Bringing together academics and businesses can be a complex and delicate process. Most partnerships are successful, but more is needed to link businesses with academics, writes Ben McLeod. Here he shares some recent survey findings that suggest there are some very real barriers that need to be overcome. For those who do make it work, however, the process and outcomes […]
Category: Research funding
Public knowledge is power: In defense of information by, of, and for the people.
Access to information is now a frontline issue and is visible in many of today’s top news stories. Jacquelyn Gill connects the wider struggles taking place in the US for access to public television, public schools, and research. Are we at risk of giving up too quickly on the ideals of public education and publicly funded research? And what will this mean for the […]
What do we want the university as a workplace to look like? Contextualising precarious employment in higher education
Jack Saunders reflects on discussions taking place in humanities departments over what casualised work of various kinds might mean for the sector. He argues there has been little attempt to explain the social processes that have produced these conditions. Academics are workers in institutions that are rapidly “rationalising” their employment practices in line with market imperatives. Understanding casualisation in higher education involves […]
Your grant application is about to die: Research teams that recognise gender dimension offer a competitive advantage.
Funding requirements confirm there is a competitive advantage for research engaged in the active promotion of gender perspectives. Strategic decision-making in universities should also recognise the value a sex and gender dimension adds, both for funding and the quality of research. Curt Rice stresses how social sciences and humanities can help deliver these perspectives more deliberately and explicitly into research. Last year, the world lost […]
Beyond scientific impact: An evaluation approach that captures societal benefit and minimises documentation effort.
To grapple with the the substantial amount of data generated by research evaluations and impact assessments, funders and institutions must look to improve their communication systems. Birge Wolf, Jürgen Heß and Anna Maria Häring are looking to combine evaluation concepts for inter- and trans-disciplinary research with funders’ increasing interests in societal impact data. Improved data sharing mechanisms will provide more support to […]
Reputation instead of obligation: forging new policies to motivate academic data sharing.
Despite strong support from funding agencies and policy makers academic data sharing sees hardly any adoption among researchers. Current policies that try to foster academic data sharing fail, as they try to either motivate researchers to share for the common good or force researchers to publish their data. Instead, Sascha Friesike, Benedikt Fecher, Marcel Hebing, and Stephanie Linek argue that in […]
Elsevier’s new sharing policy is really a reversal of the rights of authors.
Virgina Barbour takes to task publishing giant Elsevier for their latest round of introduced restrictions on the sharing of academic research. Their new policy states that, if no article processing charge is paid, an author’s accepted version of the article cannot be made publicly available via their institution’s repository until after the embargo period, which can ranges from six months to four […]
“Who would want to live in a world made up entirely of scientists?” Australia’s Chief Scientist calls for cooperation
Reporting on a recent workshop where Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb outlined the key priorities for research and funding, Jacqui Hoepner discusses the long-term future of Australian research. Professor Chubb stressed the importance of having a broader national conversation about how they will achieve societal change and how researchers should work to meet those ends. A few weeks ago Australia’s […]
The Rise of the Self-Funded Studentship and What It Says about Academia
Mark Carrigan draws attention to the growing popularity of self-funded studentships. This option may appeal to cash-strapped academic departments, but these positions are likely to undermine the assumption that this kind of work should be paid, whilst simultaneously privileging those who can work for free. As research funding continues to be squeezed, it is likely practices like this will proliferate. I see the ‘self-funded studentship’ as a sign […]
Book Review: Sexuality: A Psychosocial Manifesto
Author Katherine Johnson argues for a psychosocial approach that rethinks the relationship between psychic and social realms in the field of sexuality, without reducing it to either. Weaving through an expanse of theoretical and empirical examples drawn from sociology, psychology, queer and cultural studies, she produces an innovative, transdisciplinary perspective on sexual identities, subjectivities and politics. Alexander Blanchard argues that any […]