Leader: Too many snakes, too few ladders
Academic career prospects for PhD holders are dismal, so why are those who seek external employment viewed as failures?
Search
-
-
Haggling over the cost of gold (2 of 2)
I fear that if we move to the gold open-access model, it will be disproportionately harmful to researchers outside large groups and to more junior members of staff who are less able to afford the...
-
Students fight for their lives as living and dead collide
LHC maintenance crew turn into zombies in film by Cern-based student. Matthew Reisz reports
-
THE Scholarly Web
Weekly transmissions from the blogosphere
-
New retraction of paper by husband and wife research team
Another paper authored by University of Manchester professor Sylvia Bulfone-Paus has been retracted – but this one does not feature the Russian postdoctoral researchers blamed for misconduct that led...
-
Indentures are a sign of universities' decline into a factory system
Unpaid research posts represent the latest step in the 'proletarianisation' of the academy, argues Ross Perlin
-
Vital signs of an unhealthy future for UK science
Short-term contracts and a lack of permanent openings risk causing long-term damage to UK academic science, a report prepared for David Willetts warns.
-
Small, medium or large
Is there an optimum size for research labs? Are larger labs more prone to research misconduct and harder to manage? Paul Jump investigates
-
Caltech: secrets of the world’s number one university
How does a tiny institution create such outsized impact?
-
Winning formula
I recently found myself chatting to Mike Duff, a string theorist at Imperial College London, at a physics dinner. As you might expect, Duff was concerned about the introduction of impact statements...
-
French state memo signals volte-face on work visas
Ministry bows to academic pressure and reverses stricter post-study rules. Clea Caulcutt reports
-
News in brief
Research malpractice'Inadequate role model'A prominent researcher who spends 20 per cent of her time at the University of Manchester has been reprimanded by the German Research Foundation (the DFG)...
-
Making time for Plan B (1 of 2)
I read with interest "Making other plans" (14 June), which provided an overview of the need for many with higher degrees to accept and prepare for careers beyond the academy.At my institution, the...
-
Leader: Clarity begins at home
Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the UK's institutions and researchers must be fearless in shining a light on misconduct
-
White knight defence
The CDBU’s set-up is too narrow, too limiting: to fulfil its aims it must reach out and diversify, argues Alice Bell