The Nottingham historian discusses founding a library in the Indian village where he grew up and the need for alternatives to the ‘false promises of neoliberal education’
The winner of this year’s Leverhulme Medal discusses what it means to be a feminist historian and how contemporary politics, and a surprising find in Jamaica, changed her research
Ashoka University professor and novelist discusses academic life in the US and India, as well as his next novel, which explores ‘the ethics of education’
The former Austrian molecular biologist explains how a boring childhood was an advantage, why he switched careers and how designing board games is like basic research
Chemical weapons expert turned Cambridge don reflects on conspiracy theorists in academia, making safe a 60-tonne bomb with science and breaking the world press-up record
Artist and researcher Anthony Schrag on the importance of interdisciplinarity, how university changed him and why art will be even more important in the post-Covid world
The LSE management expert describes how workers can gain confidence to speak up, the culture shock of academia and what she learned from a drag king workshop
Winner of award for women in science in the developing world discusses growing up in a family of eight in Ghana and ‘feeling like Christmas’ when she is on a podium
One of the world’s leading experts on the carbon cycle discusses campaigning for Joe Biden as a teenager, the magic of the Amazon rainforest and why she will never give up fieldwork
The epigeneticist and new Max Planck vice-president on a global childhood, the pleasures of buses running on time, and why young researchers are more stressed than ever
The human rights barrister and author reflects on his path into international law, the university course that changed history and what the UK’s ‘lazy’ and ‘narcissistic’ prime minister could learn from Keir Starmer
The ‘Thesis Whisperer’ discusses the computer revolution, PhD students finding their voice, and why people who write dissertations about doctoral candidates who don’t finish don’t finish
The war survivor with multiple degrees from universities around globe discusses her roles as advocate for refugees and for the understanding of Africa in HE
The secretary of higher education for the state of New Jersey talks about her path to a career in policy, family history and handling racist attitudes at college
The University of Cambridge’s inaugural professor of the psychology of education and mental health talks about switching from sport to science and why it’s so important to research education and mental health together
Observational astrophysicist opens up on why physics can be ‘unsatisfactory’ and how the coronavirus spotlights a valuable truth about our approach to climate change
The weather attribution pioneer explains how her field has transformed what researchers can say about climate change – and what's she’s learned about communicating results
The former president of the Supreme Court, now a UCL honorary professor, discusses being a ‘speccy swot’ and the need to protect the ‘cardinal principles of our constitution’
One of four sisters holding academic posts at top US universities explains that their professorial parents gave them something far more valuable than a bookish bloodline
The ecologist with more air miles than most on alternative pathways to the professoriate, Australia’s natural boom-bust cycles and whether there is hope for the platypus
The award-winning junior researcher on his love for experimental projects, communicating bold ideas to the public and how universities can foster creativity
The professor and media expert advises universities to value the low-tech practice of meditation, and to move far more quickly to embrace the high-tech way that their students prefer to learn
The winner of this year’s Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize discusses why we need to rethink our understanding of Africa, decolonising the curriculum, and the need to tackle big egos
Pioneer of ‘movement ecology’ explains how the new-found ability to track individual animals is leading to fresh insights about their behaviour and societies
The first black leader of an Oxbridge college on the need for careers-based initiatives for students, the joys of parenthood and seeking out moments of calm
