Since the UK decided to link research assessment to research funding, there have been critiques that the competitive nature of the REF assessment creates a winner takes all environment. Whilst this is difficult to assess, Banal-Estanol et al. use a nov…
Category: Featured
The bias puzzle – Understanding gender differences in academia
Bias in academia can often be difficult to pinpoint and separate out from difference. Responding to a recent call from the journal Nature to set new guidelines for studies dealing with race and ethnicity, Vincent A. Traag and Ludo Waltman, outline how …
Book Review: The Palgrave Handbook of Imposter Syndrome in Higher Education edited by Michelle Addison, Maddie Breeze and Yvette Taylor
In The Palgrave Handbook of Imposter Syndrome in Higher Education, editors Michelle Addison, Maddie Breeze and Yvette Taylor bring together contributors to reflect on the crisis of imposter syndrome in higher education. The book gives fascinating insig…
Reconnecting community, research and policy through post-Covid recovery
In the aftermath of COVID-19, the Falkland Islands Government has taken concrete steps to tackle long-standing inequalities, prompted by evidence of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on local communities. How was the evidence-policy gap bridged in th…
If UKRI wants to support a diverse research environment, it should include independent researchers
Responding to the publication of UKRI’s EDI strategy, Helen Kara and Linda Baines argue that by excluding the work of independent researchers, the strategy will struggle to achieve its objective of promoting an inclusive research system. Earlier this y…
Book Review: Social Media and Hate by Shakuntala Banaji and Ramnath Bhat
In Social Media and Hate, Shakuntala Banaji and Ramnath Bhat explore the problem of hate speech on social media platforms, offering case studies of India, Brazil, Myanmar and the UK. The book is a timely and insightful exploration of the intersection o…
Crucial! New! Essential! – The rise of hype in research and impact assessment
There has been a marked trend for the increased use of hyperbolic adjectives in academic writing in recent decades. Drawing on a study of REF 2014 impact case studies, Ken Hyland finds this genre to include even greater degrees of hype than research wr…
Lack of diversity in economics holds back its relevance and value to society
From undergraduate, to post-graduate research and practice, the discipline of economics is an outlier in its lack of diversity. Discussing findings from a recent Royal Economics Society report, ‘Who Studies Economics’, Stefania Paredes Fuentes and Tim …
Africa’s COVID-19 statistics highlight bias in excess death modelling
Despite high levels of informality, Africa’s statistics on COVID-19 mortality have been paradoxically low in comparison to countries in the Global North. Examining studies that attribute low counts to poor statistical reporting, Kate Meagher argues tha…
After ten years of UK What Works Centres, what should their future be?
A decade on from the foundation of the What Works Network, an initiative designed to improve the use of social scientific evidence in the design and delivery of public services in the UK. Michael Sanders and Jonathan Breckon discuss their effectiveness…