Researcher (senior)

‘Infinite’ research budgets have allowed industry to surge ahead of academia, but scholars will be essential for steering new technologies towards common good, say experts

English regulator’s chair says registration fees will rise as its activities expand

Anger over high cost of publishing in Nature and other titles as UK universities sign up for three-year agreement

Government-led review of ‘low-performing’ research system will increase pressure to reform the role of France’s biggest scientific agency

Alliances with university colleagues can be inspiring and life-affirming but may also be grounded in little more than ambition or survival instinct. Six writers reflect on the joys and challenges of having friends in academia

Editorial team at NeuroImage will work with MIT Press to establish new non-profit journal

When Purdue biologist David Sanders ran for election to Indiana’s senate last autumn, he assumed a commitment to evidence and personal engagement would give him traction. But while his pitch was well received on doorsteps, the system’s dark arts fended him away from the legislature’s threshold

Veteran university president appointed to lead Norwich institution through ‘period of change’

Clarivate’s delisting of academic publications will send a message that research integrity is paramount, says campaigner

‘Misinterpretation’ of Research Excellence Framework guidance on staff selection judged not to have materially benefited university

Flaws in reporting health intervention studies mean years of research have ‘limited scientific use’, says University of Cambridge study

Three-year scheme will support institutional projects that address racism and racial inequalities

The AI chatbot may soon kill the undergraduate essay, but its transformation of research could be equally seismic. Jack Grove examines how ChatGPT is already disrupting scholarly practices and where the technology may eventually take researchers – for good or ill

New guidelines on use of ChatGPT follows plagiarism concerns and authorship controversies caused by rise of generative AI

Those focused on dissecting pop culture face hostility from politicians, the media and fellow academics, but their work remains vital, ‘Kylie scholar’ Liz Giuffre tells Rosa Ellis

Forcing undergraduates to use AI chatbots as a learning tool will help students and educators, argues Dan Sarofian-Butin

Preventing expert reviewers from reading applicants’ CVs could damage Netherlands’ hard-won research excellence, warns senior researcher

Bibliometric-led evaluation of research outputs unable to replicate ‘richness’ of peer-review model

Claim by University of Essex law academics that ‘anti-trans’ speakers could ‘contaminate’ buildings branded ‘misogyny’ by critics

Revealing desk rejection rates, peer review processing times and other useful operational data would do more to correct slipshod journal practices than an ‘author’s bill of rights’, says Jerry Jacobs

This year’s Maddox Prize winner shows how community-led research can help communities escape polarised debates over scientific evidence

As THE’s Global Sustainable Development Congress kicks off at the University of Glasgow, Oxfam’s chief executive Danny Sriskandarajah explains why universities are increasingly important in the fight against poverty and social injustice

Ambitious plans announced at China’s National Congress will push elite universities towards supporting research spin-offs and graduate start-ups, says Hao Ni

Changes that pretend scientists do not care about publishing in highly selective journals will end eLife’s crucial role in science publishing, says long-time supporter Paul Bieniasz

Emissions from an entire online conference similar to amount produced by a single hour-long car journey, study finds

Nigerian-born Cornell University professor Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò explains why academia – particularly in Africa – should consider the drawbacks of decolonisation alongside its benefits

Pioneering conference for leading black cancer scientists is part of drive to diversify UK science

Surprise news that the UK is achieving its long-term target for research spending does not dent case for more public investment, says David Willetts

The Italian physicist known for making complex science intelligible explains how radical student politics, hallucinogenic drugs and hitch-hiking around America helped him become one of science’s foremost thinkers

Spin-off companies from Russell Group universities boast largest annual turnovers, data reveal

Backed by state government, an ambitious university-led initiative is aiming to restore the Ruhr Valley’s former industrial glory. John Morgan meets academics behind the experiment in driving regional renewal by building a reputation for world-class science

Supporting young researchers to peer-review and edit journal submissions will also accelerate their training, says Quan-Hoang Vuong

Shaking off impostor syndrome can be tough for isolated academics who pursue niche areas of study where grant funding opportunities are limited, says Rachael Hains-Wesson

The humanities do not have uniquely transformational qualities or a monopoly on critical thinking and empathy. With departments under threat outside the UK’s elite institutions, better to insist on the importance of everyone’s being able to interrogate the stories we tell ourselves, writes Joe Moran

Karl Andersson’s ‘appallingly bad’ paper has exposed the insanity of ethnography’s turn towards introspection and other postmodern research methods that place little value on objectivity, says William Matthews

The University of Northampton’s outgoing vice-chancellor reflects on how lessons from punk rock led him to survive in academia and deliver one of UK higher education’s most ambitious campus projects. Jack Grove reports

Whitehall advisor who devised alternative Horizon programme says stablisation funds should be released immediately while talks over UK membership continue

Narratives describing research in departments should be replaced by institution-level document, recommends funder-backed study

More innovative screening of grant applications that avoid full peer review could remove red tape burden on researchers, says Adam Tickell

Human rights expert claims ‘inaccurate’ impact submission written on her work by old employer highlights why funding rules should change

Doctoral training centre sorry for email suggesting doctoral students work in fields and sell cosmetics to make ends meet

Taxi drivers are a good source of inspiration on profound questions of alien life, intergalactic travel and deep space exploration, says British scientist

Formula-driven funding for those hardest hit by deadlock with EU and more fellowship money unveiled under ‘Plan B’ road map

Rapid erosion of value of £9,250 is ‘stretching unit of resource to breaking point’ and will require new legislation, says Jo Johnson

‘Unclear’ status of main UK science funder has led to slow decision-making, inefficiency and limited cross-disciplinary research, finds report

Ilan Gur and Matt Clifford will lead UK’s new ‘high risk, high reward’ scientific research agency

Long-term settlement for Francis Crick Institute announced by PM ‘maintains current levels of activity’

Empty podiums, low engagement from speakers and higher costs have led events large and small to rethink combining online and physical gatherings

Companies built on university-based research twice as likely to succeed if they receive Innovate UK backing, study suggests

Research England unveils substantial uplifts for both quality-related research funding and knowledge exchange activities

‘DragonBear’ alliance may force Western universities to cancel research partnerships with China, says former science minister Lord Johnson

The Canadian botanist who discovered the ‘wisdom of trees’ reflects on the growing enthusiasm for her work and why scientists should get emotional about their research

Only a handful of UK universities maximised their public profiles during the pandemic because press officers were diverted towards internal crises or social media engagement, says Fiona Fox

Widespread withholding of potentially negative results has allowed misleading evidence reviews to gain traction, says study author

Members lack expertise and groupthink is a constant peril. Better to entrust scrutiny to expert lawyers and ethicists, says Adrian Furnham

Complicity of Russian universities in the savage assault on Ukraine must lead to severe punishments, write four Ukrainian academics

Standard mentoring is not enough if we want a resilient, compassionate and happy research workforce, says Mark Reed

Thirty years after his breakout book declared democracy to be an unstoppable force, the End of History author explains to Matthew Reisz why a new defence of liberal values is urgently needed, and why scholars must share some responsibility for destabilising them

Around one in 12 postgraduate researchers would publish fraudulent results if it helped them get ahead, says study

A joint EU-AU document places universities in the vanguard of increased intercontinental collaboration, says Jan Palmowski