Researcher (senior)

Philosopher calls on universities to take AI debate ‘out of the hands of the industry’ and end ‘ethics washing’

The relationship between PhD students and their supervisors is often said to be the most intense in the academy, with huge implications for student success. Yet most supervisors receive little if any training. Here, six academics give their take on how to approach it 

Current remedies are not enough. Publishers, editors and referees must do more to eliminate lurking biases, say Melinda Duer and Athene Donald

Deep partnerships with government, business and civil society leave a sweet taste for both academics and the public, says Mark Western

The UK’s research excellence framework is slow, expensive and disruptive. The time and technology is ripe for a better alternative, says James Tooley

After more than doubling its spending since the financial crisis, Germany’s long budget boom is set to come to an end

Bias would be reduced if grant applicants’ capabilities were considered only after assessment of their anonymised proposals, says David Sanders

Agreement that EU research funding should continue to be distributed according to quality is an important step forward, writes Jan Palmowski

What are university leaders and chief technology officers doing to meet future challenges?

Times Higher Education’s poll of artificial intelligence experts defies predictions that university jobs will be cut as technology advances

Work to encourage team science is gathering momentum, and a recent Academy of Medical Sciences report highlights key steps to be taken

But funders still need to create standardised data repositories for all fields, says Magdalena Skipper

A large world-class university may eclipse a less renowned neighbour, but an education ecosystem rich in diversity can benefit all in the area

For those reliant on EU funding, seeking appointments at continental universities is the only sensible course, says Peter Coveney

Debate sparked by criticism of growth of PhDs by publication, and allegations that corruption and nepotism are undermining the reliability of the academic doctorate

Ministers love talking about grand government-directed projects, but Philip Hammond must reaffirm tomorrow the UK’s support for open-ended research using quality-related funding, says Stephanie Smith

In a rapidly changing world, is a broader approach to the university curriculum needed to develop the critical thinking and creativity increasingly sought after by employers, Anna McKie asks

Protesters allegedly called researchers ‘dirty Jews’ and ‘traitors’ in latest intimidation of scholars who emphasise Polish role in the Holocaust

Negotiations on €100 billion Horizon Europe scheme delayed by East-West tensions and could be slowed further by European elections

John Ross examines the state of cross-study and collaboration between Australia and its neighbours in the East

Claims that academics are indoctrinating their students with liberal propaganda are increasingly common in the right-wing media. John Morgan examines why such a conviction has arisen and whether there is any substance to it

Study estimates that carbon footprint of global student mobility is comparable to annual emissions of Tunisia

The government’s new ‘national interest’ test for research proposals is another damaging symptom of short-termism, says Margaret Sheil

The new Profile and Aitken Alexander Non-Fiction Prize promises a £25,000 advance and a publishing agreement to ‘the best debut trade non‑fiction proposal from an academic’

Simon Baker examines the rise of China as a research nation and the worries this provokes among some Westerners

Academic turned wrestler Dan Mathewson is just one of many educators willing to go the extra mile for scholarship and learning, says Jack Grove 

Matthew Reisz describes talking to Jordanian molecular biologist Rana Dajani about body image, the West’s view of the East and breaking into science’s big league

Seeking special status will further antagonise non-members faced with curtailed access to EU research funding, says Jan Palmowski

As Brexit reaches fever pitch, who knows what damage the 2028 research excellence framework might reveal

Cambridge economist uses nudity to make the case against the UK leaving the European Union and for ‘my body, my choice’

The idea of mistakes being intrinsic to success has become an educational mantra – but for many students and academics, messing up is not an option

The academy is not the military. Addressing fellow scholars by their surnames only is unnatural and disrespectful, says David Benatar 

Academics who want their findings to be used but not abused should bear eight things in mind, says Nick Hillman

Migrants’ stories remind us of the paradox of a comparatively affluent Europe that shows a lack of compassion for outsiders, writes Amina Yaqin

Four lab leaders explain how universities can help academics in the early days of running their first research group

Evidence of strong public demand for access to papers is scant. Might a sophisticated database of lay summaries be more valuable?

Wikipedia should be embraced by universities as an open-access source of information that can be the starting point for deeper research and learning, says John Lubbock 

Portland State University’s investigation of a researcher who published hoax papers misses the point of ethical oversight, says Jeffrey Flier

Book of the week: writers shine a light on the disturbing gap between human rights and realpolitik, finds Matthew Joseph

Some research disciplines have their very own ‘Simon and Garfunkel’. Matthew Reisz talks to some of those whose close and enduring collaborations have convinced them that two voices are better than one

Even in tourism studies, reality often belies the bold, sunny pictures painted in the impact case study brochure, says Rhodri Thomas 

Malaysia and Egypt are making rapid higher education progress, largely because of improvements in citation impact

Universities may feel held to unachievable standards, but removing barriers for all manner of talented people will make institutions better and stronger

‘More objective’ news reporting has not necessarily yielded better politics, finds Suzanne Franks

Ivor Gaber enjoys a biography of an Oxford don who became the UK’s first on-screen pollster

With many doctoral candidates unhappy and reporting mental health problems, Emma Pierson suggests ways supervisors could reduce pressures

Forcing academics on to teaching-only contracts based on flawed assessments of their research is ruining careers, an anonymous academic says 

Turing Institute and British Library collaborate on project to use artificial intelligence techniques to analyse texts

The Canadian government’s excessive policing of privacy makes it intolerably onerous to access its datasets, says Karen Robson

Tokenistic and irrelevant assessments of research’s social value are holding back progress, say Clarence Tam and three others

Academics should not sneer at Simon Birmingham’s appeal to what ‘most Australians’ would think about projects, says Hannah Forsyth

The furore over Brian Wansink’s data handling overlooks the fact that science should above all be about explanation, argues Martin Cohen

Both the rationale and the mechanism for redistributing research activity around the regions are far from clear cut, say Sarah Chaytor and Graeme Reid   

PhDs are becoming more programmatic in many countries, but the German one-on-one model retains considerable influence, says Glen Jones

Take-up of research by business is difficult to catalyse and record. Far better to focus on the impact central to universities’ missions, say Vince Mitchell and William Harvey

Female-only professorships will speed progress to gender equality in the academy, but the pushback shows how far there still is to go, says Clare Kelly

As winter’s tunnel looms, academics would do well not to retreat into lonely silos, says Alison Newby

Jack Grove asks whether those who lead academic departments and universities can still realistically find the time to be effective researchers

Depositories of original sources were once bulging with academics, but few scholars seem to have time to visit them now, says Arnold Harvey