Power and Publications in Chinese Academia
Ruixue Jia on the influence of administrative power in Chinese academia on researchers’ publication activity, their selection of co-authors, and the topics they are writing about.
Power and Academia, an endless story
Linda Jauch on powerful dependancies of academics to funding bodies, their supervisors and what to do about it.
Transdisciplinary research: Pain or Gain?
Katrin Marten’s take on the struggles of transdisciplinary research.
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Academia – we would like to imagine, is a place where collaboration outweighs competition, recognition is tied only to merit and resources are equally distributed. However, we know in reality that the playing field is not equal for all participants and a select few often possess more power and privilege than others. This power imbalance does not only promote egocentric practices, inequalities and hierarchies, but also diminishes opportunities for innovation and good scientific practice, as well as increases the likelihood of mental health issues.
We would like to invite you to add your voice to our discussion on power in academia and welcome contributions that identify both disempowerment and actions of empowerment. Together let’s discuss:
– Where and how is power exercised or abused? And how can this be addressed?
– What practices and mechanisms are ensuring an equal workplace or perpetuating inequalities?
– How can we improve leadership and working conditions in academia / science?
We look forward to hearing about your personal experiences as well as your reflections on the experiences of academics in general, institutional practices and system-level trends.
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A Year in Elephants
A look backwards from the editorial team.
Tear down this invisible wall
Katrin Frisch on encounters with the different forms of west german hegemony throughout her scientific training and everyday working life in academia.
From “I” to “We” – Addressing Gender Imbalances in the Natural Sciences
Haibo Ruan from the Lise Meitner Gesellschaft on the forms of power abuse in science, its gender dimension, and how to address and overcome it.
When Relationships Between Supervisors and Doctoral Researchers Go Wrong
Gorup & Laufer on how control is exercised and abused within relationships between doctoral supervisors and their students, what happens when PhD students challenge this control, and how we break free of this cycle of control.
Global competition and the emerging challenge to open data
Lennart Stoy on the growing problems for the efforts for a science with a rational of open data in the context of upcoming european legislation
Academic voices during the pandemic
Julia T. Scho on the challenges and positive experiences of researchers and scientists working around the globe during the pandemic
How current travel restrictions open up new possibilities for researcher mothers
Alena Sander sheds light on one particular window of opportunity for researcher mothers during the COVID 19 pandemic with the potential to have a lasting positive impact on women’s career path in academia.
The Return to Science at The Turn of Modernity
Jayat Joshi on the role of science as a guiding principle of political and societal action in extraordinary situations like the COVID-19 pandemic
How to empower a Culture of Failure in Science
Mafalda Sandrini and Kata Katz on the need for a culture of failure in academia and its productive potential for the scientific community.