Researcher (junior)

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

The relaxation of the research excellence framework’s submission rules could see research-intensive universities clustered on near-maximum scores, warms Dominic Dean

Seeking a greater share of imagined profits from commercialisation would undermine technology transfer, says David Secher

Guilty pleasures, the people’s voice examined, toothsome characters and the daily grind, Roman style

Academia’s exacting standards on attribution are spot on. It is their inconsistent implementation that is the problem, says David Sanders

The research excellence framework’s reliance on hasty peer review by generalists limits sample size and accuracy, three academics argue

Recording the day-to-day during the Holocaust did not restore victims’ sense of self, finds Dan Stone

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

Up, up and away; hallowed grounds; degrees of evolution at Oxford; and making peace and making up

The good and evil of opium is documented in this eloquent history, writes Jonathan Mirsky

This deeply researched history of a conflict has an unfinished feel, finds Kori Schake

This unusual and intellectually invigorating book should be an essential starting point for feeling our way ahead in this field, says Shane O’Mara

Robert Montgomerie is impressed by a novel account of the backbone’s evolution

Science blooms when colleagues’ ideas cross-pollinate. Impediments to free movement will lead to a disastrous withering, says Sir Keith Burnett

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

Book of the week: It is not so hard to tell when people are lying, says Robert Eaglestone, of an unconvincing analysis

A move to combat India’s love affair with predatory journals is an encouraging sign – even if it took a newspaper exposé to prompt it, says Pushkar

European funders’ beefed-up open access mandate sounds the death knell for subscription publishing, but academic Armageddon is no closer, says Lenny Teytelman

For internationalism to succeed, universities must engage more with their local communities and students, major study says

List of finalists for the ‘Oscars’ of the higher education sector released

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

Left with an inconclusive residency application, Alexandra Bulat asks when the government will end the double act of praising EU students while leaving their futures in the UK uncertain

Patriarchy’s perpetuators; magical morphing gender; a physicist’s-eye view of the world; and what’s with all those buttons?

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Transnational research is vital to academic pursuits but it shouldn’t be carried out at the cost of vulnerable people in resource-poor countries, says Kate Chatfield 

A forensic linguist’s compelling and sometimes chilling case files demonstrate how criminals’ punctuation can be their undoing

The Dutch anthropologist discusses growing up in the sectarian Netherlands, following the hippie trail and whether religious tolerance has a future

Sexual harassment of female lecturers by their students is one of the less discussed aspects of the interplay between gender and power in academia. Kate Cantrell tells her story

Independent research institutes are hailed as hothouses for cutting-edge science, but they seem to be falling out of fashion. Rachael Pells asks if concentrating research in universities is a better strategy

Life as a comedian at the Edinburgh Fringe has many parallels with the experiences of early career academics, explains Anna Ploszajski

Analysis concludes universities are ‘moving towards a nearly exclusive monopoly’ over research articles

As Elsevier buys another academic workflow company, some worry about potential for publishers to ‘lock in’ scholars to their services

The UK’s highly internationalised university system – a major factor in its research success – is a treasure that must be saved from a political altar

Fascinating autobiographical experiences make a practical guide for those embarking on immersive research, says Mark Jamieson

Book of the week: A ‘thought biography’ reveals elements that make for success in science, Rivka Isaacson finds

German students – and academics – still go along with controversial mainstream theories in order to get ahead, researcher argues

European Research Council says move is to support open access and get round often lengthy publishing process

Guilt grew as green spaces became pleasurable more than productive places, says Lisa Hopkins

Book of the week: Not trusting fellow citizens to vote erodes the foundation of polity, writes John Shand

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

University managers can learn from Geraint Thomas’ example that success can be won without having to be domineering and overbearing

A Stoic history; influencers and other stars of the web; an English revolutionary; and chapter and verse on the books-artist nexus

Cutting partner labs out of awarded grant budgets is a common but destructive phenomenon in modern academia, says Anne Carpenter

Academic Jack Davis tells John Morgan of his surprise at learning that his history of the Gulf of Mexico had won a Pulitzer prize and his hope that it will help to deliver a pro-environmental message

The differences between Jesus and philosophers cannot be ignored, writes Robert Segal

An original book about the changes to arts and technology reaches a disappointing conclusion, finds Scott Mandelbrote

Outside the anglophone world, universities are under pressure to conduct research in English – but teach in their local language, says David Matthews

Book of the week: Dream homes, women on the edge, murder – we’ve been here before, says Sharon Wheeler

Philip Moriarty explains quantum mechanics with heavy metal music in

Precarity is a significant feature of the academy worldwide, creating a feeling of ‘academic apartheid’ as it grows. Ellie Bothwell explores its impact

Lincoln Allison was inspired to teach by academics who loved what they did and communicated this to students. But has all passion for teaching been eliminated by creeping assessment and instrumentalism?

Sharif Mowlabocus reflects on how politics took a back seat as LGBTQ organisations advanced

Fees and fairness are at stake in UK HE’s global search for students, learns Aniko Horvath

Scotland’s first black professor talks about life as an immigrant, his experiences of racism and why ‘better science makes better’

Educators accusing students of not working hard enough is simply a shirking of their responsibility to actually meet learners’ needs, says Katherine Gould

The accounting magic the UK government performs to handle outstanding student loans has once again been questioned, but the timing couldn’t be worse for universities, says Andy Westwood 

Don’t believe the hype; Finnish universities face just as many problems with professional mismanagement and staff morale as those in other countries, says Gareth Rice

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers