Research

Obstacles to finalising association agreements for EU’s research programme now removed, say continental observers

Universities offer many rewarding technical careers – but local populations are often oblivious of them, says Mike Hughes

Recent cuts and scares have cast doubt on ministers’ commitment to harnessing science in pursuit of a levelled-up, post-Brexit innovation economy. Questions also remain about how funding should be distributed and directed. Jack Grove examines the lessons from history and from overseas

Shell chair and former BHP chief executive nominated to succeed Sir John Kingman

Report author says increasing funding would only lead to more insecurity, and culture shift is needed instead

University staff are keen on hybrid working, but will it work long-term for researchers? Jack Grove examines which practices might outlast the pandemic

Shift towards studies using preregistered reports could inhibit scientific inquiry and harm researcher well-being, argue US scholars

Delhi redevelopment could put irreplaceable documents at risk, say scholars

Software tools need to be properly valued for their vital role in facilitating research, say Bilal Mateen and Tariq Khokhar

Critics argue that The Lancet failed to disclose potential conflict of interest when dismissing the leak theory

Funder’s reduced budget for 2021-22 reflects loss of pro-science adviser and mindset of new Treasury boss, say Whitehall and research council insiders

Latest attempt to replicate Darpa brings bipartisan praise but also wariness of potential harm to basic health research

Hybrid working may suit some disciplines, but Gary Macfarlane fears that the convenience will come at the cost of creativity and collegiality

Talking to lab members is not very revealing when they are habituated into an abusive culture, says Joana Vieira

Economist says university innovations can rejuvenate Australian productivity, but only if ‘bizarre’ tax arrangements are addressed

Trailblazing initiative to transform hiring, promotion and performance review has been praised by open science advocates

Former minister accuses Canberra of ‘McCarthyism’ amid spate of unexplained research grant delays and vetoes

Geopolitical rivalry, security concerns and America’s ‘roaring 20s’ optimism generate R&D prospects down under, ambassador says

Promising studies in treating mental illness leave Collins eyeing expansion in politically sensitive area

With history books increasingly including first-person, ‘confessional’ elements, authors explain why they take this approach, while other historians reflect on the dangers

Liberals go focus on undergraduates with collaboration push while Labor hawks reconstruction fund

Students would be far better advised to focus on demonstrating their mastery of research skills, says Gordon Message

Do neighbour institutions work closely together to boost their overall standing or do they tend to play to their strengths in a particular discipline?

Scottish affairs committee calls for universities north of border to be better represented in UK Research and Innovation decision-making

The computational biologist and Royal Society prizewinner on empowering neurodiversity, academic humour and why emotions are key to problem-solving

Public confusion is one thing, but some subjects provoke quizzical and sometimes dismissive frowns even among colleagues from different departments. Here, nine academics set the record straight about what they do – and why it matters

Just 9 per cent of coronavirus papers have made efforts to help replication of experiments, European Commission open science champion tells summit

Experts on research security will help UK researchers to navigate concerns over growing research dependence on China

Senior leaders question why research funder has not tried harder to save at-risk projects

Survey of UK academics shows widespread belief that leaders have used ‘disaster management’ to shift focus away from research, cut jobs and increase managerialism

Politicians developing the European Research Area must grasp how new knowledge comes about – and what it can do, says Jan Palmowski

Scholars who stay at one university tend to take ‘safer’ and ‘less ambitious’ paths

Articles in leading journals that can be reproduced gain 16 fewer citations a year on average, say Californian economists

Four experts from the University of Bath give tips on how to create an open, creative and non-hierarchical environment at your next workshop

Careers can depend on publishing in higher-quartile journals, but the statistics are too easily gamed, says Jakša Cvitanić

ANU vows to be a negative net emitter by the end of the decade, as Adelaide unveils the panels and batteries powering its country campus

Long-running negotiations between Brussels and Berne have stalled, risking a repeat of 2014, when the country was shut out of EU research

Chief executive Dame Ottoline Leyser says existing ban on sharing project responsibilities does not help science

High-impact research early in pandemic may have put rocket fuel under country’s citation performance   

Universities are moving in the right direction, but they can and must go further and faster, says Alice Gast

Changes to funding mechanisms can feel like a threat, but Aria will be a blast of fresh air for science and technology, says Tom Stephenson

Researchers say system has potential to spot ‘hidden gems’ that may miss out on funding

My job is to help young researchers negotiate their own varied and wondrous paths, not track (a version of) my own, says Lucas Lixinski

Scholars say criticism of fields such as gender studies and race theory is leading to self-censorship

Scholars should model the constructive criticism of ideas, not yell ‘you're wrong’ during each other’s talks, says Katy Barnett

Policy should focus more on research’s benefits to a region than on where it is conducted, say Sarah Chaytor, Grace Gottlieb and Graeme Reid

Analysis argues that science has a ‘critical problem’ because its self-correction process is slow and ineffective

Future citations of a journal paper drop by more than a third after being included in a review

Often dismissed as an inordinately expensive quality assurance tool, ERA could become a gatekeeper for university registration

Country’s excellence strategy has pushed German universities to dial back rivalry and instead coordinate their research plans

Scientific leaders and politicians have embraced calls to reduce the stress and precarity faced by researchers. Jack Grove examines some radical proposals

Decision will impact other tools that relied on Microsoft’s database and raises questions about relying on private firms, critics say

Network aims to highlight problem of gender-based harassment in the field, support victims and encourage institutions to improve safeguarding

Richard Jones has chance to put into practice influential theories on boosting regions through research and development with role in new Innovation GM

The REF and TEF should be brought together, but adopting low-quality shortcuts would undermine the whole purpose, says Thom Brooks 

As Brussels tries again to push forward the European research area, the bloc remains fractured by investment levels, researcher mobility and national rules

Train up translation specialists and fix anomalies that discourage collaboration, Australian representative group says

Those who blur the lines between academic and professional staff are the connective tissue in the research ecosystem, say Matthew Flinders and Sarah Chaytor

Simpler options are imperfect but perhaps no more so than the panels’ unavoidably cursory ‘peer review’ of submissions, says Dorothy Bishop

Lawmakers ‘desperately seeking innovation nirvana’ fail to buttress it with steadfast policies or durable statistics