Idol imaginings: Academics reveal the childhood heroes who inspired their careers

‘It’s a great way to unwind’: the academics who create crosswords

Professors who moonlight as puzzle-setters for major newspapers discuss importance of ‘letting the mind wander’ after busy day in the lab

By Patrick Jack

26 October

Illustration of an overweight academic on scales, weighed against a pile of books. As an illustration of measuring researchers’ output mass against their body mass, an academic BMI.

Let’s personalise productivity with the weightiest metric yet: academic BMI

Measuring researchers’ output mass against their body mass will incentivise even harder running on the academic treadmill, says Dariusz Jemielniak

By Dariusz Jemielniak

17 October

A caged dog, illustrating university capture

Committees and IT departments have captured the university

Teaching missions would be easier to fulfil if academics did not have to seek so many permissions to do their jobs, says Akhil Bhardwaj

By Akhil Bhardwaj

15 October

Hillbilly energy: from middle-school dropout to academic tenure

Georgiann Davis’ gripping account of growing up intersex and obese in a dysfunctional provincial family is a ‘queer’ response to J. D. Vance’s celebrated Hillbilly Elegy. But will the Trump administration’s opposition to gender studies spoil her happy ending? Matthew Reisz reports

By Matthew Reisz

6 October

Idol imaginings: academics reveal the childhood heroes who inspired their careers

Many an academic will be dragged to the cinema this summer by bored offspring determined to see the latest superhero film. But what kind of childhood heroes did scholars themselves have? Here, five reveal who and what inspired their career choices

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