Impact and engagement

Commercialising research is daunting. Academic founders can’t and shouldn’t be expected to do this alone, say Diarmuid O’Brien and Maina Bhaman

Protests target wealthy campuses over housing policies and lack of action on crime and community well-being

The India-born, CUNY-based expert on light-matter interaction discusses his work to help school students share his sense of excitement

A COP-style UN forum to coordinate and promote public education could help prevent natural hazards from becoming disasters, says Afroz Shah

Trailblazing physicist Donna Strickland hopes new institute will tackle waning public trust in science

As fierce partisanship silences US academics, a fired leader gets an even bigger job that rewards his resistance

With the right policies in place, the university can repeat the past 25 years’ economic return within the next decade, says Anthony Freeling

Agents posing as students will look for a wide range of legal violations, with for-profit sector especially alarmed

We need to find mechanisms to plug in relevant humanities and social sciences from the very beginning of projects, says Christina Boswell

Post-industrial regions the world over are pinning their hopes on universities to reboot them as prosperous innovation economies. But questions remain about the depth and breadth of the high-tech dividend. John Morgan travels to Pennsylvania to examine the acclaimed example of Pittsburgh

Australian armed forces need new blood but are also keen on exchange, says Tanya Monro

NSF Regional Innovation Engines scheme is place-based push to secure US strength in key technologies

Better alignment of pay and benefits, working cultures and expectations will clear the way for research to have impact, say nine Future Leaders fellows

Analysis of the database suggests UK universities take greater equity in spin-outs than others in Europe

UK sector retains positive reputation among general public as a whole, but authors of report caution over increasingly negative views among parts of population

Academics must learn about the policymaking landscape and identify the key people to build relationships with, says Natascha Engel

Low-key bridge-building exercises can initiate relationships with civil servants, parliamentary clerks and regulatory officials, says Matthew Flinders

Blockbuster payout from landmark Oxford-AstraZeneca jab likely to highlight commercial potential of university-led innovation

Cardiff University academic Flint Dibble says the popularity of Netflix show Ancient Apocalypse means non-engagement is no longer possible

Casual encounters are a chance to correct the public's irritating assumption that political science is all about elections, says Christopher Hallenbrook

Education helps a person escape poverty. It doesn’t directly, in the short run, combat poverty. That requires a wider coalition, says Jonathan Gyurko

The divestment movement can claim victory. But what about all the companies that enable fossil fuel exploitation, asks Zak Coleman

London South Bank students will offer information on reducing consumption, cutting bills and improving efficiency

Quitting Twitter lost Christopher Schaberg some connections. But the pleasures of in-person interaction far outweigh the regrets

Sector-wide guidelines on sharing and discussing research online would also be very useful, says Laura Hassink 

But institutions will contribute much more to both their localities and their planet if they collaborate more, says Simone Buitendijk

Social science papers employ more rigour than policy documents do but need to be more reader-friendly, says Tim Blackman

Saying that you stand with Ukraine while glossing over the situation in Hong Kong is untenable, says Phil Chan

NCUB report finds patent registrations and spinouts trended positive in 2020-21, but knowledge exchange income slumped

Leaders should model thoughtful, respectful disagreement and bridge divisions in ideologies, say Teresa Valerio Parrot and Ali Lincoln

Central reporting depersonalises attacks and helps police spot patterns, according to prominent vaccine scholar who has faced threats

Sector should use review to break free from internal preoccupation and ‘utilitarian’ focus on private domestic benefit, conference hears

Move seen as a way of strengthening links between academia and policymakers to ensure parliamentarians have access to latest scholarship

Difficult decisions require uncomfortable truths, epidemiologist tells Pacific Rim universities

If government sets clear ambitions, innovation follows from the private sector and charities – not the other way round, says Ian Walker

Science and technology investment fund created by universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield injects first capital to fuel innovation shift

The mature student specialist’s renowned politics department could become part of the solution rather than the problem, says Matthew Flinders

Twitter trolls and polarised debate on Covid have caused almost one in four academics to scale back public engagement, says Elsevier study

Suella Braverman’s threats to ‘significantly reduce’ international student numbers are a direct threat to growth, says Keith Burnett 

Academics must work closely with students to foster innovation, says KAUST president

After spikes in participation in recent polls, students’ role as a key voting bloc is under increased scrutiny in upcoming elections

New skills priority list shows efforts to plan for future workforces should focus on professional roles, as well as those in trades and technical areas, sector leaders say

Quality, ethics, good governance and impact monitoring must all be safeguarded from the outset, says Zeblon Vilakazi

Land of the free market outpaces UK’s muted ‘levelling up’ with funding to leverage power of universities in struggling regions

Aleks Subic suggests UK universities need to be ‘an active collaborator’ with government, rather than going on the defensive

Northumbria University’s transformation, reflected in its QR allocation, will allow it to do more for its students and its region, says Louise Bracken

Backed by state government, an ambitious university-led initiative is aiming to restore the Ruhr Valley’s former industrial glory. John Morgan meets academics behind the experiment in driving regional renewal by building a reputation for world-class science

While funding streams appear safe for now, academics debate whether they should continue to engage with an increasingly sceptical government

Creative partnerships between institutions can contribute to NHS training needs, research excellence and regional levelling up, say Brian Webster-Henderson and Martin Lupton

Researchers say using improvisational comedy can improve their ability to communicate findings

We need a sector-wide commitment to reforming career structures, funding strategies and publication outlets, says Ryan Truby

Unless research culture fundamentally changes, academics will continue to be fixated with journal rankings, says Carl Rhodes

Survey findings reflect escalating scepticism of media in all its forms

There will always be a political temptation to charge universities with improving a school system that leaves some students underprepared

The Western Sydney University vice-chancellor says sustainability is a hallmark of his institution, including its high-rise campuses

University managers’ role in industry collaboration should be that of cheerleader and facilitator – not auditor, says Chani Imbulgoda

We need a vision of how to foster the knowledge base and creative mindsets on which new thinking depends, says Jan Palmowski

Case of Australia’s ‘most hated woman’ highlights tensions between justice, science and courts’ need to distinguish between world experts and ‘proven performers’

While the results may be difficult to hear, they might provide some pointers on how universities can improve their image, says Zachary Michael Jack

There is always more to a research question than the underpinning science. So work with the people you are studying, says Nicola Ray