All posts tagged: academics

Black academics need to feel they belong in higher education

Black academics need to feel they belong in higher education

Published by skeptic

The death of Professor Jason Arday has left many of us with a profound sense of sadness. For Black academics in particular, his loss feels deeply personal. Jason represented possibility – a reminder of what could be achieved despite the barriers that continue to shape Black people’s experiences in education. I had the privilege of knowing Jason and welcoming him to speak to scholars on the Accomplished Study Programme in Research Excellence (Aspire), which was set up to address the underrepresentation of Black students progressing into doctoral education. Jason had been facing accusations of plagiarism and resigned from his position at the University of Cambridge. He was found dead on August 14 2026. His passing has made me reflect on an uncomfortable question: do Black academics really belong in UK higher education? Of course, we should belong. The more difficult question is whether our institutions consistently make us feel that we do. This question has shaped much of my work through the Aspire programme. Across three cohorts, Aspire has supported 59 Black and mixed-Black scholars. …

Academics call on Congress to restore agency independence after Trump v. Slaughter

Academics call on Congress to restore agency independence after Trump v. Slaughter

Published by Sam Flores

A group of more than 50 academics on Monday wrote a letter to congressional leaders urging them to restore agency independence following last month’s Supreme Court ruling, which granted President Trump the authority to fire commissioners of independent agencies without cause.  The professors argue that the ruling stalled business for the Consumer Product Safety Commission,… Source link

‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival | Environment

‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival | Environment

Published by Sam Flores

Humanity can raise living standards, reduce inequality and keep global heating within a 2C rise, according to a sweeping vision for planetary survival. The report by the World Inequality Lab (WIL) aims to be the most comprehensive attempt yet to navigate the polycrisis that is pushing the world toward climate breakdown, political extremism and ever greater economic and social tension. A drone view shows the stark inequality between neighbourhoods in Santa Fe, Mexico City Photograph: Raquel Cunha/Reuters It offers a set of bold policy proposals, including hefty wealth taxes on billionaires, sharp reductions in working hours, a change in diets and a shift of investment from materially intense sectors, such as industry and mining, to education and health. If these and other measures are taken, the report says, the incomes of 89% of the world’s population would double by 2100 and global heating would be kept below 2C above the preindustrial average. The authors say their vision provides a positive alternative to the grim projections from far-right techno extractivists, nationalists and billionaires who claim the …

What happened to Afghanistan’s female academics?

What happened to Afghanistan’s female academics?

Published by skeptic

Picture this: you have spent decades building a career. You have a master’s degree. You have taught hundreds of students. You walk into work every morning with a sense of purpose. Then, almost overnight, the gates close. You are told you cannot come back. Not because of anything you did, but simply because of you are a woman. This is what happened to female academics across Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. We conducted interviews with 12 Afghan female academics via Telegram and WhatsApp, eight of whom were in Afghanistan and four of whom had recently left the country. Of those who were in Afghanistan, only one has since managed to leave – the rest remain there. What they told us was devastating. When the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, women were barred from education and most forms of employment. After the US-led intervention, things slowly improved. Female participation in higher education in Afghanistan increased dramatically, expanding from 5,000 students in 2001 to over 100,000 in 2021. Women …

Academics in Meltdown Now That They’re Responsible for AI Hallucinations in Their Research Papers

Academics in Meltdown Now That They’re Responsible for AI Hallucinations in Their Research Papers

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Even in 2026, there are still plenty of researchers who refuse to use AI to publish their research papers. Others do use the tech for tasks like sourcing journal articles for references, editing copy, or formatting citations — but they face pressure to verify every claim, since AI has a baked-in risk of contaminating their work with hallucinations. A vocal minority of academics, however, argue they should be able to use AI to write original research while remaining immune from any hallucinated claims or data that make their way into the final product. Last week, the open-source research repository arXiv announced that it was banning scholarly authors from the platform for up to a year if “hallucinated references” are found in their work. The rationale behind this should be obvious enough for any self-respecting academic: as arXiv computer science chair Thomas Dietterich wrote in his announcement, “if a submission contains incontrovertible evidence that the authors did not check …

Politics Home | Over 50 Academics Warn That Voting System Is Not Fit For Multi-Party Politics

Politics Home | Over 50 Academics Warn That Voting System Is Not Fit For Multi-Party Politics

Published by Sam Flores

The UK held a referendum on the Parliamentary voting system in 2011, in which the public voted to continue the first-past-the-post system (Alamy) 4 min read19 min Dozens of academics have written to the government to warn that the current voting system risks producing distorted results on an “unprecedented” scale at the next general election. The letter, coordinated with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Elections and campaign group Make Votes Matter, and shared exclusively with PoliticsHome, says that the first-past-the-post system will struggle to cope with the UK’s emerging multi-party politics. It warns that it will lead to “random and arbitrary” outcomes, which will risk undermining democratic legitimacy and further damaging public trust in politics. The group points to the 2024 general election, in which Labour and the Conservatives together secured their lowest combined vote share in a century. Since then, fragmentation has grown, not subsided, with polls regularly putting the two main parties below 40 per cent, with Reform UK and the Greens surging, and the Liberal Democrats on double digits. Under first-past-the-post, which is used at UK general elections, …

the burdens Black female academics face in universities

the burdens Black female academics face in universities

Published by skeptic

Black women are underrepresented in senior roles in British academia. As of May 2024, there were only 70 Black women professors. This is less than 1% of all female professors in the UK. Black women are also more likely to be employed on fixed-term contracts in academia. In our research, we’ve reviewed academic studies on the experiences of Black women in UK universities to identify some of the key reasons for this under-representation. Promotion to the role of professor typically requires evidence of sustained academic excellence. This includes high-quality research, winning grant funding and publication in high-impact journals. It also requires supervising PhD students and a record of disciplinary or institutional leadership. Many Black women academics in the UK work in newer, less research-intensive institutions where teaching and student support loads are comparatively higher. This can limit time for research and publishing. What’s more, these opportunities for promotion are unevenly distributed. Black women are more often overburdened with pastoral care, teaching and equality, diversity and inclusion work. This is labour that’s important to the university, …