Social science

Book of the week: Russia’s power plays with its neighbours may be tied to its lack of civic maturity, says Lara Douds

Don’t blame university support staff for not joining the strike over pensions – it is because too often they are left out of the conversation, says Fiona Whelan

Talk of making arts degrees cheaper than science courses disregards the mix of disciplines that creative industries demand, says Bashir Makhoul

Pensions industry must use academia’s knowledge to create more imaginative solutions to global pensions crisis, argues Lionel Martellini

Warwick's vice-chancellor Stuart Croft explains how radical government action might help to avert the pensions strike affecting half of all UK universities

Extraordinary demand for a conference on how universities support staff with invisible disabilities highlights how ableism remains widespread in academia, argue Jennifer Leigh and Nicole Brown

Free Speech University Rankings coordinator Tom Slater says academics are peddling myths and smears to downplay the shocking level of censorship on campus

Nottingham Trent University’s chair of governors Neil Goulden explains why institutions need to do more to regain public esteem

Roger Brown on a study of the implications for universities of leaving the European Union

The UK and the US have vilified this Islamic group, but both worked with it, says Madawi Al-Rasheed

As president, Trump may be less an aberration than some think, but he attracts those whose only politics is to ‘send in a wrecking ball’, writes Martin Cohen

Academics do not want to damage students' education but strike action is the only option left to protect pensions, says Sam Marsh

Book of the week: Biancamaria Fontana on a masterly defence of the values of modernity against ‘progressophobes’

The prime minister’s review of higher education is an exercise in self-harm that will also inflict damage on universities, says Patrick McGhee

Threats to dock pay from university staff working only their hours during the USS pensions dispute ignore academics’ unpaid hours, says Will Pooley

Murky cross-subsidy between university courses must be addressed by the government’s review of higher education funding, argues David Robinson

The University of Essex’s vice-chancellor explains why he disagrees with Universities UK’s position on USS pension reform

Sheffield Hallam University's vice-chancellor Chris Husbands explains why cutting tuition fees would harm social mobility and why variable fees are also a bad idea

Ahead of the prime minister’s speech on reforming university funding, Charles B. W. Prince suggests four routes to improving student finance

Book of the week: Jonathan Mirsky wonders at the wisdom of making this Asian ‘miracle’ a model for rapid development

A law graduate’s attempt to sue the University of Oxford for £1 million over ‘inadequate teaching’ sheds far more light on how students learn than current TEF metrics, says Gill Evans

Successful trials of a robot tutor should encourage universities to ask which roles can never be replaced by artificial intelligence, argues Robert MacIntosh

Universities must resist the urge to make knee-jerk cuts after disappointing application numbers – better times are on the horizon and we must be prepared, says Zahir Irani

Accepting that your doctoral studies will sometimes take second place to family commitments is part of the journey of a PhD student mother, says Annabelle Workman

Universities must dramatically increase their levels of technical training to close the skills gap and deliver social justice, says Robert Halfon

A study of divergent defiant forces omits the ‘hot and cold strangeness’ in loyalty, finds Fred Inglis

Why can’t we feed the world? Because food is a powerful weapon of war that we have done little to disable, says Tehila Sasson

Leo Mellor on a work that explores a group of writers for whom questions about time, selfhood and reality led not to introspection or aesthetic withdrawal but to a desire to change the world

This critique details much wrong in US HE but also sketches a plan for reform, says David Wheeler

A year-long experiment convinced Michael Marinetto that carving out research time is a fun but unwinnable game 

Muddled thinking behind the creation of the new Office for Students risks damaging the UK's world-class universities, says Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

From Hillsborough to rape victims, a study mulls the place of emotive images, says Sharon Wheeler

In this collection, cosmopolitanism is a leviathan, housing contradiction and dispute

For centrists to regain control will need more than a focus on citizenship, says Michael Marinetto

THE’s rankings editor Phil Baty sets out why the World University Rankings are here to stay – and why that's a good thing

How can more degrees be the solution to urban deprivation when poor areas offer no graduate careers? asks Robert Hesketh

Book of the week: Correct use and interpretation of big data can lead to the creation of new theories, finds Farida Vis

Comparison of national test results data shows pupils admitted to university under racial quotas graduate with the same scores on average as non-quota peers

Scholars claim dean-elect is unfit for office after publishing articles in journals found on Jeffrey Beall’s blacklist

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam looks at restrictions to academic freedom in what he describes as an age of ‘psycho-nationalism’

Minimum compliance with publication requirements is the best recipe for job satisfaction, says Mike Marinetto

A study identifies and defines a new category, says Barry Reay, but how radical is it?

From dwarfs at court to obese children, a study examines why size matters, says Louisa Yates

Sarah Eltantawi admires a well-researched study of the origins and growth of the terrorist organisation

Monographs typically constitute a scholar’s greatest achievement, but REF strategists discourage their production, says Bruce Macfarlane

Eliane Glaser on a study of a gripping drama that has monopolised national discussion

Clive Bloom enjoys a sociological study of why a group of rich layabouts became crooks – and how society dealt with them

Academics and professional staff reveal the things that prey on their minds at 2am

Book of the week: His passion is evident, his work prodigious, but an ex-minister has blind spots that trouble Nigel Thrift

A badly understood notion of risk has created a fake crisis in university pensions that will devastate academia, argues Dennis Leech

James Stevens Curl on a study of symptoms of consumer culture and those who built them

Largest amount of cash handed out by research councils overall since 2014-15 brings an end to negative trend

University of Westminster music academic on fighting with punks, boosting Peter Andre’s career and pioneering ‘classical reggae’

Witty asides permeate a study contemplating money, love, hope and rappers, says Emma Rees

Ahead of his Vincent Briscoe Lecture, Bill Durodié calls on researchers to engage with issues of great social and technological ambition

British Academy report marking 500 days until ‘Brexit day’ throws spotlight on the money and academic talent in the subjects that come from the EU

Several top researchers exit Teesside after professors given individual ratings out of 32, senior academic claims

Broad-brush efforts to support female and ethnic minority academics will not address ‘multidimensional inequality’, says Warwick professor

Nobels and suchlike can motivate good behaviour but beware hidden costs, says Marina Della Giusta

University of Hertfordshire job cuts add to fears staff could be forced out ahead of REF 2021