Researcher (senior)

The prizewinning economist discusses how economics must focus on beliefs and identity, along with the influence of TV on our choices

We will need wisdom and common purpose to update multiple layers of norms, says Jinghai Li

Extra funds for science are welcome, but tipping the balance towards challenge-led research must not become the new normal, warns Jan Palmowski

New institution has jumped into research on AI system to help treat Covid-19 cases

Landmark US agreement is hailed as ‘significant milestone’ in shift to open access publishing in North America

The urge to be proved right and the mantra of publish or perish amount to a toxic scholarly brew. Reflection is the best policy, says Simone Eringfeld 

Finding your feet at a new university in lockdown can be tough. Jack Grove spoke to some recent starters about how universities can help their new staff

Matthew Reisz reflects on the researchers who have brought us powerful stories about how gender manifests – from remote Himalayan villages to the nightclubs of the French Riviera

Ashley Mears brings personal experience as a model to her academic work on the gender politics of beauty. For her latest book on mega-rich men’s use of beautiful women as a form of currency, she went on more than 100 glamorous nights out – and sometimes even enjoyed it, she tells Matthew Reisz 

Universities warn research allocation is insufficient to brace against potential future pandemic shocks

Using critical comments about a preprint, Bild launched a front-page attack on Christian Drosten. Scientists fear this will chill academic discussion of preliminary results

Policymakers, civil society and industry can all benefit from more open science, say Åse Gornitzka and Svein Stølen

Making findings open source may enable certain companies and countries to corner the vaccine market, warn Virginia Driver and Tom Woodhouse

The problem is measuring all women, with or without children, against patriarchal standards, says Srila Roy

Failings on protective clothing have caused immense suffering for families of the dying, argues researcher

World’s biggest academic publisher signs ‘global first’ open science agreement with Dutch universities and research councils

Policy experts express fears that public and politicians will hold scientists responsible for the economic and social damage of lockdown

The Sainsbury Laboratory director will oversee a huge increase in R&D spending as head of UK’s main research funder

Protecting the European research budget offers better long-term hopes of saving the European project

Scientists fighting for more publicly available research say changes made during Covid-19 crisis have influenced their efforts

A renewed European Research Area can be a fresh call to arms for scientific excellence across the continent, says Jan Palmowski

Filling the gaps between disciplines and between science and technology could lead to greater progress than AI, says Jinghai Li 

Survey results from Germany also suggest people think public disagreement between scientists is good, as it will lead to better results

Yes, excess haste can lead to mistakes, but the same is true of natural science, says Sandro Galea

As the tools of complexity theory prove crucial in responding to the pandemic, they must be taught far more widely in universities, argues former oil executive turned researcher

Impact usually originates in discoveries by smart people who could not possibly have dreamed of the application, says Douglas Kell

The initiative’s success means that higher education is expected to remain a focus of China’s next five-year plan, says Wu Zhaohui

The coronavirus means that Christiaan De Beukelaer’s research on a sailing cargo ship is lasting a lot longer than he bargained for

The lockdown is affecting not only final-year students. Without a blanket funding extension, many others will suffer and drop out, says Ross Goldstone

If contributing to knowledge is the name of the game, what is wrong with description, asks Michael Marinetto

Myths notwithstanding, devolving research agendas to disciplines has a poor record of success, says Steve Fuller

The UK’s new Knowledge Exchange Concordat will help institutions boost their effectiveness in the wake of Covid-19, says Phil Clare

Looking at past crises can help us come to terms with our own, argues scholar of plague that ravaged 18th-century Prague

Quarantined patients, laboratories in lockdown and huge drop in charity income may cause drug trials to fail, warn research leaders

‘There is a life in science beyond the virus,’ warns German rectors’ head, amid calls for attention to the trade-offs between shutdowns and scientific progress

Whatever the truth around Mauro Ferrari’s resignation from the ERC, the affair raises an important issue, says Luca Magnani

Mauro Ferrari departed after suggesting launch of a coronavirus programme, but critics warn against abandoning blue-skies science, even in a crisis

Mauro Ferrari leaves after just four months in role following rejection of his suggestion that council launch a programme to fight Covid-19

Funding bodies should reconsider case-by-case assessments to minimise bureaucracy and student distress, say researchers

Scientists call for global ‘superbody’ to coordinate coronavirus research, but some fear a centralised approach might close off potential solutions

Six months of devastating and unprecedented destruction has brought home the reality of climate change to many Australians. But with time for mitigation short and some politicians still in denial, what more can universities do to save the ‘lucky country’ – and the rest of the planet? John Ross reports

Varying personal circumstances highlight the need for accommodations that outlive the coronavirus, says Phil Emmerson

A new alliance of 40 of the world’s top climate change research universities will ensure better access to the facts, say Ian Jacobs and Matthew England

As campuses and labs close amid the coronavirus crisis, Jack Grove hears how senior scientists are managing their teams and research projects

Denying legitimate authors their fair share of credit amounts to academic misconduct, says David Sanders

Slashing research will be a dangerous temptation for politicians desperate for savings, warns Jan Palmowski

Research Excellence Framework 2021 put on hold to allow universities to focus research efforts on virus battle

Science minister announces new joint team of government departments to consider assistance for sectors

‘Levelling up’ research spending may imperil regional universities’ sustainability, warn Grace Gottlieb and Graeme Reid 

Project delays, as universities and labs shut down, prompt grant flexibility – but levels of leniency vary

As UK research laboratories close, research-intensive universities call for extra funds to cover cost of disruption to science

Sexism, unthinking managerialism and toxic ‘them and us’ attitudes are still pervasive within UK universities, according to an anonymous academic who found the dissonances between her values, career expectations and lived reality too much to bear

As labs shut, researchers in Milan fear losing months of work – and urge colleagues abroad to prepare now for similar restrictions

Focusing on how to deliver the UK government’s big ambitions for science could arrest the troubled funder’s drift, says John Womersley 

Consulting citation data would ameliorate the all-too-human shortcomings of departmental review, says a Russell Group professor

But social media spats also reflect people’s desire for truth, social justice and greater openness, says Jingtai Tang

A recent posting on bioRxiv may have been erroneous, but the mistakes were picked up within hours, notes Kristen Sadler

As the monumental follow-up to his best-selling Capital in the Twenty-First Century is published, the celebrated French economist speaks to Matthew Reisz about why a detailed historical analysis of inequality boosts the case for redistribution – and why academics should join the public debate

Canada’s excess of directive funding programmes risks hobbling scientific imagination and progress, says Jim Woodgett

Toby Ord urges academics to reflect far more deeply on the risks of everything from asteroids to rogue artificial intelligence