With COVID-19 vaccines currently in the final phase of study, you’ve probably been wondering how the FDA will decide if a vaccine is safe and effective. Based on the status of the Phase 3 trials currently underway, it is unlikely that the results of these trials will be available before November. But it is likely that not […] … learn more→

Australian universities have been impacted by COVID-19 and the ensuing increased stress and anxiety has highlighted the importance of employee mental health and well-being. Prior to the pandemic there was clear evidence that universities were high pressure working environments with increasing demands for productivity coupled with resource constraints. Academics have cumulative metrics for teaching performance, […] … learn more→

The ability to publish scientific articles in the best journals in one’s discipline is the engine of academic careers. It is crucial for promotion and recognition by peers. In this race, women are less present. We thus see their proportion decrease as we go up in the hierarchy. In the United Kingdom, for example, they represent 45% of […] … learn more→

The other day I had an actual 3D, face to face lunch with a colleague, let’s call him Simon. After months of 2D Zoom catch ups, it was lovely to be in an actual cafe on campus, eating steaming hot noodles. Simon and I were meant to be discussing business, but of course the conversation […] … learn more→

Being an academic requires a thick skin. Very thick. Part of the job is dealing with a constant stream of rejections – on journal articles, grant applications, speaker applications, promotion requests… Rejection is always disappointing. However, over time we grow to understand that rejections often have little to do with the quality of the work. […] … learn more→

As Covid-19 cases continue to multiply around the world, the prudent academic should probably be preparing for the distinct possibility of another period in lockdown. So what can we learn from the last one? My mind instantly thinks back not so much to the “touch up my appearance” filter on Zoom as the popular “productivity” […] … learn more→

Research funding has been declining in Australia for years. As we’re feeling the full force of COVID-19, the future of funding is at the forefront of many researchers’ minds. Most researchers understand why the research funding system in their country doesn’t work: the problems are common across the world. There just isn’t enough government money […] … learn more→

The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) unpack the lives of young Australians as they leave school, enter further study or the workforce and make the transition into adulthood. The latest findings are now available for the group of young people who completed their first questionnaire back in 2009 at age 15. This group’s 11th and […] … learn more→

According to the recently released Research Australia report, more than three-quarters of Australia’s early career researchers (ECRs) in medical science are employed on temporary contracts or as casuals. Those young postdoctoral researchers in their 20s and 30s are essentially serving apprenticeships, expected to produce publishable research while relying on short-duration contracts of usually one to […] … learn more→

People have searched for sex differences in human brains since at least the 19th century, when scientist Samuel George Morton poured seeds and lead shot into human skulls to measure their volumes. Gustave Le Bon found men’s brains are usually larger than women’s, which prompted Alexander Bains and George Romanes to argue this size difference makes men smarter. But John Stuart Mill pointed out, […] … learn more→