Government budget includes more money for basic research and notable increases to postgraduate stipends. Researchers in Canada got most of what they were hoping for in the country’s 2024 federal budget, with a big boost in postgraduate pay and more funding for research and scientific infrastructure. Read more in Nature.
Nature
How to make academic hiring fair: database lists innovative policies
The Reformscape database is designed to inspire university leaders by collecting examples of responsible career assessment. A new online resource brings together universities’ research-assessment and career-development policies to help the academic community make hiring, promotion and tenure procedures fairer, more robust and more diverse. Read more in Nature.
Why are the Canadian wildfires so bad this year?
Hot, dry weather and human carelessness have led to a huge burnt area — and to choking haze affecting millions of people. Smoke from wildfires raging in eastern Canada has been filling lungs and turning skies orange across the northeastern United States, most dramatically in New York City and the surrounding area, for the past […]
Canadian PhD students and postgrads plan mass walkout over low pay
Academics are demanding a significant boost to government-sponsored fellowships and scholarships, which haven’t changed for decades. Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at dozens of universities and research institutions across Canada are planning to walk out on 1 May in protest at government-funded salaries that have remained flat since 2003. Read more in Nature.
Brexit deal paves way for UK to rejoin Horizon Europe research programme
UK scientists had been shut out of the multibillion-euro scheme amid drawn-out Brexit negotiations. UK researchers are optimistic that they will soon regain access to the European Union’s flagship Horizon Europe funding programme, after the United Kingdom and the EU reached an agreement on the status of Northern Ireland after Brexit. For the past two […]
Will UK science’s ‘lost’ £1.6 billion ever come back?
Negotiations on Horizon Europe dragged on — and UK-based researchers came up short. The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is quietly returning £1.6 billion (US$1.9 billion) in funding to the Treasury that had been earmarked for research collaborations with the European Union in its 2022–23 budget. But the government swears that the […]
How Nature readers are using ChatGPT
Eighty percent of respondents have used AI chatbots — and 57% say they use it for ‘creative fun’. Researchers are keen to experiment with using generative AI tools such as the advanced chatbot ChatGPT to help with their work, according to a survey of Nature readers. But they are also concerned about the potential for […]
UK government announces new science department and minister
Former universities minister Michelle Donelan is appointed head of newly-created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in mini-reshuffle. The United Kingdom has a new government department dedicated to science and technology. On 7 February, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak split the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) into three new departments, creating the Department […]
Largest-ever study of journal editors highlights ‘self-publication’ and gender gap
Analysis shows that some researchers publish a considerable proportion of their own work in journals they edit. The gender gap among senior journal editors is bigger than many people thought, and some editors publish a surprising number of their own papers in the journals that they edit, finds the first study to look at these […]
Nature Outlook: Children’s Health
Most parents want to protect their children from the variety of illnesses and experiences that can occur in the early years of life. Explores some of the biggest issues in children’s health in this Nature Outlook that I edited. Read more in Nature.