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 […]
When You Talk About Evacuation, You’re Talking About Psychology
A key part of response to a disaster is timely and effective evacuation. That in turn taps into a wide range of human responses, and psychology is there to help create the most effective strategies.
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.
Academy of Social Sciences Names 69 New Fellows
Sixty-nine academics, practitioners and policymakers from across the social sciences are now fellows of Britain’s Academy of Social Sciences the venerable society announced Thursday. Fellows are chosen after an extensive peer review process for the excellence and impact of their work using social science for public benefit.
Mitigation: The Best Kind of Rainy Day Savings
Mitigation enables people and communities to prevent disasters or at least reduce their impacts on the loss of life and property. And while mitigation is often presented as a mission for engineering, there is a wide scope for social and behavioral preparation explains veteran public policy researcher in a new paper on mitigating flooding catastrophes.
MacArthur Fellows Include Psychologist, Anthropologist, Geographer
Cybercrime, mass surveillance and migration are among the areas studied by the new cohort of MacArthur Foundation fellows announced today. The fellowships, often referred to as “genius grants,” offer a no-strings-attached $625,000 cash grant to exceptionally creative people expected to achieve something important using their outstanding talent going forward.
Arts Degrees – Why Bother?
Increasingly, write Ashley Frawley and Daniel Nehring, the waning societal valuation of the arts and social sciences is seen in these terms—if their value to a company’s bottom line is at all in question, then their entire raison d’etre is in doubt. Reversing this trend may involve some unpalatable decisions.
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.”
