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Elephant in the Lab

Elephant in the Lab
Bold ideas and critical thoughts on science.
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Published
Author Elias Koch

Katrin Frisch In class we were reading John Milton’s ‘On Education’, a treatise in which the poet laid out his ideas on an ideal education. After many years of theoretical learning, the students – so Milton argued – should head into the world to learn about different cultures, but ultimately to realise the superiority of their own.

Published
Author Elias Koch

Meta Gorup Doctoral researchers represent a crucial group within the academic workforce. They importantly contribute to their departments’ and universities’ research efforts by, among other, carrying out data collection, running experiments, helping with or leading publication writing, presenting at conferences, and sometimes applying for research funding.

Published
Author Elias Koch

Lennart Stoy Data is the new oil. This mantra has long made it past tech entrepreneurs and policy wonks into the public debate. But the perception of data as a competitive advantage in a geopolitical competition does not come without new challenges, in particular in a world where science and technology are increasingly in the cross hair of great power competition.

Published
Author Elias Koch

International mobility is key for a career in academia (Bauder 2020, 2015; Geuna 2015; González Ramos and Bosch 2013; Ivancheva and Gourova 2011; OECD 2008; Bos et al. 2019). Early career researchers who did not study abroad, do not attend international conferences or go on field trips outside of their countries often find it difficult to reach the next step in obtaining tenure (Toader et al. 2016; Ackers and Oliver 2007;

Published
Author Elias Koch

Jayat Joshi An old yet powerful principle has emerged from the COVID-19 crisis. It was introduced to the West in the writings of Carl G. Jung, and has its roots in the works of the pre-Socratic Greeks: enantiodromia (enantios – opposite and dromos – running course) (Jung 1968). Put simply, this means when something is pushed to the extreme, it tends to turn into its opposite.

Published
Author Elias Koch

An Appeal for a Culture of Failure in Academia Mafalda Sandrini For some years now there has been a trend amongst entrepreneurs and artists to come together to exchange stories of failure by disclosing their mistakes on a big stage and acknowledging what they lacked in insight and wisdom. This is framed as a practice of openness for the good of the many, as well as for themselves.

Published
Author Elias Koch

Introduction Today’s Academy is highly internationalized, and mobility is one of its key features. Although it is expected that academics from all disciplines frequently travel around the globe in order to exchange knowledge and build up networks, in reality, not all researchers are equally mobile.