Imagine that you are meeting someone at home, and while you are waiting, something prompts you to go in and out to see if that person is coming. Only if you speak an Inuit language will you have a word – iktsuarpok – to express that feeling between anticipation and impatience. The writer and illustrator Ella Frances Sanders collects this […] … learn more→

Higher education has long been associated with the promise of a good life. Participation, however, has no guarantees. Former prime minister Gough Whitlam argued that Australia’s higher education system was not straightforwardly a “great instrument for the promotion of equality”. Instead, it mainly functioned as “a weapon for perpetuating inequality and promoting privilege”. Scholars, too, have demonstrated […] … learn more→

Last year I wrote a post called How do I write the discussion section? This post was in response to an analysis of blog traffic which showed that 75% of the writing related searches that led people to the Thesis Whisperer wanted to know about this section of the thesis. The discussion section is the ‘problem child’ of […] … learn more→

With “Islamo-leftism” , the public debate turns to muddled controversy, and to controversy that is not very scientific. Couldn’t we approach things differently, and back up the reflection and the positions taken on rigorous knowledge and precise information? Wouldn’t that be better than political statements and repeated petitions in which there are tens or hundreds and over the […] … learn more→

Colleges and universities across the U.S. have been taking a hard look at their ties to slavery. This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. Back in 2006, Brown University published a report showing that the university – from its construction to its endowment – participated in and benefited from the slave trade and slavery. And since then, […] … learn more→

On the 18th of July 2018, I got a message, through the contact form on my website, from Richard Phillips who had a University of Sheffield email address. The message was brief, and said: “Dear Helen, I would like to explore the possibility of involving you in a workshop on creative writing and social research, and […] … learn more→

Most creative writers have their own idiosyncratic set of rituals and routines. Academic writers do too. But at least some of these practices may have had to change during WFH – working from home – during the various lockdowns. While I’ve been acutely aware of changes that lockdown has brought to PhDers I hadn’t thought a […] … learn more→

Cyber criminals are very persistent and the daily numbers of cyber attacks show no sign of decreasing. The latest reported attack on an Australian university has disrupted the start of the semester at RMIT. The suspected phishing attack – luring the recipient of an email or other communication into inadvertently giving the attacker access to the IT system […] … learn more→

What teacher has never encountered the sound of a jackhammer during their lesson? The effect is generally the same: we get annoyed and we plague, we look for the origin of the parasite, we can act on it (or not…). But, in normal times, everything ends up returning to order, and you can resume the course […] … learn more→

Australian universities enrol thousands of people to become teachers. Some who choose to study education are motivated by a desire to make a difference to the lives of young people, while others are looking for job security and intellectual fulfilment. A course in education encompasses a broad range of cognitive and technical skills aligned to professional teacher standards. Yet, […] … learn more→