Thom Davies
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thomdavies.bsky.social
Thom Davies
@thomdavies.bsky.social
Associate Professor @UoNGeography | Geographer researching #ToxicGeographies and #Refugees | he/him | 📚 TOXIC TRUTHS book (2020) Editor at Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space
Reposted by Thom Davies
I did my bachelor's in Human Geography at Leicester. Best choice I ever made, genuinely some of the best years of my life!

We were on the picket lines with staff then, full support to them now. A lot of my favourite people have left since I graduated due to the state of academia, now more at risk.
Solidarity to colleagues at Leicester Uni:

"all academic staff in the film studies and modern languages departments have been placed at risk, with "large numbers of staff" in chemistry, geography, geology & the environment (GGE) and history specialisms "uncertain if they will retain their jobs"
University of Leicester confirms formal redundancy consultation
The University and College Union's local branch says staff are planning strike action.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Thom Davies
📣 Important Launch Today 📣

A new organisation has officially launched to defend the rights of people crossing the Channel and to develop life-saving technology that keeps them safe. 🌊✨

👉 Please support them by sharing this post and giving them a follow. Your voice helps amplify theirs.
We are excited to announce the launch of The Channel Monitoring Project.
A new initiative to change reality on the ground and at sea. For the #safety, #dignity and #humanrights of those crossing the border in #smallboats. Counter the toxicity to tell the real story.
September 19, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Thom Davies
Thank you for your inspiration and encouragement! Publishing with @politicsandspace.bsky.social was a fantastic experience. ✨
May 16, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Great to see this article published in @politicsandspace.bsky.social:

'Displaced decarbonization: Climate necropolitics and the contested spatialities of green hydrogen in Namibia'

By @meredeboom.bsky.social 📝

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
May 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
the real enemy arrives in a private jet, not a small boat
May 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Thom Davies
New work from the www.channelcrossings.org team!

We have been gathering a dataset of contracts that the government has with private companies related to Channel crossings. We are calling this the ‘border economy’. We have identified over £3billion worth of contracts...
(no title)
Visit the post for more.
www.channelcrossings.org
May 1, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Thom Davies
Incredible piece of work on the spending on border securitisation in the UK channel.
April 30, 2025 at 11:25 AM
I've written an article with @mayblin.bsky.social, @isakjee.bsky.social and team revealing the MASSIVE amount of money being given to private companies to "stop the boats".

Who is really profitting from the UK border regime?

www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...
Government hands firms £3bn in bid to ‘stop the boats’
Research reveals the business of Channel security is booming, as companies profit off asylum seekers’ desperation
www.opendemocracy.net
April 30, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Our academic research about 'small boat' Channel crossings has been published in the @the-independent.com

"Obsession with tough borders creating a ‘booming £2bn industry for private companies’ ministers warned"
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home... @uniofnottingham.bsky.social @mayblin.bsky.social
Obsession with tough borders creating a ‘booming £2bn industry for private companies’
UK border security industry worth billions and expanding, academics suggest
www.independent.co.uk
April 29, 2025 at 7:46 AM
"The #exhaustion is constant – one study shows stress levels in parents of #autistic individuals are similar to those of combat soldiers and Holocaust survivors – and the lack of sleep leads to caregiver burnout."

www.theguardian.com/society/2025... #austism #parenting
‘It can break you’: life for parents of autistic children can be exhausting. One podcast is offering hope. Is it real?
A podcast claims to show that autistic children with limited speech may be able to communicate via telepathy. What does the science say about the idea?
www.theguardian.com
April 13, 2025 at 3:10 PM
There are some (far too few) corners of UK higher education that still give me hope. This is one of them:
February 12, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Thom Davies
Come work with us!

A wonderfully welcoming and supportive School who have been great in helping me find my feet as an ECR Geographer!

Very happy to chat to anyone interested in applying!
February 5, 2025 at 9:05 AM
NEW JOB 🚨: Assistant Professor in Human Geography at @uniofnottingham.bsky.social:

💰£41,421 to £56,921 per annum

Any of these research areas very welcome:

🔹Cultural and Historical Geography
🔹Economic and #Political Worlds
🔹Environment, Health and Society.

jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
Job Vacancy at the University of Nottingham: Assistant Professor in Human Geography
Applications are invited for the post of Assistant Professor in the School of Geography. We are seeking to appoint an academic to make a significant impact within the broad research and teaching area ...
jobs.nottingham.ac.uk
February 4, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Thom Davies
Happy Birthday to all refugees arbitrarily assigned 1st January as their date of birth.

Congratulations on your perseverance despite the despicable treatment seeking asylum entails in the richest countries of the world.

Celebrate your persistence in ensuring your rights.
January 1, 2025 at 9:38 AM
December 4, 2024 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Thom Davies
I feel like videogames actually do provide a pretty accurate representation of real life right now because a lot of videogames are like “THE WORLD IS ENDING” and then you just collect herbs and pretend nothing is wrong
November 22, 2024 at 4:59 AM
Reposted by Thom Davies
Leeds has a fully funded scholarship program for undergraduate and Masters study for Gaza students.

**Tell Everyone**

www.leeds.ac.uk/masters-scho...
Gazan Humanitarian Scholarship
We offer scholarships for citizens of Gaza who have been displaced as a result of the ongoing conflict in the region and are living in a different country (outside of the UK).
www.leeds.ac.uk
November 21, 2024 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Thom Davies
⭐️NEW EXPLAINER: Labour on immigration: 5 things you need to know
👉 the key policy developments
👉 companies who benefit
... with links to groups mobilising against them.

Summarised below for those who are short on time
corporatewatch.org/labour-on-im...
#starmer #homeoffice #immigration #noborders
Labour on immigration: 5 things you need to know - Corporate Watch
The Tories’ 14-year run is over, but migrant solidarity campaigners are doubtful whether things look much brighter under Labour. How much has Keir Starmer’s government departed from the Conservatives’...
corporatewatch.org
November 20, 2024 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Thom Davies
First Post!

I am a migration and citizenship scholar and activist. In January I will be starting a new project at the Univeristy of Geneva titled "A Theory of Maritime Migration: Examining the intersection of mobile people and territory".

Below is a selection of work published this year.
November 14, 2024 at 9:15 AM
Article in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social about the political economy of the UK border. We argue that both private and political actors are directly profitting from people seeking asylum (not just the "people smugglers")

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #OpenAccess
November 14, 2024 at 10:13 AM
in the marking bunker today
a woman is sitting at a desk writing on a piece of paper with a pen
ALT: a woman is sitting at a desk writing on a piece of paper with a pen
media.tenor.com
October 4, 2024 at 8:47 AM
Reposted by Thom Davies
While reactionaries may use women's rights to attack other minorities (Muslim communities, trans people, immigrants etc), you really don't have to scratch the surface much to realise that they are not attached to said rights, but to the exclusion of others (including women)
September 29, 2024 at 12:07 PM
New article in @societyandspace.bsky.social:

"Eco-coloniality" and the violent environmentalism of the UK–France border.

What's at stake by converting a #refugee camp into a nature reserve? How's the #environment used to harm racialised #migrants at borders?
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Eco-coloniality and the violent environmentalism of the UK–France border - Thom Davies, Tesfalem H Yemane, Joe Turner, Lucy Mayblin, Arshad Isakjee, 2024
This article examines the eco-coloniality of the UK–France border by tracing the transformation of the notorious Calais “jungle” refugee camp into a nature rese...
journals.sagepub.com
September 28, 2024 at 7:15 AM
Reposted by Thom Davies
After a hiatus, Ep 4 of the Minor Revisions podcast is here! Gabriel Silvestre (Newcastle Univ) & Guillermo Jajamovich (Univ of Buenos Aires) discuss the 'behind the scenes' story of publishing "The afterlives of urban megaprojects" journals.sagepub.com/page/epc/col... #geosky #academicsky
January 9, 2024 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Thom Davies
Politics & Space has some new editors. Joining Luiza Bialasiewicz & me are:

-Thom Davies (www.nottingham.ac.uk/Geography/Pe... )
-Rachel Hughes (findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/3808... )
-Sarah Hunt (www.uvic.ca/socialscienc... )

Submit your paper: journals.sagepub.com/home/epc #Geosky
January 19, 2024 at 1:57 AM