Professor

Academic endorsements cast little light while entrenching privilege, says Vincent Hiribarren

Tributes paid to a ‘stellar academic’ who was also a ‘remarkable activist’ and ‘great adventurer’

‘Every young student of science has had a fantasy about winning a Nobel prize,’ says one laureate – and ever more rival prizes are being established. But with a cast of thousands currently pursuing the holy grail of a vaccine for Covid-19, might awards committees finally jettison their problematic focus on lone genius, asks Jack Grove

Social scientists should be judged on their impact, while journals should make room for under-represented voices, say academics

Scientists have expressed dismay that the reported death of a US scientist was apparently part of an elaborate hoax

Green light for international universities to operate in new National Education Policy

The halting of trials for a coronavirus treatment following the publication of dubious data highlights the perils of opacity, says Ron Iphofen

Frustrated with their university’s plan for the autumn, which is slated to include full dorms, a group of professors has broken rank and sent an open letter to students

Critics underestimated the human imagination’s capacity to render concepts flexible, says Frank Furedi

Hundreds of thousands left in limbo and questioning whether the country has the resources to hold tests safely during Covid-19 crisis

The virtual reality technology market is booming thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Jack Grove asks whether it might finally catch on in higher education

Law lecturer says decision marks ‘end of academic freedom’ in city, but institution insists it is acting in light of court judgment

Universities and colleges offering hands-on training have found it harder to shift online, hurting their students, who are more likely to be from less-advantaged families

Stilted and unengaging Zoom lectures must not be allowed to become the new normal, says Nuria López

Authors Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West put the case for scepticism at a time when science has become deeply polarising

Artists are not empty dissemination vessels and must be respected and fairly paid for the expertise they bring, says Aoife Monks

Study attributes women’s feelings of unpreparedness at time of appointment to lack of confidence

Continuation of policy stokes fears that entry rules could damage internationalisation efforts

This week’s deal will tip the balance back towards fundamental research – and it might not have been done at all, says Jan Palmowski 

Overseas aid cuts and changing diplomatic priorities have raised concerns that future of Global Challenges Research Fund is at risk

Eugenia Cheng defies convention with her approach to teaching. The Chicago-based British mathematician tells Matthew Reisz why similar out-of-the-box thinking is required to improve gender equality

Insistence on ‘excellent’ research is commonplace, but Europe’s biggest funders warn that it can damage integrity and foster ruthless competition when poorly defined

Physical events are not going away but they must open up and embrace the best of the digital world, says Jim Woodgett

Plan S shift backed by European Commission will be ‘detrimental’ to researchers, says commission-created ERC

Still on mute? Then let’s begin, says Emma Rees

Rather than simply endorsing complaints from the most vocal students and staff, we must react rigorously to curricular exclusions of all kinds, says Steven Greer

Research and discussion about early Islam could represent a ‘step towards political and economic cooperation’

An oft-overlooked component of the research process is that simple little thing called leadership, says Matthew Flinders

Simplistic performance measures hold research back, says Jim McCluskey, as Melbourne becomes the first Australian university to sign up to Dora

China's top university has reportedly taken action against Xu Zhangrun, who called for government accountability

Fear permeates all aspects of higher education, from classroom teaching to overseas funding 

Scholars from Africa, Latin America and the Middle East should have new opportunities to guide internally displaced person policymaking

Never assume, never dominate the conversation and always have a Plan B are three of the lessons learned by Milena Head and Michael Hartmann

If universities don’t commit to underwriting a riskier investment strategy, pension contributions will have to rise sharply, says Bill Galvin

Covid-19 has underlined the need for more coordinated and comprehensive engagement with policymakers, say David Price, Sarah Chaytor and Andrew Wathey

Tributes paid to a scholar ‘ahead of his time’ in showing how history can ‘mobilise, empower and engage a wider public’

Female representation in Asian academia’s senior ranks is low by international standards. There are some encouraging signs that the situation is being addressed, but might the disproportionate effect of the Covid-19 lockdowns on women undo the good work? Joyce Lau reports

Progress will be very difficult if there is a loud cohort of academics who remain fundamentally opposed to it, says James Blackwell

Friends say Xu Zhangrun was taken from his home, months after he was suspended by his university  

Pathological corporate branding is detrimental to the very image universities want to portray to students, says Philip Moriarty

Prizewinners argue that researchers have ‘stuck to a line’ about the pandemic’s danger in order to get politicians to listen – risking open debate

Declarations of solidarity lay bare the feudalistic mentality of even the most radical leftist scholars, who speak for the beleaguered masses from the cover of their academic nobility, says Scott Thomas Gibson

Even before coronavirus hit, Hong Kong was investing in new types of online education that challenge teaching conventions

Law professor who sits on Germany's constitutional court warns that far-right attacks on ‘weaker’ subjects would be followed by criticism of more mainstream disciplines

Tributes paid to a campaigning academic who fought to reduce racial disparities in the treatment of cancer and cardiovascular disease

The prizewinning economist discusses how economics must focus on beliefs and identity, along with the influence of TV on our choices

We will need wisdom and common purpose to update multiple layers of norms, says Jinghai Li

China has issued threats to use its outward flows of students in geopolitical tussles – how significant could that be in wake of crisis?

Extra funds for science are welcome, but tipping the balance towards challenge-led research must not become the new normal, warns Jan Palmowski

New institution has jumped into research on AI system to help treat Covid-19 cases

UK government adviser Stephen Reicher argues that the discipline, which often comes under fire, can help in articulating ‘between the social and the individual’

Tributes paid to the British academy’s leading expert on Polish literature and culture

The global race against coronavirus to develop a vaccine cannot be won by principal investigators alone, says John Tregoning

More than a third of the public now believe scientists are hiding information – confusion over masks and broadsides from a ‘populist’ microbiologist are blamed

Experts are divided on the fairness of instituting GPA and other requirements for some students but not others

Exploring the often unsavoury history behind many significant advances can be enlightening and empowering for students, argues Daniel Akinbosede

Universities warn research allocation is insufficient to brace against potential future pandemic shocks

Using critical comments about a preprint, Bild launched a front-page attack on Christian Drosten. Scientists fear this will chill academic discussion of preliminary results

The ‘Positive Professor’, academia’s most recent – and controversial – social-media star, says his colleagues’ silence over the improving coronavirus situation could cost lives

Responses to the coronavirus touch on the deepest issues of the kind of society we want and need, says distinguished research professor