Giving Voice to Researchers

Vitae Conference Pack: bewildering

I last went to a Vitae Conference in 2014. In the three short years that have followed the research landscape has shifted completely. Of course, we have had the EU Referendum with the jittery uncertainty that's resulted, but there's also been the REF2014 results, the first outcomes of H2020, the Higher Education White Paper, the Nurse Review, the Stern Review, and the first announcements about REF2021. In those 36 months the research ship of state has tilted and we're waiting to see where all deckchairs have ended up.

Although the plenary was somewhat muted - I got the feeling that there was a nervousness hanging over the panel, and no one wanting to show their full hand to anyone - #vitae17 has been a chance for all those who support researchers to take stock, to assess what's worked, and to think about how best to go forward.

Impacting Parliament: Giving MPs the Information They Need

 In the second of her guest posts, the University's Impact and Engagement Officer, Maddy Bell, shares some notes on what academics should bear in mind when working with Parliament.

Parliament is actively seeking external input to make informed decisions based on sound evidence. But MPs are under huge pressure – working long hours with limited opportunity to absorb key information. Given this, academics can play a crucial role in providing them with the knowledge and understanding they need to make better policy. 

At the end of last year I attended an event run by the Houses of Parliament Universities Programme that outlined the ways in which academics can engage.  Here I summarise these, and the potential impact your research can have from working with Parliament.

The Trouble with Citations

Gender and Citation: Nature breaks down the figures

For the past two years the Times Higher (THE) has published a league table of the top 100 universities under 50. This is a spin off of its more established World University Rankings. Whilst I accept that we live in a league table world, and have joked about this in the past on this blog ('Almost Everyone Can Score Well at Something'), I do have a niggling worry about this latest manifestation of the genre.