When academics were asked to teach in poorly ventilated seminar rooms last year as a pandemic raged, it didn’t just put their physical health at risk. It also jeopardised the mental well-being of staff – but not for the reason you might think. While it is true that many lecturers were understandably anxious about returning […] … learn more→

As noted by Burgio et al. (2019), the expectation that post-doctoral scholars move for short-term positions poses a particular burden for under-represented groups, including women, which contributes to perpetuating bias and reducing diversity. The global COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity to explore alternative options, such as remote or hybrid postdoctoral fellowships. We’ve been experimenting […] … learn more→

Back in the 1940s, Kenneth and Mamie Clark – a husband-and-wife team of psychology researchers – used dolls to investigate how young Black children viewed their racial identities. They found that given a choice between Black dolls and white dolls, most Black children preferred to play with white dolls. They ascribed positive characteristics to the white dolls but negative […] … learn more→

As the second wave of the pandemic wears on, Indigenous students are facing challenges. At Athabasca University, we conducted a study to learn how Indigenous students at our university are doing with online learning in the pandemic. Our colleagues Martin Connors, professor of space sciences/physics and Barbara Reis, a master of education student, were part of […] … learn more→

Most journals don’t expect an abstract to be written in a particular format. But some do. They require writers to follow a particular format – a pre-structured template. These templates – structured abstracts as they are called – are specifically designed to focus on the key points in a paper. These abstracts are designed for […] … learn more→

Contrary to what the title of his book The Postmodern Explained to Children (1986) suggests , Jean-François Lyotard’s thought is not the most accessible, a fortiori for our dear blond heads. A philosopher commonly associated with the motley and questionable movement that is French theory , he seems to have been eclipsed within it by the thoughts of Foucault, Deleuze or Derrida whose popularity across […] … learn more→

We all have a need to count and to be told, not just children. However, these are the most receptive because their first connection with the world revolves around what they hear and see in order to build their own self. We do not know exactly when and where the first story was told, although we […] … learn more→

Once the first atomic bomb exploded on July 16 1945 in New Mexico, the world would never be the same again. Scientists and engineers had turned an obscure principle into a weapon of unprecedented power. Los Alamos, the facility where the bomb was designed, was run by the University of California. This was a turning point […] … learn more→

I had two papers rejected this week: one by a psychiatry journal, the other by a business ethics journal. The former was a “desk rejection”, communicated via the usual cut-and-pasted paragraphs from an “associate editor”, whatever that is. The latter enclosed two reviews: one lukewarm, the other distinctly chilly. That paper had been rejected before. […] … learn more→

While the word is free around incest, Emmanuel Macron spoke at the end of January on social networks to assure the victims of his support and declared that screening and prevention meetings would be set up at the primary level and in college, as part of compulsory medical examinations. This announcement, however, refers to a difficulty in […] … learn more→