Times Higher Education

Decolonisation has become a lightning rod for critics who accuse universities and colleges of being full of liberal ideologues, with a number of pundits up in arms about efforts to decolonise reading lists and the curriculum.  But for some scholars, decolonisation is merely a by-product of the work that they do, including our guest Farish Noor, a professor in the department of history in the Faculty of the Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Malaya in Malaysia and a professor in the Standards of Decision Making Across Cultures programme at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Despite its complexity, Noor says, decolonisation is essential to a comprehensive view of humanity. Many in academia doubt decolonisation's relevance for STEM subjects, but in this episode we’ll also hear from Brigitte Stenhouse, a lecturer in the history of mathematics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at The Open University. She has overseen the creation of a database of original sources to give students a global a

For international women's day, we spoke with two academics of colour about their experiences of being minority women in academia.   Henrika McCoy is the Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Fellow in Services to Children and Families and associate professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. Henrika shares her experience of colleagues and students having erroneous expectations about her scholarship and background because she is a Black female academic. And she addresses the assumption that non-parent academics don’t have any caring responsibilities.  More from Henrika: Diversity statements: the good, the bad and the ugly Questions you should ask yourself about your role in institutional racism Yes, your university perpetuates racism against BAME academics: what can you do? Didar Zowghi is a professor of software engineering and a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO's Data61. She leads a research team in "Diversity and Inclusion in AI" and "Requirements Engineering f

Academia and activism might seem like a natural pair. Both require grit, persistence and a passionate commitment to a cause. However doing social justice work is often at the sacrifice of other tasks that count towards career progression in higher education.    In this episode, three academic activists discuss the structures within higher education that make this work difficult, how they balance it with parenthood and other commitments, and they offer advice to anyone else hoping to use their research and teaching as a bridge between universities and the community.    Colette Cann is a professor and associate dean in the school of education at the University of San Francisco, and Eric DeMeulenaere is an associate professor of urban schooling in the department of education at Clark University. Their book The activist academic: engaged scholarship for resistance, hope and social change was published in 2020 by Myers Education Press.    John McKendrick is a professor in social justice at Glasgow Caledonian Unive

A career in academia comes with a lot of components – some good and some not so good. In this episode we’re talking about topics that might seem like their on the periphery of the core elements of an academic career, but they’re crucial to your credibility among colleagues and your sense of well-being. Ray Crossman, president of Adler University in Chicago, shares his experience of being an out president and encourages others to be their true self on the job, warts and all. He's also got advice on upskilling through mentors and explains how university mission statements give subtle cues to LGBTQ+ academics on how supported they would feel on campus. Brian Bloch is a presentation and communication teacher associated with the University of Münster. Here he gives pointers on voice, body language, and English pronunciation. And he’ll give a conclusive answer to how to pronounce one of London’s most difficult-to-say tube stations. Read more career advice from your peers on THE Campus: How to progress in your acade

Universities have been around for a millennium, however their modern iteration - and the people who lead them - are somewhat different to their medieval European ancestors. Over the centuries, institutions have dealt with a multitude of difficulties but the current combination of a global pandemic, economic downturn, populist politics and a climate crisis seems particularly challenging. So what sort of leader does the moment call for? And how are senior figures in higher education responding to the issues of the day? Leadership expert Jon McNaughton, an associate professor and associate department chair in Texas Tech University’s College of Education, joins the podcast to explain how the job of university president has changed over the decades, what type of leadership is required right now and how to know when to step away. Joy Johnson, president and vice-chancellor at Simon Fraser University, shares what it's like being a rare female leader and how she approaches housing shortages and the politics around rec

Ruth Simmons was the first African American president of Brown University which she led for 11 years. Before that she was president at Smith College where she set up the first engineering programme at a women’s institution. She was recently called out of retirement to lead Prairie View A&M an historically black institution in southeast Texas. As she approaches the end of her tenure there, THE Campus editor Sara Custer interviewed her for THE Campus Live US. Here she speaks about her pioneering work to research Brown’s historical links to slavery, the future of affirmative action, legacy admissions and how to get more people that look like her into university leadership. 

How can faculty and staff address the real issues, however forbidden, that make students feel isolated and voiceless? When teams research difficult topics, how can they establish two-way, equitable participation with their community? Members of the teams that won the Times Higher Education 2021 Awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community and Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion join us in this episode to discuss working with taboo and difficult topics. Anna Walas, faculty research impact officer and honorary research fellow in the Faculty of Arts at the  University of Nottingham, talks about her team’s research into gender-based violence. And Lindsay Morgan, a placement officer for the School of Arts & Creative Industries at Edinburgh Napier University and co-producer of Bleeding Soar, tells us about the campaign to increase awareness of period poverty around the world.   Related links: Website for the Bleedin' Soar campaign Website for the The Language of Hate Crim

Artificial intelligence has a lot of potential for higher education. It can automate onerous repetitive tasks for teachers, help researchers leapfrog mountains of data crunching and make higher education more accessible and personalised for students. But AI also presents risks, including biases that can become embedded into algorithms and a lack of transparency around data use. Though we may be a long way from understanding exactly how higher education can harness AI and machine learning’s great potential in a safe way, this episode's guests say that continuing to test and explore it is the only way to make progress. Join THE Campus editor Sara Custer and senior content curator Miranda Prynne as they speak with Ashok Goel, a professor of computer science and human-centered computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the developer of the first automated teaching assistant, as well as John Wu an assistant astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and an associate research scientist at Johns H

Even the most experienced faculty member could benefit from teaching advice from their peers. In this episode of the THE Campus podcast, we feature short tips from university educators around the world to create a mini teaching community in podcast form. And we speak with David Dodick, a sessional lecturer at University of California, Berkeley and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, about the the arts and humanities employability myth and common mistakes he's seen university lecturers make.   So sharpen your pencils and make sure your laptop is charged – prepare to get schooled on how to teach. Find more teaching resources in our THE Campus spotlight "Teaching 101: advice for university educators"   This episode is sponsored by Routledge. THE Campus listeners can use code THE20 before 22 October 2022 to get *20 per cent off* all orders.   

Education is often offered as a solution to tackling misinformation, particularly training in critical thinking and analytical skills. But what does that actually look like in the day to day running of a university? Or for the average higher education instructor not specialised in fields like media, politics or social sciences? And is there more that institutions could be doing to inform public policy and technology companies to help get ahead of the disinformation wave?  Phil Napoli the senior associate dean for faculty and research at the Sanford School of Public Policy and the director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy at Duke University shares his ideas about how universities can support local journalism and researchers can work with third parties to impact public policy.  And Simge Andi, a lecturer in quantitative Political Science at the University of Exeter, talks about her research into why people are vulnerable to misinformation and what she's learned from studying elections in T

Whether teaching or writing up research, there is a strong incentive for academics to try and make their work as interesting as possible. If people are intrigued by what they’re doing, it is likely to have a greater impact. But since everyone has their own unique take on what is or is not interesting, this can seem an impossible task. So, we spoke to three academics to find out if there are any universal characteristics that academics could try to develop in their work that will successfully pique people’s interest. Kurt Gray, associate professor in psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and director of the Deepest Beliefs Lab and Center for the Science of Moral Understanding, shares a beginners guide to what makes something interesting. Manuel Goyanes, assistant professor in the Department of Media and Communication at Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M), discusses the qualities likely to generate greater interest in research. Emily Corwin-Renner, research scientis

During his 30-year tenure, Freeman Hrabowski, the outgoing president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, has transformed UMBC from a small branch of the University System of Maryland into one of the leading producers of Black STEM graduates in the country.   In this interview, Freeman talks about how to have the difficult conversations that identify where students needs are not being met. How UMBC uses granular data to identify students who might be falling behind, and how inclusivity work is the tide that raises all boats so everyone benefits.   Find more resources about how to champion inclusion on your campus on THE Campus   Freeman's first book: The Empowered University by Freeman Hrabowski III with Philip J. Rous And Peter H. Henderson   Research quoted in the intro: “A critical exploration of inclusion policies of elite UK universities”  by George Koutsouris, Lauren Stentiford, Brahm Norwich, in British Educational Research Journal  

We’ve asked academics, authors, publishers and postdocs to share with us their advice for how to improve your academic writing and chances of getting published.    They cover everything from tips to establish a consistent writing practice like Jack London and how to find the hook in your work, to why your article might be rejected and how to bring in voices beyond just those writing in standard North American or British English.      Hear pointers from:    John Weldon, an associate professor and head of curriculum in Victoria University’s First Year College   Dorsa Amir, a postdoc in the department of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley   Tara Brabazon, a professor of cultural studies at Flinders University Daniel Martin, a publisher at Elsevier, a fiction author and creative writing teacher at Delft University   Joe Moran, a professor of English and cultural history at Liverpool John Moores University   Marnie Jo Petray, an associate professor and graduate coordinator of TESOL at Slippery Ro

Three university leaders heading up their institutions’ public affairs and community engagement in London, Melbourne and Chicago speak with us about the value of mutually beneficial partnerships with First Nation communities, local neighbourhoods and government.   They talk about using their strengths of teaching and research to engage with the community and what that means for increasingly digital campuses.  This episode features: Deborah Bull, vice-president, communities and national engagement at King’s College London   Derek Douglas, vice-president for civic engagement and external affairs at The University of Chicago Julie Wells, vice-president, strategy & culture at University of Melbourne  

Social media is an increasing part of public scholarship and for some academics, it’s a way to bring their work to a wider audience and develop new skills. We speak to two scholars who have embraced sci-comms on platforms from YouTube to podcasts to find out how they got started and what works.   YouTube scientist Simon Clark shares how he got started doing science and PhD vlogs and Christina Zdenek, a post-doc and lab manager of the Venom Evolution Lab at The University of Queensland, gives her top three tips for communicating your research.    Read more form Christina: Get your research out there: 7 strategies for high-impact science communication  

As we reach the two-year anniversary of the global pandemic, two university leaders and innovators tell Miranda Prynne and Sara Custer what they've learned about institutional resiliency, teaching practices and what the future holds for higher education, online and in-person. Peter Mathieson, the principal and vice-chancellor at The University of Edinburgh, and Anant Agarawal, CEO and co-founder of edX, the COEO at 2U and a professor at MIT, both offer their own unique perspectives on a tumultuous period for global higher education.

Academics, colleagues and friends Sebastian Kaempf and Alastair Stark from the University of Queensland share the evolution of their podcast, Higher Ed Heroes, which they created in 2020 to mimic the incidental corridor conversations that have been missing during the pandemic. In this episode, they explain how the podcast replicates peer-to-peer sharing of best teaching practice. Their down-to-earth, buzzword-free approach has seen their audience grow from just UQ colleagues to listeners in 70 countries. Listen to Higher Ed Heroes here. Find resources and advice on how to create a happy campus in our latest THE Campus spotlight. 

A new book of essays from librarians, students and academics around the world offers insights into the work of decolonising a library.    For this episode we spoke with the book’s editors, Jess Crilly, an independent author who was formerly the associate director for content and discovery, library services at the University of the Arts London and Regina Everitt, the assistant chief operating officer and director of library, archives and learning services at the University of East London.    We cover what it means to decolonise a library, how a project like this stretches far beyond the archives and learning services of a campus and what practical advice they’d give to someone interested in doing this work. Not surprisingly, it starts with a conversation.    Learn more about their book Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries   And find more advice pieces about decolonisation on THE Campus including How to support academic staff starting the journey of decolonising the curriculum

Authors of two of the most-read resources on THE Campus in 2021 give us a behind-the-scenes look at the thinking and research that went into their pieces.    Joining us is Pardis Mahdavi, dean of social sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University and Scott N. Brooks, an associate professor with the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at ASU.  They co-authored one of THE Campus' most popular resources, "Diversity statements: what to avoid and what to include".  And Elena Riva, an associate professor and director of studies at the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning at the University of Warwick, is here to speak about the research that informed her piece "Well-being pedagogies: activities and practices to improve the student experience online". See more of this year's top resources, collections and spotlights that have helped academics and university staff around the world do the best teaching and research imaginable. 

To commemorate the annual THE Awards, Sara Custer and Miranda Prynne interview previous winners to find out how their work has developed since taking home a trophy and any advice they might give to their colleagues working towards similar goals.    Interviewees: Tara Moore, professor of personalised medicine at Ulster University and winner of the 2020 Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year   Judith Francois, senior lecturer at Kingston University and winner of the 2020 Most Innovative Teacher of the Year Award   David Green, vice-chancellor at the University of Worcester, the 2020 winner for Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion   Sara Baldwin, head of student support services at Nottingham Trent University, the winner for Outstanding Support for Students in 2020.    Julian Skyrme, director of social responsibility at the Manchester University, the 2020 winner for Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community   David Worsley, a professor at Swansea University, the winner of