Could Distributed Peer Review Better Decide Grant Funding?
The landscape of academic grant funding is notoriously competitive and plagued by lengthy, bureaucratic processes, exacerbated by difficulties in finding willing reviewers. Distributed […]
Louise Richardson: Educational Divide Fuels Corrosive Populism
Speaking before a sell-out audience of policymakers, journalists and academics in Whitehall, Louise Richardson FAcSS, vice chancellor of the University of Oxford, said we must bridge the educational divide to prevent populism for threatening democracy
Washington and Social Science: Bills on Evidence-Based Policy, Peer-Review
While most eyes in Washington are focused on tax reform, two new bills that affect social science have been introduced: one that re configures how peer-review would be used for determining research grants, and another that would make use of recommendations from a bipartisan study on evidence-based policy.
Canadian Policymakers, Please Follow Naylor Recommendations You Asked For
It is time, argues Andrew Craig, for the Canadian government to demonstrate they are moving ahead with all recommendations from the Naylor report — Canada’s Fundamental science review — to return balance and support Canadian science in all its wonderful diversity.
Sabina Alkire on Measuring Poverty
Economist Sabina Alkire has spent her career looking at all the things beyond just a lack of money that make us poor. In this Social Science Bites podcast, the director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative explains the need for a consistent and reputable means of measuring poverty over time.
Presumed Consent to Organ Donation – Gesture Politics?
England is looking at changing its organ transplant permission process from on opt-in to an opt out model. While this looks like an easy answer, says our Robert Dingwall, who part of a working group on the issue in the 90s, he doubts such a change will make any significant difference and may actually be counter-productive in terms of public confidence in the system.
When Is It Appropriate to Call a Crime ‘Terrorist’?
Looking at the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas and the ongoing violence perpetrated by people claiming to be working for the so-called Islamic State, our David Canter examines the use of the word ;terrorism’ and asks under what contexts is it accurately applied.
Webinar Archive: Disinvited Speakers and Academic Freedom
The same day that the U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called for “a national recommitment to free speech on campus” before an audience at Georgetown University, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, SAGE Publishing, and Index on Censorship magazine hosted a webinar on “Disinvited Speakers and Academic Freedom.”
Washington and Social Science: Back and Forth at NSF
After returning from summer recess, the House in September approved an Omnibus Appropriations Act comprised of several appropriations bills, including the Commerce-Justice-Science and Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations Act.
