It is a steamy intellectual moment when a conference presentation concludes and that taut, expectant silence descends. “Yes, I’ll take questions,” you reply – breathlessly – surveying the array of bored, bemused, envious and angry expressions. For ingénue PhD students and early career researchers, such raw, inescapable exposure to the merciless probing of academia’s numerous […] … learn more→
Author Archives: Kevin
Fifty shades of conference feedback
Academic publishing in English
This week I was at a sociology of education summer school. As you might expect, I was there to talk about academic writing and publishing. In this context, I wanted to situate my usual topic in a wider context, and not simply offer strategies and advice. Here’s the abstract I wrote for the ‘lecture’: Educational […] … learn more→
Is artificial intelligence a (job) killer?
There’s no shortage of dire warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence these days. Modern prophets, such as physicist Stephen Hawking and investor Elon Musk, foretell the imminent decline of humanity. With the advent of artificial general intelligence and self-designed intelligent programs, new and more intelligent AI will appear, rapidly creating ever smarter machines that […] … learn more→
Five things schools can do to help pupils’ mental health
There is a growing crisis within children’s mental health, and this is not a term used lightly – between 2010 and 2015 there was a 50% increase in hospital admissions because of children self-harming. And in 2016 Childline reported the highest ever number of callers expressing suicidal thoughts. This is a figure that has doubled […] … learn more→
Electronic games: how much is too much for kids?
Most parents view their children’s playing of electronic games as potentially problematic – or even dangerous. Yet many children are engaging with electronic games more frequently than ever. Concerns about electronic gaming do not stack up against the research. So, how much gaming is too much for young children? Electronic games (also called computer or […] … learn more→
Why women are dressing up as Margaret Atwood’s Handmaids
Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale has remained popular since its publication in 1985. It has been translated into dozens of languages, made into a film in 1990, and even became a ballet and an opera. It is read in schools the world over. Most recently, there has been a new wave of interest in […] … learn more→
Why I boycotted my students’ graduation
Staring at my overdrawn bank account, I laid my head on my kitchen counter and sobbed in actual despair. That was the fall of 2013. ‘I would never be a real professor,’ I thought. ‘What the hell was I going to do?’. That time seems far away now. Six months later, I had a contract […] … learn more→
How to stop campus riots
I’m reading yet another article of the madness on campus, and once again the dog not barking gets my attention. First a quick look at the article: Who Defines What Is Racist? Our campuses are in constant turmoil from ever more shrill cries of RACISM. It doesn’t matter if you’re drinking milk, showing up on […] … learn more→
Smart cities of the future and energy efficiency
Smart technologies are becoming more popular than ever before, finding their way into modern households and businesses. But what most people don’t know is that these technologies are also being used by cities across the globe to increase their energy efficiency, reduce carbon footprint, improve safety, solve problems and improve overall productivity. Since smart technologies […] … learn more→
Google may get access to genomic patient data – here’s why we should be concerned
Artificial intelligence is already being put to use in the NHS, with Google’s AI firm DeepMind providing technology to help monitor patients. Now I have discovered that Google has met with Genomic England – a company set up by the Department of Health to deliver the 100,000 Genomes Project – to discuss whether DeepMind could […] … learn more→
