Research Update - Nationally and My Own

So where have I been?  Well here there and everywhere if I am honest - I presume you've been checking out the twitter feed?!    Well the essay on 'what counts as education' has now been completed as has the redraft of the journal article.  Only the small issue of a Literature Review Chapter to plan and write.  It is all taking a bit longer than I ever predict - coupled with an extra trip home next week! 

Whilst things have been going steadily with the research, the university world around me has been continually moving forward and is a little worried about the cuts going forward.  Even today, Universities UK used a press release about their conference to raise concerns that the UK's investment of 1.3% of GDP into Higher Education is below the OECD's average of 1.5% of GDP.  Furthermore, the patterns of international mobility are changing with the UK as the second most popular destination but Canada, Australia and New Zealand all increasing their shares.  Indeed, the OECD says that governments should increase the amount they spend on Tertiary education to firm up their economic growth.  Listening to the noises coming from the coalition government, I would be asking more 'how deep are the cuts' (25% upwards is my guess) rather whether there should be cuts. 

One of the blogs I read regularly is Research Fundermentals which has some of the best news of what is happening in the research funding world.  Included this week has been a discussion on impact and an article talking by a report from the Society of Scholarly Publishing on the fact that peer reviewing is important.  They argue that given all the non-peer reviewed sources out there academic journals are more important.  I am not so sure.  The BBC produced a report on the growth of social networking sites and the way that we interact.  Now I have blogged about this in the past but it is clear that certain media are growing (facebook and twitter) and certain shrinking (flikr and myspace).  The way we interact is constantly changing and who we consider an audience is important.  So whilst we the peer reviewed article will be important in academic circles (and after the time I have spent on one this week, I do hope so), we really do need to look more widely so that research affects the world more widely. 

So why have I brought these three elements: my research taking time, the potential cuts and the way we communicate our research?  Well because I do not believe them to be separate.  Research takes time - and a lot of it - and is also very personal to the individual.  The freedom to do research must be defended but perhaps the risks of funding cuts is down to the way communicate this work and its findings.  The undergraduate degree has been opened up to nearly 50% of the population and research affects our country in so many ways but appears so closed.  Engagement in a fuller, newer way with the wider community using technology or whatever methods is important.  Until our presence is felt our funding will always be endangered.