Careers

To spare doctoral candidates protracted and unproductive efforts, Tim Marler and Dean Young suggest a pragmatic route to successful completion, while, below, Julian Kirchherr advocates a quick-and-dirty path to a viable thesis

Virginia King explains how university departments can improve staff inductions to help them hang on to new arrivals

Review of UK guidelines says junior scholars should spend 20 per cent of time on their own projects and personal development

Study challenges the idea that it is primarily parenthood that hinders women’s careers – but in Germany, the picture is very different

Ahead of publication of revised concordat, Brunel leader calls for funding agencies to give document greater importance

A failure to treat staff fairly and consistently impedes academic standards and hurts students, says Sheikh Nahid Neazy

Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King and economist John Kay address the USS’ so-called funding crisis and propose a fairer approach to sharing risk between employers, employees and generations

Gavin Buckingham offers new lecturers tips on how to thrive in the pressurised first few months in the job

Junior scholars need all the experiences they can get, but their digital know-how can also boost the impact of academic events, says Alice Kelly

Life as a comedian at the Edinburgh Fringe has many parallels with the experiences of early career academics, explains Anna Ploszajski

‘REF season’ is under way and staff who support the development of impact case studies need to consider their tactics. Chris Hewson offers guidance based on his own experience

Billed as a remedy for career uncertainty, micro-credentials may play into bosses’ hands, critics warn

Senior management has its perks but it also comes with a host of new practical, philosophical, psychological and even physical challenges. Here, seven people who have lived through that fiery baptism tell their tales

Precarity is a significant feature of the academy worldwide, creating a feeling of ‘academic apartheid’ as it grows. Ellie Bothwell explores its impact

Martin Chalfie argues that young scientists who ‘play the game’ of publishing in selective journals are less likely to win permanent posts

Leading a university seminar for the first time can be an intimidating prospect. Here, three PhD students offer some advice for those preparing for the new academic year

Early career social scientists should be entitled to extensive support from their university long after attaining their doctorate, study says

As universities prepare for A-level results day next month, Liz Carlile explains how to get clearing right

Extended PhDs would be money well spent in the quest for international competitiveness, says leading physicist

Robert MacIntosh explains what to expect when staff enter the little-known world of the university exam board

Report says early career academics should be given more opportunities to lead their own research teams to foster independence and improve job security

New research identifies the formula for winning a student-led teaching prize

Study finds general management skills are valued more in education pro vice-chancellors than pedagogic expertise

Royal Academy of Engineering drive to link advancement to good teaching could be a better way to drive up standards than the TEF

Jenny Pickerill explains how she balances her workload

Employers make final offer for 2018-19

Women are less likely to become principal investigators than equally qualified male scientists, Yale University researchers claim

Study suggests doctorates are now seen as a test of character rather than intellect

The dawn of the digital age means universities must rethink how they respond to negative headlines, according to a new book

Universities should emulate the private sector in a positive way by eliminating costly duplication, says a worker in professional services

Converting the USS into a defined contributions scheme could give younger academics a bigger pension pot, argues David Voas 

But male researchers with small children get a boost, study of academics at Italian university finds

Professional doctorates offer a more useful, less stressful but no less rigorous alternative to the moribund PhD, says Richard Willis

Sophie Inge speaks to two sets of job-sharers about the pros and cons of dividing an academic role

Publish before your viva, distinguish opportunities from time-drains and have a strong online profile, says Helen Coleman

Parochialism makes sense from a career point of view, but is disastrous for public discourse, say Cynthia Miller-Idriss and Mitchell L. Stevens

People must be treated fairly, but endless box-ticking is not the way to ensure this, say Roger Watson and David Thompson

Detail, clarity and a constructive approach: all these are key to a helpful review, writes Sophie Inge

Teaching would improve if all scholars were required to undertake regular secondments in industry, says Cecilia Chan

Alexander Clark and Bailey Sousa urge academics to leave their ‘fixed mindsets’ behind if they want their careers to flourish

Lawrence Bacow’s appointment at Harvard sparks discussion about the ‘greying’ of college leadership

Times Higher Education’s first major global survey of university staff views on work-life balance finds academics feeling stressed and underpaid, and struggling to fit time for personal relationships and family around their ever-growing workloads. Ellie Bothwell reports

In an increasingly competitive publishing environment, responding effectively to criticism is key to getting published, says Robert MacIntosh

The brains behind some of higher education’s most successful public relations drives share the secrets of their trade

There are numerous survival guides for doctoral students, but much less advice on how to supervise PhD candidates. Robert MacIntosh offers some tips on becoming an effective supervisor

Rogier Creemers advises early career academics to be ruthless and put themselves first to move up the ladder

Minimum compliance with publication requirements is the best recipe for job satisfaction, says Mike Marinetto

From faculty meetings to exam boards, research committees to staff-student liaison panels, meetings are a regular feature of university life. Robert MacIntosh explains how to chair them

Editing an academic journal is a vital and rewarding task, but also time-consuming and often frustrating. Current and former editors advise would-be gatekeepers on why you'll need the skills of a ringmaster – and more

Male academics two and a half times more likely to speak up, as women cite lack of confidence and ‘intimidating’ speakers

In the rivalry to make the next scientific breakthrough, collaboration is key. But the UK’s post-Brexit course only undermines its competitive standing

Sally Everett explains how her institution used low-cost and creative measures to transform its support services

Academia often treats leavers as failures, but some of our smartest scholars are starting to see walking away as liberation, writes Inger Mewburn

Library staff should think in terms of the whole university if they want to advance, Sconul report says

The most effective institutions in ‘oiling elite trajectories’ are now universities, not schools, find Sam Friedman and Aaron Reeves 

Junior researchers being ‘held back’ by the ordering of names on joint papers, study finds

Robert MacIntosh explains how academics should tackle their first university administrative role

In-depth examination of researchers’ career paths suggests few adhere to long-held stereotype that the young publish more

Leading higher education professionals heading for executive teams of Australian universities

Josiah Marineau on the importance of giving a purpose to students’ passion