Academic life

A feudal approach to intellectual property has turned the academy into a modern police state, says Steve Fuller

With careers riding on young scientists’ position in author lists, friction is all too common. A snowballing initiative to list authors’ contributions aims to make sure credit is always given where it is due. But will it be enough to ease the angst? Jack Grove is first author

As the UK finally leaves the European Union after years of turmoil, Simon Usherwood says it is time for remain-supporting academics to focus on the future. But Tanja Bueltmann says that for EU academics the scars are too deep

Impostor phenomenon is real, but its ubiquitous, misnamed cousin invites accusations that it is a fad or fantasy, says Theresa Simpkin

Academics and researchers grapple with the latest challenge of a catastrophic summer

As universities help to shoulder the disaster response, experts say the ultimate outcomes from a tragic summer are hard to predict

Disaster entrenches universities’ function as community safe spaces

Anne-Kathrin Kreft tells Matthew Reisz how interviews with Colombian women’s activists left her mentally and physically exhausted – and ideologically transformed

From tackling racism to giving up chicken, academics are not short of ideas about how to improve their professional and personal lives at the dawn of the new decade 

Did they know it was Christmas? Research probes academic propensity for submitting work out of hours

Academics’ battles with impostor syndrome reflect the difficulty of becoming truly accepted into the cult of academia, says Michael Marinetto 

EPSRC and NERC executive chairs among those recognised

The season of goodwill is upon us once more. But in an era of hyper-competition, does academic kindness extend beyond passing round the nuts at the departmental Christmas party? Six scholars recount their own tales of collegiate benevolence

Irina Dumitrescu’s tips for ‘upward toxicity’ was THE’s most-read article of 2019. But it doesn’t have to be this way, says John Tregoning

You have spent three years thinking your life will be perfect after you submit your thesis. But it isn’t true, says Petra Boynton

Times Higher Education journalists name the academics and administrators who have shaped the debate in the past 12 months

Email also says staff should not work from home for general reasons for more than one or two days per semester

Reporting procedures were woefully inadequate, while senior managers frequently enabled intimidatory behaviour, says an anonymous UK academic

As concerns rise about mainstream universities’ affordability, social impact and working cultures, the UK’s Labour Party is mulling the idea of fostering cooperative, comprehensive universities. John Morgan travels to Manchester and Preston to examine some experiments that could point the way 

Would-be scholars confronted with academics’ tweets could be forgiven for running for the hills, worries Scott Rich 

Colleagues may judge those with regional accents more harshly, but poorer students respond to lecturers from similar backgrounds, says Ryan Coogan

At a time when stress and mental health issues are endemic within universities, Erin K. Wilson considers the small steps she is determined to take in order to be part of the solution

Universities preach meritocracy but, in reality, bend over backwards to protect toxic personalities, says Irina Dumitrescu

More account must be taken of pregnancy, assisted fertility and miscarriage, say Christina Hellmich and Marina Della Giusta

Conferences should be part of the open access debate, Tokyo researcher says

Delays in the name of political PR ‘forcing academics overseas’

Lincoln Allison makes the case for the revival of the old-style academic eccentric

University believes new criteria rewarding selfless behaviour will ‘focus minds’

Academics’ deep identification with their work means that the failure of a book proposal, grant application or promotion request can cut deeply. But in a competitive profession, such knock-backs are inevitable. Here, six academics recall their most traumatic rejection – and how they got over it

Constant checks on their presence and bureaucratic curbs on their movement leave international students feeling like security threats, says Alexander Mack

‘Monk mornings’, work sprints and withdrawal from social media helped Benedict Probst become hugely more productive

Steph Grohmann’s ‘revenge eviction’ gave her vivid, first-hand experience of the trials and consolations of occupying unused buildings, finds Matthew Reisz

The REF is a prime example of the sort of elaborate, burdensome process that potentially adds comparatively little value

Bureaucracy is the bane of every academic’s life. But who is to blame for its proliferation – and how can it be kept in check? Six academics have their say – while a registrar offers an equal and opposite reaction 

Researchers call for end to ‘pervasive illusion that scientists must be dispassionate observers’, and better emotional support

First analysis of economic cost of manuscript formatting highlights need for more flexibility from publishers, say authors

Almost half of international academics in country believe they are wanted on campus only to ‘increase quantitative indicators of internationalisation’

Spaces can energise or demotivate. Using them to nurture well-being should be seen as an investment not a cost, says Derek Clements-Croome

Academics need to be more aware of this most insidious form of bullying, say Bailey Sousa and Alex Clark

Caring duties and environmental responsibility do not signify a lack of commitment to scholarship, says Danielle George

France’s president responded to the gilets jaunes movement with a surprise plan to abolish the grande école ENA, reigniting debate about the country’s intensely hierarchical higher education system. John Morgan explores what lies behind the proposal and what it says about the role of exclusive institutions in a populist, anti-elitist age

Lennard Davis’ recent THE article was wrong to dismiss the utility of subversion, says David Palumbo-Liu

The pursuit of impact remains controversial, but it has opened doors to more varied careers, says Andrew McRae

Historic prompts on how to keep overbearing expectations at arm’s length should be taken up by modern academics, says Michael Marinetto

Critical thinking is not enough. Students must be taught dynamics of social media, say Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren

Lennard Davis wonders whether activist academics have wrongly prioritised exuberantly bad behaviour over the hard graft of working for real change

A lecturer describes how her university failed to act when she was racially victimised by a student receiving mental health support

While insults fly on social media, student references can be excessively bland. Is society served by either?

Individuals should be able to choose their own work-life balance depending on their life situation and level of ambition, says Lee Cronin

Mounting workloads and mushrooming publication output are making the task of staying abreast of the latest developments in the literature ever more difficult for academics. Here, eight researchers reflect on their own approaches and offer their tips

Why are an ex-footballer’s views on the game worth so much while academic analysis of the news is worth nothing, asks Peter Wells

A significant minority of tenured faculty spend their lives undermining others when they could be working for progressive change, argues Douglas Dowland

John Brinnamoor’s floundering doggy-paddle is no match for the voracious jaws of his university’s antiquated data-gobblers 

Three scholars reflect on finding new purpose outside the academy

A Times Higher Education survey bears out the growing difficulty of finding time for research

Summer is upon northern hemisphere academics. But its cherished traditional identity as a time for intensive research is being challenged by the increasing obligations around teaching and administration that often crowd out research entirely during term time. So is the 40/40/20 workload model still sustainable? Respondents to a THE survey suggest not. Nick Mayo hears why

Leiden University acted unlawfully, a court has ruled, in using anonymous letter to discredit an applicant for a professorship

Those lucky established academics who want to help precarious colleagues would do better to pay for their lunch, says Sarah Burton

Michael Kosterlitz tells THE how colour blindness shaped his career and why Nobel winners shouldn’t be taken too seriously

The coach, Peter Brand, had accepted high home purchase price from applicant’s father