsky.social
Academic, literature and science, 19th century. Trustee of Literature Wales. Devourer of crime fiction. Scot in North Wales & Cardiff.
Reposted by Martin Willis
My years of research give me the authority to say that the most realistic part of Down Cemetery Road (ep1) is Ruth Wilson's character getting lost while trying to chase someone through an NHS hospital.
November 6, 2025 at 8:10 PM
My years of research give me the authority to say that the most realistic part of Down Cemetery Road (ep1) is Ruth Wilson's character getting lost while trying to chase someone through an NHS hospital.
Reposted by Martin Willis
Call for Papers: British Society for Literature and Science (@thebsls.bsky.social) 21st Annual Conference, University of Strathclyde, 9th-11th April 2026. 200-word abstracts due by 12th December 2025.
www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6183
www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6183
CfP: British Society for Literature and Science Annual Conference – BARS Blog
www.bars.ac.uk
October 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Call for Papers: British Society for Literature and Science (@thebsls.bsky.social) 21st Annual Conference, University of Strathclyde, 9th-11th April 2026. 200-word abstracts due by 12th December 2025.
www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6183
www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6183
Reposted by Martin Willis
I used to find this picture - and the whole concept - of a flooded valley quite haunting.
Actually, I still do
Artist: Ronald Lampitt
(Our Land in the Making, 1966)
Actually, I still do
Artist: Ronald Lampitt
(Our Land in the Making, 1966)
July 20, 2025 at 7:21 PM
I used to find this picture - and the whole concept - of a flooded valley quite haunting.
Actually, I still do
Artist: Ronald Lampitt
(Our Land in the Making, 1966)
Actually, I still do
Artist: Ronald Lampitt
(Our Land in the Making, 1966)
Reposted by Martin Willis
I had not seen this before, and it made me smile...
July 15, 2025 at 4:44 PM
I had not seen this before, and it made me smile...
Reposted by Martin Willis
ECRs and PGRs - you have three days to submit your 4k-5k word essay to the BSLS/JLS essay prize! Tidy up those conferences papers and send them in! Deadline is THIS FRIDAY.
www.bsls.ac.uk/2025/04/call...
www.bsls.ac.uk/2025/04/call...
Call for entries: 2025 BSLS/JLS Essay Prize – The British Society for Literature and Science
www.bsls.ac.uk
June 3, 2025 at 1:07 PM
ECRs and PGRs - you have three days to submit your 4k-5k word essay to the BSLS/JLS essay prize! Tidy up those conferences papers and send them in! Deadline is THIS FRIDAY.
www.bsls.ac.uk/2025/04/call...
www.bsls.ac.uk/2025/04/call...
Reposted by Martin Willis
In case you want proof, here's an article i wrote years ago about Victorian eugenicists wanting to found a religion centred on "the human body is god". (I'll cheerfully admit that it has a genuinely terrible title. I don't know what I was thinking.) www.literatureandscience.org/wp-content/u...
May 6, 2025 at 3:23 PM
In case you want proof, here's an article i wrote years ago about Victorian eugenicists wanting to found a religion centred on "the human body is god". (I'll cheerfully admit that it has a genuinely terrible title. I don't know what I was thinking.) www.literatureandscience.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Martin Willis
Citizens of Glasgow! I will be in the big Waterstones on Sauchiehall St on 3rd July, chatting to the outstanding @lesleymcdowell.bsky.social. Hope to see you there if you can make it…💙📚
Liam McIlvanney launches The Good Father in conversation with Lesley McDowell | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones
Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Liam McIlvanney launches The Good Father in conversation with Lesley McDowell today.
www.waterstones.com
May 3, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Citizens of Glasgow! I will be in the big Waterstones on Sauchiehall St on 3rd July, chatting to the outstanding @lesleymcdowell.bsky.social. Hope to see you there if you can make it…💙📚
Reposted by Martin Willis
Very pleased that my article 'Facts and Fictions: Emotional Authenticity and Narrative in Natural History Exhibitions', which close reads the displays of the NHM and the Loch Ness Centre, has been published today!
journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/mas
journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/mas
May 2, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Very pleased that my article 'Facts and Fictions: Emotional Authenticity and Narrative in Natural History Exhibitions', which close reads the displays of the NHM and the Loch Ness Centre, has been published today!
journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/mas
journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/mas
Reposted by Martin Willis
Dr Guyton at last!
On Tuesday I defended my dissertation, "Popular Astronomy: Mediating Outer Space in German and British Periodical Culture, 1890-1950."
#PhDone
On Tuesday I defended my dissertation, "Popular Astronomy: Mediating Outer Space in German and British Periodical Culture, 1890-1950."
#PhDone
May 1, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Dr Guyton at last!
On Tuesday I defended my dissertation, "Popular Astronomy: Mediating Outer Space in German and British Periodical Culture, 1890-1950."
#PhDone
On Tuesday I defended my dissertation, "Popular Astronomy: Mediating Outer Space in German and British Periodical Culture, 1890-1950."
#PhDone
Reposted by Martin Willis
The first day of the conference is already over - with a fantastic plenary from @profmhwhitworth.bsky.social and two panels of amazing papers. It's #BSLS2025 to follow along!
April 10, 2025 at 5:19 PM
The first day of the conference is already over - with a fantastic plenary from @profmhwhitworth.bsky.social and two panels of amazing papers. It's #BSLS2025 to follow along!
Reposted by Martin Willis
I’m extremely lucky to have an early preview of ‘The Good Father’, the new novel by my brilliant colleague @liammcilvanney.bsky.social. It’s his fault if I’m late for work because I stayed up all night reading…
March 30, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I’m extremely lucky to have an early preview of ‘The Good Father’, the new novel by my brilliant colleague @liammcilvanney.bsky.social. It’s his fault if I’m late for work because I stayed up all night reading…
Reposted by Martin Willis
New album just dropped. Check it. www.publicbooks.org/b-sides-unde...
B-Sides: “Under the Sea-Wind” by Rachel Carson - Public Books
Bill McKibben proclaimed nature’s demise in 1989. But Americans who cared about DDT’s poisonous effect and the extinctions that would follow had been
www.publicbooks.org
March 14, 2025 at 9:30 PM
New album just dropped. Check it. www.publicbooks.org/b-sides-unde...
Reposted by Martin Willis
UK universities are in crisis.
Dave Hitchcock (@davehitchcock.bsky.social) on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be approached as an interdependent system.
www.historyworkshop....
Dave Hitchcock (@davehitchcock.bsky.social) on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be approached as an interdependent system.
www.historyworkshop....
A Decade of Crisis
The UK's universities are in crisis. Dave Hitchcock on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be understood as an interdependent system.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
March 13, 2025 at 7:08 AM
UK universities are in crisis.
Dave Hitchcock (@davehitchcock.bsky.social) on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be approached as an interdependent system.
www.historyworkshop....
Dave Hitchcock (@davehitchcock.bsky.social) on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be approached as an interdependent system.
www.historyworkshop....
Great to see the EA offering strategic support to all colleagues in arts and humanities whose jobs are under threat.
REF2029: concerns about the implications of decoupling | The English Association : Please read this important joint letter we have written (on behalf of us, our chair @jennyrichards.bsky.social ) along with @ies-sas.bsky.social & @univeng.bsky.social
englishassociation.ac.uk/ref2029-conc...
englishassociation.ac.uk/ref2029-conc...
REF2029: concerns about the implications of decoupling | The English Association
We support the teaching, learning, and enjoyment of English at all levels of education, from early years to further and higher education and beyond.
englishassociation.ac.uk
March 8, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Great to see the EA offering strategic support to all colleagues in arts and humanities whose jobs are under threat.
Reposted by Martin Willis
Calling all #literaryagents!
A northern Literary Festival is looking for agents to present and do author one-to-ones.
The all-day event will be at Leeds Trinity University, Sat 6th Sept 2025.
It’s partly to fill the gap in the North of England now that #JerichoWriters have relocated to London.
1/
A northern Literary Festival is looking for agents to present and do author one-to-ones.
The all-day event will be at Leeds Trinity University, Sat 6th Sept 2025.
It’s partly to fill the gap in the North of England now that #JerichoWriters have relocated to London.
1/
a kangaroo wearing sunglasses and a red shirt says " someone call my agent "
Alt: a kangaroo wearing sunglasses and a red shirt says " someone call my agent "
media.tenor.com
February 24, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Calling all #literaryagents!
A northern Literary Festival is looking for agents to present and do author one-to-ones.
The all-day event will be at Leeds Trinity University, Sat 6th Sept 2025.
It’s partly to fill the gap in the North of England now that #JerichoWriters have relocated to London.
1/
A northern Literary Festival is looking for agents to present and do author one-to-ones.
The all-day event will be at Leeds Trinity University, Sat 6th Sept 2025.
It’s partly to fill the gap in the North of England now that #JerichoWriters have relocated to London.
1/
Reposted by Martin Willis
As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity.
TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄
TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄
February 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM
As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity.
TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄
TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄
2/ “They need ethics, philosophy, language and history to guide them. Universities like ours, cherishing the full range of academic disciplines, will have a vital role in showing how sciences and humanities can inform and strengthen each other.” Words that might be heeded by VCs elsewhere.
February 19, 2025 at 8:39 PM
2/ “They need ethics, philosophy, language and history to guide them. Universities like ours, cherishing the full range of academic disciplines, will have a vital role in showing how sciences and humanities can inform and strengthen each other.” Words that might be heeded by VCs elsewhere.
1/ Lord Hague, speaking as he becomes Oxford University Chancellor: “the pace of change in sciences and medicine will mean we need humanities and social sciences more than ever. New technologies are changing politics and transforming the way culture is developed and communicated…”
February 19, 2025 at 8:38 PM
1/ Lord Hague, speaking as he becomes Oxford University Chancellor: “the pace of change in sciences and medicine will mean we need humanities and social sciences more than ever. New technologies are changing politics and transforming the way culture is developed and communicated…”
Reposted by Martin Willis
🚨 A CONFERENCE ABOUT RAIL TRAVEL THAT TAKES PLACE ON A TRAIN!!!!!!!! 🚨
Now here's an attractive CFP: Railway Aesthetics: Experiencing Locomotion across Media and Cultures. Takes place ON THE TRAIN Vienna-Bucharest-Istanbul, 10-13 September 2025. Deadline for submissions: May 2, 2025 call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/02/...
February 12, 2025 at 4:48 PM
🚨 A CONFERENCE ABOUT RAIL TRAVEL THAT TAKES PLACE ON A TRAIN!!!!!!!! 🚨
Reposted by Martin Willis
What can you do with English studies …👀👀⬇️
What can you do with English Studies? Anything! I am sharing @englishassociation.bsky.social Skills for the Future link again, with student stories about the skills they are learning, plus some amazing case studies from the world of work. See 🧵 englishassociation.ac.uk/skills-for-t...
Skills for the Future of English | The English Association
We support the teaching, learning, and enjoyment of English at all levels of education, from early years to further and higher education and beyond.
englishassociation.ac.uk
February 11, 2025 at 4:19 PM
What can you do with English studies …👀👀⬇️
Reposted by Martin Willis
The university facing 400 redundancies, the museum shutting suddenly because cuts have kept them from maintaining the building. Wales is losing key institutions in its capital city. nation.cymru/news/fears-f...
Fears for future of National Museum Cardiff after abrupt closure for maintenance
Martin Shipton Concerns have been raised about the future of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff after an official notice was posted outside saying it was closed indefinitely. The Museum’s managem...
nation.cymru
February 3, 2025 at 7:40 AM
The university facing 400 redundancies, the museum shutting suddenly because cuts have kept them from maintaining the building. Wales is losing key institutions in its capital city. nation.cymru/news/fears-f...
Reposted by Martin Willis
The deep cultural cost of British university job cuts
Arts and humanities are being hit hardest by cuts in higher education, write Prof Thea Pitman and Prof Emma Cayley
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Arts and humanities are being hit hardest by cuts in higher education, write Prof Thea Pitman and Prof Emma Cayley
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
The deep cultural cost of British university job cuts | Letters
Letters: Arts and humanities are being hit hardest by cuts in higher education, write Prof Thea Pitman and Prof Emma Cayley, and Dr Ronan McLaverty-Head and another letter writer comment on cuts at Ca...
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The deep cultural cost of British university job cuts
Arts and humanities are being hit hardest by cuts in higher education, write Prof Thea Pitman and Prof Emma Cayley
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Arts and humanities are being hit hardest by cuts in higher education, write Prof Thea Pitman and Prof Emma Cayley
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Reposted by Martin Willis
In a world of diverse cultures and languages you cannot do global humanities with integrity in English only. As the chair of @englishassociation.bsky.social l stand with colleagues in Modern Languages @cardiffuniversity.bsky.social and across the UK.
Please help support our colleagues in languages at Cardiff by challenging the decision to exclude them from the category of ‘global humanities’ @ucflangs.bsky.social @artsandhums.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/card...
Cardiff’s closure of modern languages will tongue-tie its humanities
The global examination of culture is not possible without languages at degree level, say Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Charles Burdett and Emma Cayley
www.timeshighereducation.com
February 5, 2025 at 3:26 PM
In a world of diverse cultures and languages you cannot do global humanities with integrity in English only. As the chair of @englishassociation.bsky.social l stand with colleagues in Modern Languages @cardiffuniversity.bsky.social and across the UK.
Reposted by Martin Willis
