Blog posts

Howy Jacobs.

Dying of the light

Ever since the exodus of European scientists in the 1930s, people the world over have looked up to the US as the bastion of free enquiry and intellectual ingenuity, backed up by stalwart public support for science and academia. This is the world in which I grew up, forging part of my own scientific career...

Howy Jacobs.

Into darkness

It’s very hard to write about the current state of global science without getting sucked into the whirlpool of events in the United States that is perceived by most of our colleagues as nothing short of disastrous. However, so much has been written about it already. And by the time this blogpiece goes out some...

Howy Jacobs.

The Right to be Wrong

Setting aside the growing threat to the scientific literature from outright fraud, wilful misinterpretation, undeclared conflicts of interest, low-quality peer review and malign pseudo- science, it is an inevitable fact that much of what is put into print today will turn out to be erroneous when revisited in the future. At the very least, it...

Petri Mäntysaari.

An internal market for higher education in Europe?

In March 2024, the European Commission presented its new higher education package. The package includes initiatives on a European degree, a European quality assurance and recognition system, and careers in higher education. The package builds on earlier initiatives ranging from a European strategy for universities to micro-credentials. The Commission has plans for the European Education...

Howy Jacobs.

Remote or real

When I first joined the faculty in Tampere, a high-point of every working week was the institute seminar. Except when they were away at some other meeting, all PIs attended every time, and so did their PhD students, postdocs and other associates. Nobody was formally compelled to attend. They did so because that was what...

Leevi Mentula.

Current issues in copyright legislation

The EU directive on copyright in the digital single market and online transmission directive were decreed as part of the Finnish Copyright Act in the manner hoped by the Finnish Union of University Professors, that is, according to the directives. The partial update of the Copyright Act was completed early last year, with the updated...

Howy Jacobs.

Taking back control

The landscape of scientific publishing is rapidly changing. We academics need not only to keep pace with the changes, but preferably take back control of the entire process. Having been involved with the ‘industry‘ for almost 3 decades, both as author/reviewer and editor, it feels to me as if we are close to a tipping...

Nelli Piattoeva.

To academic friendships

What does one write in a professional blog commencing the long-awaited summer break and concluding the academic year one was dreading for the last five years – the year of one’s tenure evaluation? My initial plan was to list and substantiate ideas to develop the tenure-track (TT) system. I wanted to focus on TT support,...

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