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 […]
Writing Style in Abstract Linked to NSF Grant Payout
A text analysis of nine years of grant abstracts submitted to the NSF indicated that what researchers say and how we say it can foretell the amount of funding we are awarded. They also show that the writing funders idealize may not always match up with what they actually prefer.
The Loneliness of the Long-Suffering Researcher
Isolation and loneliness, as opposed to solitude, seem to the be the lot of many midern researchers. Research shows that 40 percent of academics, and more than half below the age of 35, view isolation at work as the main factor affecting their mental health. And many academics turn to counselling to learn ways to cope with emotional distress.
Are Gender Studies Under Assault Globally?
The war on gender studies is a pillar in the authoritarian critique of liberalism. But for many scholars, argues Jennifer Evans, it is a sign of the times for liberal democracies as well.
Special Pleading: Free Speech and Australian Universities
This is an edited version of a speech given by Glyn Davis, distinguished professor of political science at the Crawford School of Public Policy at Australian National University, at a summit to explore issues of academic freedom and autonomy hosted by the Australian National University.
Finance is a Subject Social Science Must Study
If we are to hope to find a solution to the instability of the financial system, write the team behind a new edited volume, it is important to present finance as a social and political space.
Did Emile Durkheim Foresee Today’s Chaos?
Emile Durkheim, one of the pioneers of the discipline of sociology, died 101 years ago this month. Although few outside of social science departments know his name, his intellectual legacy may provide us with some assistance in diagnosing the perennial problems associated with modernity.
Extreme Polarization Is Bad But Need Not Be Inevitable
Are Americans now stuck in animosity and anger that will undermine democracy, or can the nation pull out of it? Here, Jennifer McCoy shares some of the findings of a collaborative research project she led that examined political polarization in 11 countries, including the United States. Their research shows that the most democratic of actions – participating in elections – is exactly the thing to do to help reduce polarization.
Even Self-Identified Independents are Partisan in America
According to the Gallup polling firm, writes Christopher Devine, the identity that people choose most often is actually “independent” – not Democratic or Republican. In 2017, 42 percent of Americans chose this label – up from the low 30s just 14 years ago, in 2004. However, three-quarters of these “independents” admit, when asked, that they lean toward favoring the Democratic or Republican Party.
