A space to explore, share and shape the issues facing social and behavioral scientists
In The Public and their Platforms: Public Sociology in an Era of Social Media, Mark Carrigan and Lambros Fatsis explore the discipline of sociology at a time when public life is increasingly shaped by social media platforms.
In The Scopus Diaries and the (Il)Logics of Academic Survival, Abel Polese helps to demystify many of the inner workings of academia for researchers and the challenges that these present through a FAQ format that readers can dip in and out of to explore topics ranging from organizing a panel at a conference to arranging your bibliography and writing good abstracts. This is a useful eye-opening guide for new academics that emphasizes the value of setting one’s own goals and personal boundaries when navigating academia, writes Hind Hussein.
Research Impact and the Early Career Researcher presents chapters that reflect on the experiences that ‘early career researchers’ have had in relation to research impact. The collection is not a manual or textbook on how to achieve impact, but instead presents different voices on how researchers experience and react to the demand for impact.
The higher education system rests on the principle of meritocracy, with entry into the ‘top’ Russell Group universities supposedly the product of ability. This is despite growing attention to the over-representation of independent school students studying at the ‘top’ universities, with state school students and disadvantaged groups less likely to secure admission.
A new collection engages directly with how political science can achieve wider relevance as a discipline. Matt Wood finds ‘The Relevance of Political Science’ a must read for any scholar interested in the impact debate and he welcomes a return to the more social constructivist ideas of impact through teaching and learning.
Technology has the potential to share knowledge both further and faster. The 2012 THE Knowledge Exchange / Transfer Initiative of the Year was recently won by LSE for a series of academic blogs, and the managing editors share their thoughts with us about the state, impact, and future of academic blogging
