Humanities

Professor of public humanities position for Birmingham City University’s Islam Issa comes amid pressure on humanities courses and threat of AI

Internal modelling released under Freedom of Information enquiry reveals extent of PhD scholarship cuts, with academics fearing impact could be greater still

The task of reading and rating the thousands of outputs submitted to the UK’s Research Excellence Framework is notoriously Herculean. Could AI ease the burden – or would its use undermine the whole point of having REF panels? As Jisc consults on that question, four writers offer their views

UKRI’s largest proportional spender on PhDs will ensure transparency, access and geographical equity via its new schemes, says Christopher Smith

More research council funding in the humanities and social sciences should be distributed in the form of micro-grants, says Peter Sutoris

Winner of 2025 Holberg Prize rejects vocational focus of education and ‘trivialisation’ of humanities

Social sciences ‘the proverbial canary in the coalmine’ for restrictions in other areas of research, dean warns

Despite Asia’s success elsewhere, its leading universities are still struggling to compete globally in arts and humanities. Patrick Jack asks whether that needs to change for them to be considered world-class

Scientists from the favoured areas raise the strongest objections

We can no longer deem as educated a student who knows nothing about statistics, data analytics or computing, says Daniel Diermeier

Academics who rely on the British Library’s unmatched collection are still feeling the impact of a devastating cyberattack a year ago. Jack Grove hears from those affected and considers how another catastrophic breach might be averted

Area studies and languages at risk at Leiden University, with academics foreseeing humanities ‘apocalypse’

Institutions in six continents plan fightback against creeping denigration of the social sciences

Departments to move out of Grade I-listed King’s Manor by September 2025

As the celebrated children’s historical sketch show marks its 15th anniversary, Jack Grove speaks to its head writer, history producer and PhD researchers on how scholarly sleuthing has been crucial to its long success

Attacks by the likes of Donald Trump and Narendra Modi on how the humanities are taught speak to the enduring political power of these subjects despite their precarity within the academy, says Saikat Majumdar

The feted urban sociologist Richard Sennett tells Matthew Reisz about how his former career as a cellist inspired his latest trilogy of books, why his ideal university would be more night school than Oxbridge college and why it helps him to imagine his readers as female biologists

As higher education minister in the Blair government, Alan Johnson steered plans for top-up fees of £3,000 through Parliament. As he returns to the sector in a new role, the former postman talks to John Morgan about why fee-funded university expansion remains the best hope for creating a fairer UK

Arts and Humanities Research Council funding ‘has been some sort of oasis, but it too is now quickly drying up’

UK funder will support fewer PhD studentships as cost pressures from reduced funding and higher doctoral stipends bite

History, philosophy and religious studies on the chopping block, as ACU flays its strengths

STEM subjects are important, too, but the creative economy employs more young people than any other sector, says Stuart Croft

Society issues warning as British Academy expresses concern about future of English degrees

Historian vice-chancellor Evelyn Welch has faced criticism for marking final-year dissertations personally

Janina Ramirez, one of the UK’s best-known historians, reflects on gender fluidity throughout history, transphobia and Twitter trolls

As his new book on pandemics is published, the UK’s best-known historian tells Matthew Reisz that identity politics is inhibiting history, nationalism only intensifies during global crises, and a refusal to communicate history to the public amounts to mere ‘connoisseurship of the dead’

Farah Karim-Cooper – one of the UK’s few ethnic minority Shakespeare professors – reflects on being an outsider in a discipline not known for its non-white faces and ponders how diversity can be improved

There are few professional roles that would not benefit from a broad and complex humanities foundation, says Harvey Graff

Basing teaching around the fundamental challenges faced by society will benefit both the humanities and humanity itself, says Doug Haynes

University breached advertising rules by claiming its arts and humanities research was ‘number one’ in UK, says regulator

The humanities do not have uniquely transformational qualities or a monopoly on critical thinking and empathy. With departments under threat outside the UK’s elite institutions, better to insist on the importance of everyone’s being able to interrogate the stories we tell ourselves, writes Joe Moran

The reaction to James Sweet’s article about presentism – including his own – compromises genuine scholarly debate, says Jonathan Zimmerman

The latest A-level data show concerning long-term trends in the popularity of humanities subjects, says Julia Black

The perception of technicians as non-intellectual workers contributes to the undervaluing of technical career paths, says Urszula Pawlicka-Deger

We distract from the debate on the importance of the arts if we don’t review and re-energise our humanities offerings, says Chris Husbands

Population declines and employment shifts key factors, but universities also seen ignoring non-teaching career pathways

The teaching philosophy at the long-awaited institution is based on interdisciplinary programmes and experiential instruction, says its president Pierre Ouellette

The technological objectification of thought plagued education long before classes were conducted over Zoom, says Kishore Saval

Scrutiny of graduate outcomes is appropriate but the issue is much more complex than arts v science, says Anna Vignoles

Universities known for their focus on technology are improving in the arts and humanities

Those bemoaning the decline of Classics on campus should examine how recent generations have tackled the problem, says Harvey J. Graff

International scholars in arts, humanities and social sciences are recognising universities in China, sometimes more than their local academics

With contention about diversity adding to concerns about employability and declining student numbers, does Classics in the US need rebranding or rethinking? Paul Basken reports

Addressing the very real problem of global epistemic exclusion is inclusive and democratic, says Simon Marginson

University ‘keen to engage’ staff and students on ‘merger’, while sidestepping inconsistencies in proposal

Increased digital literacy will also help boost employability and finally end the crisis narrative, says Jo Fox

A new consortium will embody the spread of liberal arts beyond the West, say Bryan Penprase and Thomas Schneider 

Amid languishing quality, introducing what could be a more expensive curriculum to deliver may not boost employability, says Pushkar

Johann N. Neem enjoys a sharp historical analysis of why the humanities always seem to be overpromising on what they can do

Uncritical and misinformed imitation of physics or biology is a misconception of collaboration, says Harvey J. Graff

The narrative that the humanities are haemorrhaging students, funding and political favour is deeply felt around the world. But the evidence of the disciplines’ decline is considerably more nuanced, finds Simon Baker

The pandemic highlighted UK creative industries’ innovative capacity. Public research spending choices should reflect that, says Andrew Thompson

Now concerned about impact of runaway artificial intelligence, diplomat worries scientific advances have overtaken capacity for reflection on their impact

Robert Eaglestone finds much to admire in an unapologetic attempt to justify the humanities in their own terms

Researchers press for ministerial code of conduct amid fears that latest political intervention may never be resolved

The pandemic has curtailed urgent discussion of open access’ impact on scholarly societies, says Frank James

Academics must emphasise that thinking critically does not mean dismissing everything as biased, say Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren

Executive chair says scholarship from non-medical subjects will be vital for post-pandemic society

Robert Peckham’s faith in the value of his medical humanities training was gravely tested as his father lay in intensive care

Expert views conflict on humanities graduates’ employment prospects, and whether Australian funding changes will make arts the preserve of the elite