The impact on teaching of the forced closure of university campuses around the world has understandably dominated institutional and press attention, with lecturers scrambling to learn new technologies and pedagogies so that disruption is minimised. But the implications of the coronavirus-related shutdown on research is also huge. Limited or no access to labs and research […] … learn more→

I’ve always enjoyed memes but I never thought I’d come to depend on them to recalibrate my moods. I’m a person who loves working from home, using communication technologies, and social media. I also tend towards introversion. You would think that shifting to the current context would be easy and even desirable, with so many […] … learn more→

A lot of research doesn’t go to plan. Researchers encounter a few hiccups along the way and in order to avoid problems, they make adjustments to their process. The research goes ahead, just slightly differently. But what usually goes wrong in research? The most common problems in the kind of research that I do are […] … learn more→

I am not easily shocked, but I’ll admit I was shocked to hear that a number of academics had recently questioned why I had been awarded a top scientific prize in 2012. According to some, I’m told, my success was simply because I ticked the ethnic diversity box. I had no idea that this kind […] … learn more→

When your first degree was in Asian Studies and your first overseas trip was as an undergraduate exchange student to Japan, in some ways it shouldn’t be surprising that you end up in a teaching / research position in a university in Tokyo. But when people here learn that the lecturer in Japanese politics and […] … learn more→

My starting point – Research is a creative process. The connection between research and creativity is embodied in some disciplines. C. Wright Mills for instance famously talked about the necessity of the ‘sociological imagination’ – understanding how larger unseen social relations are embedded in and frame everyday events, conversations, processes and relations. But perhaps the […] … learn more→

I have a wardrobe full of food-print dresses, hundreds of pairs of food shaped earrings, a collection of food-themed hair accessories, and even a handbag shaped like a lemon wedge. If you follow me on social media, you will see a new combination of foods multiple times a week. But I’m not a fashion account […] … learn more→

In the past 18 months, I have spent more time on research grant applications than I have on actual research. Like so many others, I am trapped in a paradox. To produce high-quality publications, we need to be supported by a grant, but in order to win the grant we need a solid publication record […] … learn more→

A little while ago, I spent a morning writing introductory letters to people. They came about for a range of reasons: A friend had asked me if I knew someone who could help with qualitative methodology and analysis. I knew a consultant who could help. A colleague was looking for work, and I offered to […] … learn more→

The future multi- annual research programming law ( LPPR ) is causing serious concern in the world of higher education. On the one hand, researchers , dissatisfied with the current situation, are asking for more resources, while rejecting the principle of a selective, therefore unequal, distribution of resources – selective distribution which, in fact, already exists. On the other, research administrators and policy makers […] … learn more→