Social science

Survey of more than 5,000 UK researchers finds about half keep working when they are unwell

Generous philanthropic giving brings significant benefits to US universities but poses leadership challenges too, says Ángel Cabrera

Encouraging academics to spend time with scholars from outside their own discipline will be vital to tackling today’s grand challenges, says Annette Rubery

The Canadian government’s excessive policing of privacy makes it intolerably onerous to access its datasets, says Karen Robson

UK universities must cover soaring staff visa costs to mitigate the effects of the Home Office’s harmful policies, says Tristan Sturm

With Wales’ Coleg Harlech due to be sold this month, Sam Christie reflects on why ‘second-chance colleges’ have failed to thrive given their role in post-industrial communities

Today’s Office for National Statistics report will make challenging reading for the Augar review panel, but it must not resort to draconian cuts to student numbers, says Greg Walker

Latest remuneration figures bring prospect of more criticism for UK universities

Maintaining a breadth of curricular offerings is crucial if subjects outside the sciences are to retain their attraction in the digital age, says Dean Forbes

The furore over Brian Wansink’s data handling overlooks the fact that science should above all be about explanation, argues Martin Cohen

Analysis of impact of doctoral training centres funded by Economic and Social Research Council prompts further questions over approach to postgraduate learning

Major Ucea study finds ethnic minority staff suffer ‘significant pay penalties’ relative to white male staff with equivalent academic backgrounds

Political efforts to silence academic critics are unlikely to end despite clarification that universities are not obliged to ban them, says Pushkar

The international stars in the Boston Red Sox and the city’s stellar universities highlight why Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric is so out of step with a ‘winning’ part of America, writes Jack Grove from Boston

Simon Baker weighs the evidence for the transformation of the country’s higher education system

After a rare, chance encounter with an enthusiast for one of his books, Felipe Fernández-Armesto reflects on why so few academics gain any sort of celebrity 

The University of South Australia’s merger with its prestigious Adelaide neighbour may be off, but the fact that it was even considered illustrates how much can change in 30 years, says Adam Graycar

Academics should not be afraid to challenge the wisdom of requiring institutions to make financial amends for their past links to slavery, says Robert Dingwall

Donald Trump’s election prompted US scientific leaders to get more of their own into public office. However, as the midterm elections loom, progress on bringing analytical skills into the political arena looks like being very slow, writes Paul Basken

While widening access is high on universities’ agendas at undergraduate level, class barriers still prevail in the academy. Here, five working-class scholars describe their experiences of ‘otherness’

The withdrawal of funding for Ontario’s basic income pilot highlights the perils of working on politically funded research, says Evelyn Forget

Find out which institutions are best in the world for social sciences, business and economics, education and law

THE data show that Russia’s research influence in social sciences is waning, while other nations are failing to progress

New rules requiring a female presence on doctoral defence panels at the University of Glasgow will push more ‘unrewarded’ academic tasks on to women, critics claim

Lawyer of former university president imprisoned in Turkey gives glimpse into courtroom practices faced by persecuted academics

New pilot phase of post-Brexit immigration plans will prioritise applications from European Union staff working in higher education

The elaborate prank that saw spoof papers accepted by social science journals reveals more about the hoaxers’ politics than the shortcomings of ‘grievance studies’, says Alison Phipps

An openness and willingness to question oneself are the foundations of democracy and should be defended robustly, argues Michael Ignatieff, president of Hungary’s Central European University, in a new book

Sociology, once a discipline seen as the embodiment of social progress, is now subject to frequent scepticism over its methodology, politics and career relevance. Here, five sociologists offer their assessment of the challenges facing the subject and what the future holds

Right-wing intellectuals who fetishise ‘facts’ frustrate rather than further intellectual debate, says Ryan Coogan

Durham University has cleverly positioned itself as the ‘Harry Potter university’ to attract Chinese students, says Madeleine Ferrar

Research reveals how the new Longitudinal Education Outcomes data on graduate earnings give a misleading view of graduate earnings and value for money, says Gordon McKenzie

Human beings’ need for religion goes far beyond the management of emotions, says Ursula King

Book of the week: In dire political times, Lyndsey Stonebridge discovers a welcome example of slow reading

Over time, one symbol of dehumanisation has served different purposes, finds Catherine Molineux

Jenny Pickerill argues that we need more practical suggestions on how to tackle institutions’ resistance to decolonisation

Conservative forces forget that canons and canonical understandings always evolved as science and society have progressed, says Gurminder Bhambra

Claims that the UK’s counterterrorism strategy targets Muslims and harms free speech are ‘nonsense’, says Prevent coordinator Chris Sybenga

Conservative anger at initiatives to make campuses more inclusive to minority students is misplaced, say Kevin Singer, Laura Dahl, Matthew J. Mayhew and Alyssa N. Rockenbach

The UK’s new research mega-body has huge power to tackle long-standing inequalities, says its new diversity tsar Jennifer Rubin

Coalition leader Giuseppe Conte has been urged to back out formally of the race for a top university job

The Migration Advisory Committee review showed little interest in understanding international students or how the UK labour market works, says Stanley Ipkiss

Asking social scientists to demonstrate academic impact ignores the messy reality of political lobbying, says Matthew Flinders

The former Bank of England governor’s broadside against academic pension cuts relied on ‘reckless’ and ‘absurd’ assumptions, say John Ralfe and Bernard Casey

Nick Hillman explains why the much-anticipated UK review of overseas student policy gets it so wrong

Universities must look beyond a narrow conception of impact to communicate the true value of higher education to society, say Ulrike Felt, Maximilian Fochler, Andreas Richter, Renée Schroeder and Lisa Sigl

Growing pressure to publish only in elite tier ignores the vital importance of lesser-ranked titles to academia and society, says Adam Graycar

Following proposed ban on teaching of gender studies, continent’s scholarly bodies say government is jeopardising Hungary’s academic standing

Error on Wikipedia page meant St Petersburg statue used likeness of Thomas Thomson instead of French architect

‘REF season’ is under way and staff who support the development of impact case studies need to consider their tactics. Chris Hewson offers guidance based on his own experience

Discussions with students about how marijuana can affect studies and health and talks about its place on campus are needed before the drug becomes legal in Canada, say Alexandra Burnett, Rodney A. Clifton and Gabor Csepregi

Matthew Reisz meets Andrea Pető, recent recipient of the Madame de Staël prize, a scholar at Hungary’s Central European University whose feminist probing into the dark corners of Hungary’s past is provoking strong reactions in the ‘illiberal democracy’

Study offers further insight into the persistent trend for women to be cited less frequently than men

Leading a university seminar for the first time can be an intimidating prospect. Here, three PhD students offer some advice for those preparing for the new academic year

Early career social scientists should be entitled to extensive support from their university long after attaining their doctorate, study says

The EU’s proposal for its next research and innovation funding framework focuses too narrowly on technology, say Gabi Lombardo and Jon Deer

UK social science body attacks plans to exert more state control over research topics

Pioneering Moscow education institution is latest target of Russia’s education regulator

The LSE political scientist discusses influencing the US news agenda, Trump’s authoritarian streak and why we must defend democracy

Call to rebalance funding away from sciences and towards social sciences