Academics

Would knowing an academic has shares in a mining company affect how much trust you place in their comments on climate change? How about if the academic sat on the board? Or owned the company? All of these are potential conflicts of interest and all might influence how much weight the media and the public place on that expert’s opinion.

Just what are their vested interests?

Yet sadly, as a new study just published in the Medical Journal of Australia shows, actually getting hold of this information about academics at universities around Australia is often not a simple process.

The survey of Australian universities by Simon Chapman and his colleagues showed that of the 25 institutions who responded, none required their academics to state their conflicts of interest on their website profile. Perhaps more importantly, although the researchers found public comment policies for 21 universities, “none required that staff declare potential conflict of interests to media when making a public comment”.

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  • Social Bookmarking Service says:

    09:03pm | 16/06/12

    tAsuHv Thanks so much for the article post.Really thank you! Will read on… Read more »

  • Chris L says:

    04:46pm | 18/04/12

    @Daylight robbery - Government grants are a pittance compared to what scientists can be paid by big business. You’d think they’d be jumping onto the gravy train. Perhaps they care about more than money. Read more »

 

It’s infuriating. Here at The Punch, we regularly call all sorts of academics for their opinions on various things. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get through.

Hello, I'd like a 25 year extension on my essay

Seriously, their phones just ring and ring and ring. And if you leave a message, good luck hearing back from them before next week. By which time the issue du jour will be well and truly fish and chip wrapping.

Why is this the case? Surely academics have fewer meetings than the rest of us. Surely they are at their desks more, right by that clunky old landline. They have mobiles too, right? With that newfangled voicemail stuff, and all.

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  • hot tub political machine says:

    01:53pm | 18/07/11

    Must agree with jeffb, if you don’t know about misquoting being an issue - you need to talk to an academic who isn’t afraid to mention the emporer’s lack of clothes. Read more »

  • PB says:

    08:34pm | 17/07/11

    I’m always amused when I see ‘articles’ like this. Of course they’re not really articles, they’re an invitation to have a go at academics. And boy, it certainly is going well, isn’t it Anthony? According to the readers of the Punch academics are: “up their own arse”, “uppety wankers”, “irrelevant… Read more »

 

There’s a hidden epidemic of bullying in Australia – and it’s not in the schoolyard. The corporatisation of universities has led to an increase in students bullying their lecturers for better marks.

Illustration: John Tiedemann

“It’s often the international students, whose families have sacrificed so much to send them to university,” says one lecturer in the arts and social sciences faculty at the ANU.

Dr. Janet Shepherd* admits bumping up one student’s Credit to a Distinction, because he stalked and harassed her daily via social media.

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  • Tammy says:

    08:03pm | 14/05/12

    I am currently studying the University of Queensland and have failed several placements. Looking back at the system, some clinical educators just fail students because they themselves do not know how to be better than students (i.e. do not want other work colleagues to know that they are idiots). We… Read more »

  • These Days says:

    12:00pm | 26/08/10

    My experience as a tutor was similar.  Few students received As, but no one who submitted something that looked vaguely like work failed.  It was even worse in grad school. Read more »

 

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