I can’t save you There are serious structural problems in universities worldwide. The number of permanently employed staff is shrinking. The number of precariously employed staff (casual, adjunct, paid by the hour) is increasing. I can’t change that. This situation isn’t getting any better. It gets worse. Unionism (like the National Tertiary Education Union in Australia) […] … learn more→

The entirety of my career in public health law has included some component of research and publishing. This year, I hit an unfortunate milestone: my writing project list had ballooned to nearly 70 entries. These projects ranged from articles accepted for publication and undergoing the final editing process to random ideas collected over the course […] … learn more→

In an academic publishing environment that does not require publishers to compensate contributors for their knowledge and output, or to provide an authentically supportive framework for scholars to exercise ownership of their work, what recourse does an author have to dynamic scholarly revision of their work? English as a second language Papers produced by academics […] … learn more→

I have hosted and co-hosted a number of chats on Twitter under existing hashtags, and last month I set up my own Twitter chat on creative research methods. In case you’re new to all this, a hashtag is a way of keeping track of topics and content on Twitter. For example, if you want to know what […] … learn more→

Are you often a no-show? Or one of those people who says “Maybe” on a Facebook event? I’m a veteran events organiser.  Throughout my career, planning and running events has been an integral part of the work I do. Now, as a lecturer in a researcher development unit, convening programs is a big part of my […] … learn more→

There’s considerable confusion about what ‘impact’ is, and this is no surprise given that it’s a term that’s used for so many things in the contemporary research space. For my research, I’ve had many, many conversations with people across higher education in Australia and Canada at all career levels (research higher degree students, Early Career […] … learn more→

I’ve recently started at a new university. This is a good thing. It was time that I moved on, and I’m going to learn a huge amount in my new role. My new manager is amazing, and the team are excellent. However, it is also a little bit odd. I’ve gone from being the person […] … learn more→

Co-authoring can be very different for researchers from different disciplines. In the social sciences and the sciences, for example, co-authored articles have become the norm over the last few decades. My academic background is in English Literature, where we do not usually write collaboratively (Leane, Fletcher and Garg, 2019, Nyhan and Duke-Williams, 2014). Publishing a collaborative article […] … learn more→

I happily resigned from a continuing academic position five years ago. After almost twenty years in various teaching and research positions within the humanities and creative arts, I needed a change. I had enjoyed a great career, exceeded all my research and publication goals, and taught thousands of students. It seemed churlish to continue hogging […] … learn more→

Recently, I read a draft grant application that included an allowance for dinner for the industry advisory group. I nixed it. I explained to the applicant that, while it may technically be an allowable budget item, most reviewers of that funding scheme would see it as an extravagance. This led to a discussion of how […] … learn more→