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 […]
In This Indebted World, Austerity May Be Forever
Political economist Mark Blyth argues that in a highly indebted world, austerity – introduced as an ‘emergency’ measure to save the economy, to right the fiscal ship – has becomes a permanent state of affairs.
Intellectual Autonomy, Intellectual Property and the New Enclosures
If the public institution is committed to public interest, then privatization of research and teaching cannot be allowed. Work done should be seen, heard and critiqued. Innovation in knowledge can come when people take away ideas from us, just as we did. Research should be made public, accountable and responsible. The data commons in public interest cannot be sacrificed at the altar of intellectual autonomy.
A Pioneer of Cognitive Science: Whitman Richards, 1932-2016
One of the first four graduates of MIT’s Department of Psychology and a pioneer for data-intensive studies of vision and cognition, Whitman Richards died on Sept. 16 at his home. He was 84.
Academy of Social Sciences Names 84 New Fellows
The Academy of Social Sciences has conferred the award of fellow on 83 leading social scientists, including such luminaries as Lord Stern, Nudge Unit founder David Halpern and Madeleine Atkins of HEFCE.
Jean-Marc Mangin Steps Down as Head of Canada’s HSS Umbrella Federation
After more six years at the helm of Canada’s Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Jean-Marc Mangin has stepped down. Christine Tausig Ford, formerly of Universities Canada,has been named interim executive director.
What’s ‘World Class’ About University Rankings?
Higher education is a globally competitive market and institutions with a high rank can claim exceptionalism that brings in students and funding, acknowledges our Michelle Stack. But are rankings genuinely useful for students or for research?
In Australia, Academic Contracts Threaten Freed Speech
Academics need to retain their freedom to speak on matters of interest, which intersect with their specialized knowledge, even where that intersection is tangential or not visible to others.
The Never-Ending Audit®: Questioning the Lecturer Experience
The never-ending audit makes a crucial point about the ways in which power structures have shifted within universities, argues our Daniel Nehring. In effect, it suggests the death of the ideal of the autonomous scholar-researcher-teacher.
