Category: Academic

Is there anything you would have approached differently at Queen Mary?

Subject: Matthew Evans

“Hello Dr. Missirlis, 

I am a student at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, and as you can no doubt imagine by the subject line I am writing to you under fairly unhappy circumstances. Evans has put forward a series of cuts which will cripple departments across the Arts & Sciences here beginning next year, but enforced a policy of total silence: no one had mentioned them publicly until a Queen’s Journal article, based mostly on leaks I had forwarded to the journal, was published on Friday. No article at Queen’s, internal or external, has so much as touched on Evans’ history: the fact that he was driven from the UK to Hong Kong, then UAE, then, apparently, to Queen’s, is a poor indicator of the university’s location on the pecking order. I am writing to ask whether you might have any advice as to how best to organize, as students, and whether there is anything you would have approached differently at Queen Mary – I have been reading your blog extensively since Friday, and am honestly at a total loss for words. I do not plan to be at Queen’s next year – four more years of Evans as provost is hard to stomach – but I am hoping to make a difference while still here.

 I also wanted to say I hope your current position is treating you well; the injustice of what happened at Queen Mary is infuriating, and your dedication to exposing it is an inspiration.

Best,”

(more…)

Ο παράδεισος του ξύλου

Νομίζω ήταν 1987 και ήμουν 12 χρονών. Ο πατέρας μας πήρε μαζί του σε επίσκεψη σε πανεπιστήμια της – τότε σοσιαλιστικής – Βουλγαρίας. Το σύντομο ταξίδι στη γείτονα χώρα προσφέρει τα μοναδικά προσωπικά επιτόπια βιώματα σε χώρα που οικοδομούσε το σοσιαλισμό. Αργότερα με βοήθησαν σε πολλές ανταλλαγές απόψεων με κατοίκους διαφόρων από αυτές τις χώρες σχετικά με το τι δε δούλεψε και χάσανε τόσα κοινωνικά κεκτημένα.

(more…)

wrong direction

After being dismissed ‘on grounds of redundancy’, Babis Magoulas and I took Queen Mary University of London at independent Employment Tribunals. Judge Foxwell heard the two cases and dismissed both. We then appealed, but only my appeal was upheld. I wrote 3 posts (here) criticising the Judgments in Magoulas v QMUL that, in my view, failed to serve justice. For a summary see “academic position, age discrimination and social justice“. I won’t rehearse again all arguments, but I was reminded today only of this one. In a piece where I claim that generating large surpluses at public Universities is wrong, I also suggested the Law should become clearer in demanding that Employers effecting dismissals should first demonstrate that their whole institution is in need of cost-cutting, since in the case of Babis, Queen Mary was operating on a surplus of £9-17M, claiming that its Medical School was £2M in deficit that justified the compulsory redundancies. I mention the above, because the new Head of School in my former department (who replaced this one) announced that the new Principal (who replaced this one) has made it clear he wants to increase the present £30M surplus to £50M…

The toxic environment has spread to many UK universities. Such spreading does not make it right. Colleagues need to organise, resist and revolt. (more…)

Για τον Φώτη Καφάτο

Πρώτη φορά γνώρισα τον Φώτη Καφάτο στο γραφείο του Ηλία Κούβελα, καθηγητή νευροφυσιολογίας (κάπου στο 1996 ή 1997), συναδέλφου της μητέρας μου στο τμήμα Ιατρικής του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Ο Φώτης ήταν ήδη ιδιαίτερα γνωστός ως “ο νεότερος επιστήμονας στην ιστορία του Harvard που είχε λάβει τον τίτλο του καθηγητή” και ως ο πρώτος διευθυντής του Ινστιτούτου Μοριακής Βιολογίας και Βιοτεχνολογίας στο Ηράκλειο της Κρήτης. Ερχόταν όμως στην Πάτρα από τη Χαϊδελβέργη, όπου είχε αναλάβει τη διοίκηση του Ευρωπαϊκού Εργαστηρίου Μοριακής Βιολογίας (EMBL)!

(more…)

Apoyo a la Ciencia Experimental

Lic. Enrique Peña Nieto, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos

Dr. José Antonio Meade Kuribreña, Secretario de Hacienda y Crédito Público

Mtro. Aurelio Nuño Mayer, Secretario de Educación Pública

H. Congreso de la Unión

Dr. Enrique Cabrero Mendoza, Director del Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología

A la Comunidad Científica

A la Opinión Pública

(more…)