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 […]
The Sociologist of Informal Labour: Sharit Bhowmik, 1948-2016
Sociologist Sharit Kumar Bhowmik, best known for his work on informal labor and most specifically on street vendors in India, has died.
The Sociologist of Mobility: John Urry, 1946-2016
John Urry, a sociologist probably best known for his work on mobilities but whose gaze also lit on issues ranging from tourism to energy use, from social change to complexity theory, died suddenly on March 18.
The Geographer of Space and Power: Doreen Massey, 1944-2016
Doreen Massey’s academic career combined the geographer’s focus on space with an advocate’s focus on inequality and class. Massey died Friday at age 72.
Showing Institutions Matter: Douglass North, 1920-2015
Douglass C. North’s contributions to economic theory have had an enormous influence on how scholars understand institutions and the process of economic change.
Darwin of the Human Sciences: René Girard, 1923-2015
René Girard, whose academic career began in literary theory, and whose own theory of mimesis influenced people ranging from J.M. Coetzee to the founder of PayPal, died last week at his home at Stanford.
The Game Theorist: John Nash, 1928-2015
The impact of John Nash’s initial work has been immense over the past 65 years. It seems certain that in his absence, the frameworks and mathematical language he refined and developed will continue to provide new insights into a diverse range of problems.
Data, Democracy, and Janet Norwood
Making decisions without data soils the public policy process with ideology, partisan politics, and misinformation, all things the late Janet Norwood abhorred. Her voice, commitment, and professionalism will be sorely missed.
Taliban Kills Social Scientist in Hotel Attack
Paula Kantor, an American social scientist working to improve the lot of women and children in Afghanistan, was among 13 civilians killed Thursday in an attack on a guesthouse in Kabul.
