Invoking human rights to stop ivory tower bullies

Dr Leah P Hollis argues that workplace bullying is a violation of the Human Rights Act; as an international issue, employees are denied the rights to civility and dignity in the workplace, especially in higher education institutions

Higher education institutions are not immune to workplace bullying. In fact, research shows that they can be virulent breeding grounds for a particularly pernicious form of bullying – one cloaked in popular perceptions of civility. In higher education, bullying is even delegated to subordinates. However, because workplace bullying inhabits a grey legal area, prosecuting cases is challenging. Dr Leah P […]

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The Story Collider: Communicating the stories of science

Erin Barker discusses The Story Collider, a non-profit organisation that helps scientists tell stories about modern technologies and inventions that have an impact on modern life

The Story Collider is an organisation with a simple yet vital task: to collect and relay stories about science. This task is fundamentally collaborative, involving an assortment of global voices from across every demographic. There are very few lives, after all, which have not been touched in some inexplicable way by the capabilities of modern science. Research Outreach were privileged […]

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Scismic: Enhancing and diversifying scientific hiring

graphic showing diverse scientific hiring

Scismic was founded to help facilitate scientists’ transition from academia to industry. Its two platforms – Scismic Job Seeker and Scismic Lab Seeker – ensure job-seeking scientists find fulfilling work that truly matches their unique skillsets. Scismic has overcome several weaknesses inherent in traditional hiring models, and provides a job-matching platform that saves time, alleviates confusion, and reduces the biases […]

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Peer observation and review improves university science teaching

a teacher stands in front of students

STEM subjects in higher education are often taught by staff who have little or no formal training in how to teach. The Peer Observation and Review of Teaching (PORT) program provides a means for university academics to improve their teaching through feedback from their peers. Helen Georgiou and co-workers from the University of Sydney have investigated the effectiveness of the […]

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Making an impact: How Altmetric tells researchers more about their work

Altmetric is the data and metrics tool that begins to measure the impact of research from the moment it is published.

Founded in 2011, Altmetric is the data and metrics tool that begins to measure the impact of research from the moment it is published, allowing researchers to see how, why and where their work is being used, discussed and expanded upon. CEO Kathy Christian told us how Altmetric works, why it is so important and who is already using it. […]

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Mapping freedom in academia

Mapping freedom in academia

The ‘Mapping Funds’ project is creating maps based on collaborative and crowdsourced (public contribution) information as an active way to support the scientific activities and studies of at-risk scholars. These scholars are encountering constraints on their research activities due to the restrictive regimes they live and work in. The constraints include travel bans, deportations, arrest, prosecution and imprisonment. The project […]

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