Researcher (junior)

Sinophiles will find much to admire in this deeply learned treasure trove, writes Jonathan Mirsky

Shahidha Bari on an idiosyncratic book that attempts to understand the politics of textile culture

Joanna Lewis considers a work that follows the lineage of a British foreign policy that focused on promoting economic and cultural ties with other English-speaking nations

Growing up working class meant Michelle Deininger was more worried about money than academic aspirations, but after a second chance she managed to complete her PhD 

Concerns over cost and impact of proposals can be overcome, say scholars

Female chemists are more productive and successful in the job market if they have a female supervisor, analysis shows

Suicide rate among UK students exceeds that among young people in general population for first time, finds analysis

Academics at British institutions make one in four successful bids in 2017 funding round, underlining risks of Brexit

Constant emails from the likes of Academia.edu and ResearchGate keep Ron Iphofen in a state of anxiety over what he may be missing   

Converting the USS into a defined contributions scheme could give younger academics a bigger pension pot, argues David Voas 

Student left unable to complete doctorate is offered compensation

If elements of society feel they have no stake in humanities and social science research, their support for it will evaporate, warns Musa al-Gharbi

Elite Japanese universities are renowned for their strength in research, but does their reputation also reflect quality in teaching? Times Higher Education’s student-focused Japan University Rankings and student experience survey offer some fascinating insights

Researcher says it is difficult to find portrayals of female scientists that focus on achievement

Professional doctorates offer a more useful, less stressful but no less rigorous alternative to the moribund PhD, says Richard Willis

Social scientists’ scepticism about research oversight also relates to the curiously bad press it gets in Western literature, writes Katarzyna Kaczmarska 

Pension cuts have been presented as a matter-of-fact and inevitable response to an enormous deficit, but this position has started to unravel, says Jan Machielsen

Publish before your viva, distinguish opportunities from time-drains and have a strong online profile, says Helen Coleman

Parochialism makes sense from a career point of view, but is disastrous for public discourse, say Cynthia Miller-Idriss and Mitchell L. Stevens

With state intervention back in vogue, and publishers’ profit margins still sky-high, journals could be the next monopoly to come under scrutiny

Radical ideas required to cut research grant waste

Funding rises for fundamental science with be welcomed even if they fall short of some scholars’ expectations, says Creso Sá

Alexander Clark and Bailey Sousa urge academics to leave their ‘fixed mindsets’ behind if they want their careers to flourish

We answer some of your questions about the forthcoming Times Higher Education Innovation Rankings

Getting professional experience puts postgraduates in situations that they are unlikely to have faced in their university life, says Alfredo Cumerma

Claudia Pama launches campaign calling on research bodies to introduce proper sick pay provision

THE survey reveals how work pressures shape researchers’ decisions around relationships and family

Books offer an experience, evidence trail and egalitarianism that could never be digitised, say Al Martinich and Tom Palaima

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

Simon Baker, THE’s data editor, charts some of the different strengths and weaknesses among Asian countries’ universities

China’s Southern University of Science and Technology puts an overriding emphasis on knitting together talented people from all regions and levels, says its president, Shiyi Chen

Futao Huang considers the five nations trying to compete with China, Asia’s higher education superpower

China has put itself atop the rankings and set the model that others seek to emulate, says Phil Baty

Ellie Bothwell compares two Beijing universities, Tsinghua and Peking, to explain the former’s rise

Singapore has the continent’s best university for the third year in a row but China’s stars are in the ascendant, says Ellie Bothwell

Canadian scientists’ impressive campaign for increased basic science funding risks splintering as victory looms, says Jim Woodgett

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

The stressful postgraduate environment often leads not to solidarity but to the impoverishment of research, says Alfredo Cumerma

Almost 2,350 academics from non-UK European countries have resigned from UK universities in the past year, and Layla Moran fears that could be just the tip of the iceberg

‘Trained observers’ can help selection committees stamp out implicit bias against women, Europe’s biggest highest education institutions say

Pakistani journals lack the professionalism and expertise to support a thriving knowledge economy, say Abdur Rehman Cheema and Mehvish Riaz

Criticism of academic sisterhood survey gets to the crux of the matter that the resulting article will explore, says Holly Else

Bias in assessing submissions is inevitable and damaging. Anonymisation is the least bad solution, says Graham Farrell

There is no evidence that the REF process encourages academics to rush out more research of a lower quality, says Steven Hill

Rogier Creemers advises early career academics to be ruthless and put themselves first to move up the ladder

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

Got some last minute scholarly Christmas shopping to do? Glen Wright has got your back

Universities hoping to submit staff who have already left are going to have to work hard on maintaining goodwill, says Robert Dingwall

Controversy in Canada over support for blue-skies research would diminish if more researchers took Pasteur’s approach, says Creso Sá

Without action, the UK might end up in the situation of funding both subscriptions and article-processing charges on an ongoing basis, writes Helen Blanchett

Alternative metrics find that research on dieting, PhD mental health and female doctors attracted the most online attention this year

There are many hidden costs associated with PhD study, writes Alfredo Cumerma, particularly if you want to land that dream job on graduation

Prize money of €100,000 (£88,000) handed out on basis of scholars’ three-minute spiels

The 2021 research excellence framework could be more representative and humane than ever, but the devil will be in the implementation, says James Wilsdon

Pushed to break away from the established Turkish academy by increasing government control, Bilim Akademisi has now been accepted into the European fold

It may be the only bit of your thesis that most people will read, but do not waste your best title on your PhD, says Zachary Foster

Academia often treats leavers as failures, but some of our smartest scholars are starting to see walking away as liberation, writes Inger Mewburn

Traditions, success and lack of self-reflection limit higher education's role in thought revolutions, says Geoff Mulgan

Ex-Edinburgh chemist highlights emotional cost of doctoral study, but work is not a ‘revenge book’

Observers hope scrapping financial audits could lead other funders to cut down on research grant bureaucracy