The word “ethics” strikes fear into the hearts of most early career researchers. Some of the reasons are beyond our control, but there’s actually a lot we can do to make our own experiences of the ethics approval process less painful. I’m writing this from two perspectives: as an early career researcher (I finished my […] … learn more→

First of all, an introductory note: to propose a one-size-fits-all definition of colonialism would be itself quite a colonial approach, and I would instead prefer to point you at this extensive reading list. For the purpose of this article, it will suffice to say that colonialism is about the oppressive domination of lands and people […] … learn more→

It is tempting to be suspicious of the research impact agenda – not least the new industry it has created. With the value of a 4* impact case study in the 2014 research excellence framework estimated at £324,000, it is not surprising that specialist jobs in research offices, impact-focused workshops and consultancy opportunities have emerged. […] … learn more→

Last week, the Australian Research Council (ARC) released their Gender and the Research Workforce report. While it appropriately positions the need for direct action in providing support to increase the national participation rates of female researchers, there’s an entire group of researchers missing from the analysis, graphs, and the resolutions of gender parity announced on the 10th of October […] … learn more→

Crowdfunding a project is a great way for your research, or research communication, to connect with a wider audience. Sometimes, it’s the only way to make a project happen if it doesn’t fit into traditional funding models. Crowd-funding can also support projects that are joyful or beautiful, which are not standard grant metrics. Crowd-funding is not a […] … learn more→

Over the last two decades, industry funding for medical research has increased globally, while government and non-profit funding has decreased. By 2011, industry funding, compared to public sources, accounted for two-thirds of medical research worldwide. Research funding from other industries is increasing too, including food and beverage, chemical, mining, computer and automobile companies. And as a result, academic freedom […] … learn more→

We had a question recently from Ely asking for pragmatic advice on starting an international research network. Alyssa Sbisa and Sally Grace wrote “Setting up a professional network” a while back and that post has heaps of relevant good advice that I’d strongly encourage you to check out! I’d written previously on building a research network […] … learn more→

Do you share your grant applications with people? Writing an application from scratch is hard work. It is particularly hard when you haven’t done it before. That might be because you have never applied for a grant before. Thankfully, that only happens once. More likely, it is because you’ve never applied for a particular grant […] … learn more→

In terms of higher education and research, Île-de-France presents itself as a territory of superlatives and records. It is home to 150,000 research staff including more than 100,000 researchers , which puts it at the top of the pack of European regions. This place of choice, it also holds for the publication of patents, while it ranks third […] … learn more→

In recent years, ethics committees have been strengthened in the French research landscape. Objective displayed by these bodies  : ensure upstream that a study or experience will not harm the people who participate. In the Anglo-Saxon world, although these committees (or Institutional Review Boards , IRB) have long been imposed in the humanities and social sciences (SHS), they raise a […] … learn more→