Ninth Level Ireland

“One of the things that I find most interesting about higher education studies is how there are all these completely different regional/national literatures that pay almost no attention to one another. For instance, in North America, higher education studies mostly come out of sociology and mostly deal with how institutions and institutional policies affect students …” (more)

[Alex Usher, HESA, 26 November]

“I was talking over Zoom with some former colleagues from the United Kingdom last week, and was surprised to learn that, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 Research Excellence Framework is ploughing ahead next year, only slightly delayed. There’s no stopping bureaucratic juggernauts once they get going …” (more)

[In the Dark, 25 November]

“More students than ever before have taken part in the 2020 Irish Survey of Student Engagement and the results provide invaluable insights for the higher education sector as well as for the students themselves. The Irish Survey of Student Engagement National Report 2020 was published today, in partnership with the HEA, the IUA, THEA and the USI …” (more)

[Maura O’Shea, HEA, 24 November]

“Taking care of some medical ‘business’ today so can’t really work as such. So I thought I’d have a rant about higher education. The decline in state funding for higher education over the last 10 to 15 years has had one major effect: institutions must now operate as quasi-corporations. I’ve never seen this as some sort of neoliberal takeover, more like a case of needs must …” (more)

[Tales from Academia, 23 November]

“Improving academic impact has been given a bad name in some academic circles, who link it to a near-conspiracy theory view of the powers of ‘neo-liberalism’. But Patrick Dunleavy and Jane Tinkler argue that (despite one or two bureaucratic distortions, like the REF), the impacts agenda is centrally about enhancing the efficacy of scientific and academic work, democratizing access to knowledge and culture, and fostering rational thinking …” (more)

[Impact of Social Sciences, 20 November]

“Those nice people at cOAlition S have produced a new online tool that allows authors to check whether a given academic journal complies with the requirements of Plan S as they apply to a given funder and institution. For information on how it works see here. For the actual tool (beta version) see here …” (more)

[In the Dark, 19 November]

“Minister for Further and Higher Education and Research Simon Harris has paid tribute to the Tyndall National Institute in Cork after it surpassed more than 100 EU funded awards totalling over €56 million for research projects. Mr Harris said that the Tyndall’s securing of over 100 Horizon 2020 awards totalling some €56.1 million from the EU for research and innovation over the past seven years made it one of the most successful institutes in Ireland for European funding …” (more)

[Barry Roche, Irish Times, 17 November]

“Cork’s Tyndall National Institute has succeeded in securing more than €56m in funding as it reaches the milestone of its 100th Horizon 2020 award. It makes the centre one of the most successful institutes in Ireland for European funding …” (more)

[Brian Finn, RTÉ News, 12 November]

“Amid the periodic enthusiasm for data’s ability to revolutionize the way colleges and universities work, it can be easy to forget that having more data available doesn’t necessarily translate into leaders making better decisions on campus. It’s a point Karen L Webber and Henry Y Zheng make early in their new book, Big Data on Campus (Johns Hopkins University Press) …” (more)

[Rick Seltzer, Inside Higher Ed, 10 November]

“You may well have never heard of Watton. It’s a small market town in the Breckland district of Norfolk. Early last week it had the dubious distinction of having the one of the highest Covid-19 case rates in England …” (more)

[David Kernohan, Wonkhe, 9 November]

“Many Irish people do not want to return to the way they worked or commuted before Covid-19 and want a greener alternative. That is according to a national survey of 1,000 adults conducted last month by Science Foundation Ireland to mark Science Week 2020 …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 9 November]

“A broad range of Irish scientific research is to be supported by the latest round of Science Foundation Ireland’s Frontiers for the Future programme – 71 research grants totalling €53 million have been allocated for work to be carried out in 12 higher education institutions …” (more)

[Kevin O’Sullivan, Irish Times, 4 November]

“Millions are set to be pumped into scientific research projects, ranging from anti-ageing to potential new treatments for Alzheimer’s and Crohn’s ­disease. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, announced 71 grants valued at €53m under the Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) ‘Frontiers for the Future’ programme …” (more)

[Eavan Murray, Independent, 2 November]

“Covid-19 is reshaping the world, including the academic world. What we were familiar with as ‘normal’ is fading away and will need to be rewritten. The world is also witnessing a fast-growing body of research on COVID-19. International organisations, governments, scientific journals and funding bodies have been calling on researchers to join forces to tackle the crisis …” (more)

[Xin Xu, University World News, 24 October]

“I couldn’t resist passing on the news that the Max Planck Digital Library has signed an agreement with the Nature Publishing Group to enable authors in about 120 German institutes to publish Open Access articles in Nature journals …” (more)

[In the Dark, 23 October]

“My attention was recently drawn to a proposal for a radical overhaul of the research funding system in the Netherlands by the Dutch Academy of Sciences. The document I linked to above is in Dutch but the principles are easily understood. To prevent academics having to waste so much time writing proposals that have a very limited chance of success, it is proposed to introduce ‘rolling grants’ for which no application is needed …” (more)

[In the Dark, 18 October]

“After the internet emerged in 1990, universities and scientific institutes across the world became joined in a single collaborative research network for the first time in history, and in the manner of networks, global science began to expand continually with exceptional speed. World research is shaped by five simultaneous trends that feed into each other and are transforming the processes whereby human societies create and share knowledge …” (more)

[Simon Marginson, University World News, 17 October]

“All students are grappling with the hurdles of online learning right now regardless of course, but for students in courses such as music, visual arts, and drama, the traditionally physical elements of their subjects have brought additional challenges to the shift online. A piano student needs a teacher to guide their fingers over the keys; a drama student needs to look into another performer’s eyes for full immersion …” (more)

[Olivia Flaherty-Lovy, Trinity News, 14 October]

“Earlier this year, Elsevier quietly began using a tracking system to detect potentially fraudulent behavior on their sites. This should come as a surprise to exactly no one. Elsevier and other publishers have been concerned about malicious behavior on their sites for a very long time. Elsevier is not the only publisher to use this class of online fraudulent behavior security service …” (more)

[Todd Carpenter, The Scholarly Kitchen, 13 October]

“Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, has today (12 October 2020) confirmed that €47 million will be provided to support contract researchers and research students whose work has been seriously disrupted by the pandemic …” (more)

[DFHERIS, 12 October]