University engagement with communities, such as the clothing exchange organized by UBC Climate Action Mobilizers, is vital for empowering communities and addressing climate injustices.
(Linda Nowlan)
Often those most impacted by climate change are those least able to engage with climate discourse. Universities have a responsibility to engage with these communities.
Socially responsible investing is becoming more popular.
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NASA has only mapped 40% of the potentially dangerous asteroids that could crash into Earth. New projects will boost that number, and upcoming missions will test tech that could prevent collisions.
UN Blue Helmet peacekeepers in Bouake, Ivory Coast in 2017.
Sia Kambou/GettyImages
The UN missions deployed around the world to manage conflict and protect civilians need to be assessed in a manner that accurately reflects their successes and failures.
One of the objectionable panels depicts a dead Native American.
Dick Evans
‘The Life of Washington’ was painted in the 1930s by an artist who sought to upend a rosy narrative of US history. Now some are saying its images ‘traumatize’ viewers – and ought to be taken down.
Breaking out of the ivory tower can be hard to do.
gluemoon/flickr
But are UK universities running the risk of institutionalising public engagement?
Charitable organisations need support in a number of areas from government and other stakeholders in order to measure and improve on their work.
Sergio Dionisio/AAP
UNESCO has declared 2014 as the International Year of Crystallography. But why? Quite simply because the science of crystallography has revolutionised how we live – and yet few people know about it. Crystallography…
The social, economic and environmental impact of academic research can continue for decades.
Flickr/Sanofi Pasteur
Academics from a dozen universities will be required to explain to industry experts the economic and social value of hundreds of research projects from the past 20 years, under guidelines for a trial designed…
Adam Chang’s portrait of academic JM Coetzee, whose writing has had international impact. AAP/Art Gallery of NSW.
The election of the Rudd Government in 2007 killed the momentum that had been building in the last few years of the Howard government for research valuation to move beyond metrics-based methods (such as…
Do Australian universities suffer from an overload of auditing and metrics-based assessment? Are vision and flexibility being stifled? Flickr/Harald Groven.
Visiting British expert David Sweeney could have star appeal for academics frustrated by the bureaucratic inflexibility of Australia’s research auditing system and metrics-based assessments blind to the…