plus a venn diagram showing just how many parts of institutions depend on PhDs to do what they need to do!

i find an "sub-prime mortgage crisis" helpful: many parts of universities rely partly on PhDs, but few in whole. though it's difficult for individual actors (departments, divisions etc.) to gauge the risks, institutional/sector-level underinvestment = meaningful system-wide risks.

Respondents foresee all the usual barriers - bureaucracy, tradition and inertia loom large - but 85% of examiners think we need to rethink the viva.

Time for change?

Link here: https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2025.2475062

(3/3)

Support varies on the details, but there’s strong backing for stricter examiner selection, routine training for examiners & chairs, clearer guidelines on expected conduct, better feedback for candidates, and more attention to wellbeing & reasonable adjustments.

(2/3)

i feel there's a game to be played here. if you were to create a misleading abstract for one of your publications based on the fleeting and/or tangential appearance of a famous person, what would it be?

that (i'm more likely to watch films i know he's in) is very likely true, but he's in for approximately 5 minutes!

can't see any audible reviews...

finally, 'murder most fowl'.

"norbot attempts to solve the core problem of the capitalist economy, according to your average bajillionaire plutocrat."

"what's that granny?"

"other people owning things and earning wages."

Plenty of places to start. Historiography on terrorism highlights a strong link between unmet life expectations and radicalisation, for example.

next up, a close shave: "a clearly socialist critique in which only collective action can foil the machinations of a greedy capitalist villain who exploits workers (the sheep), profits from stolen resources (the wool), and uses destructive technology for personal gain."

followed by "the wrong trousers" as parable of public investment in innovation perverted by the profit motive.

a bit archaic, formal and polite, logical and skeptical: thatcher or heseltine.

fascinating... i wonder which tunes have been used to amp him up?