Science communication and mediatised environmental conflict: A cautionary tale

When Australian physicist, Peter Ridd, lost his tenured position with James Cook University, he was called a ‘whistleblower’, ‘contrarian academic’ and ‘hero of climate science denial’. In this article, we examine the events surrounding his dismissal to better understand the role of science communication in organised climate change scepticism. We discuss the sophistry of his complaint to locate where and through what processes science communication becomes political communication. We argue that the prominence of scientists and scientific knowledge in debates about climate change locates science, as a social sphere or fifth pillar in Hutchins and Lester’s theory of mediatised environmental conflict. In doing so, we provide a model to better understand how science communication can be deployed during politicised debates.

Overcoming Barriers

After a childhood of limited educational opportunities, lack of proportional representation, along with social stigmas in addition to the institutional barriers, Latinas and Hispanic women who overcame them all to acquire a professional degree still have to deal with the lack of recruitment, retention, and opportunities for promotion in employment within higher educational institutions. Because of the reality of skin color, heavy accent, and the historical White male middle class, institutions throughout the social system have created barriers for Hispanic women/Latinas, barriers that continue to prevent them from holding a full-time or attaining a tenured position in academe. The following sections will describe each of the barriers that impede Hispanic women in their advancement in educational institutions. The author will address how an invisible barrier, or glass ceiling, concrete ceiling or concrete wall, labyrinth, sticky floor, gated community, female androgynous behavior, and Jezebel stereotypes prevent women from achieving leadership positions in the academic profession—although a few do make it. For those who do become leaders, the questions become, “How did they do it?” “What barriers did they overcome and what supports enabled them to succeed?”

Family or Future in the Academy?

This article critically reviews recent literature on the relationship between family formation and academic-career progression, emphasizing obstacles women face seeking a tenured position and beyond. Evidence indicates that the pipeline model is dominated by “ideal worker” norms. These norms impose rigid, tightly coupled, sequential, time-bound requirements on aspiring academics, making the raising of young children and advancing an academic career incompatible. Studies indicate that women with PhDs and young children are disproportionately more likely to leak out of the tenure-track pipeline. Lack of family friendliness is one of the chief reasons why women opt out of tenure-track careers. One way to increase the proportion of tenured women is to adapt the pipeline model by bolstering institutional work–family policies and providing child care centers. Departmental leaders can ensure that making use of work–family policies does not negatively affect tenure decisions. Collecting longitudinal data to evaluate how well policies are working is critical.

Perestroika's Last Stand

In 10 years, Perestroika has gone from a “raucous” forum discussing a wide range of issues to a largely moribund list that posts occasional jobs and attacks those who dare to bring up controversial topics. A good example of the decline of the list was illustrated by one participant's recent attempt to raise the issue of Glenn Beck's slander of Frances Fox Piven and the late Richard Cloward. The poster was attacked by some group members for “politicizing” Perestroika. These members claimed that the list was a no-politics zone for debating methodological issues. Since Glenn Beck did not hold a tenured position in the discipline, others felt that his ideas were not rational enough to warrant a response. Some on the list (perhaps with scant knowledge of left-wing media) proposed approaching Rachel Maddow, and while a few media outlets did take up this case, it never reached the main talkies. In the end, however, Perestroikans failed to stand up for the integrity of the free and wide-ranging discourse they claim to champion.

Introduction to William Stephenson's Quest for a Science of Subjectivity

In this introduction to the life and work of William Stephenson my aim is to provide a general overview of the development of his thinking and, more specifically, to highlight the importance he attached to the study of single cases. I also attempt to provide a context for an understanding of the significance of his ‘Tribute to Melanie Klein’. Some of the principal reasons for Stephenson's marginal status in the discipline of psychology will also emerge in the course of the article. I begin by outlining some of the central notions in Q-methodology. The early sections of the article trace his roots in the north of England – the setting for his schooling and university training in physics – and then outline his encounters with Charles Spearman and Cyril Burt at University College London. The subsequent section deals with his time at the University of Oxford Institute of Experimental Psychology and the wartime interruption to his career. The next few sections take us across the Atlantic and describe some of the most significant features of his work on Q-methodology. These sections also record the difficulties Stephenson experienced before he eventually secured a tenured position at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia. In the final section I attempt to situate Q-methodology in relation to some of the principal theoretical orientations in the human sciences.

Publish or Perish? The Increasing Importance of Publications for Prospective Economics Professors in Austria, Germany and Switzerland

Tenure decisions depend, among other factors, on a candidate’s career age and publication record.We associate publications with journal articles indexed in EconLit and measure publication output in equivalents of both top-five journal articles and European Economic Review (EER) articles. We find that the average age of a professor in the year of his/her first appointment is 38, i.e. he or she is appointed approximately eight years after completing the PhD. Between 1970 and 2006, the average publication record at the time of the first appointment is equivalent to 1.5 standardized top-five articles or 2.3 standardized EER articles. Publication records vary across subfields and have become more substantial over time.We predict that someone aspiring to a tenured position after 2011 should aim at an equivalent of four standardized top-five articles or six standardized EER articles.