The latest blog entry from the Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Nigel Thrift:

Around the world, immigration has become a prime political concern. I hardly need to point to the number of countries where immigration has become a major electoral issue, whether in the United States, Europe, or Australia.

And, of course, immigration policy can cut across university policy, often in destructive ways...

The latest blog entry from the Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Nigel Thrift:

We are still in the midst of a change that is already so familiar that it does not feel momentous—even though, in all likelihood, it is. The availability of information at hand in an instant is now a mundane fact of life. Yet it has immense significance for academics. I can remember when obtaining information necessitated multiple visits to the library, interlibrary loans, photocopying on an epic scale, card indexes, and all of the paraphernalia of search and recall that has now been replaced by a few keystrokes...

The latest entry from Vice-Chancellor Nigel Thrift's blog:

It is not exactly an original observation to write that we live in a celebrity culture. All around us are the signs of the power of celebrity and there is a seemingly endless supply of academic papers and commentaries analyzing the phenomenon. Most of these pieces don’t exactly welcome the phenomenon, it has to be said, but neither do they give much sense of how it might be dislodged.

But has celebrity culture now started to bleed into academe?

Professor Mark Harrison from the Department of Economics explores the concept of a 'democractic deficit' wherein the European Commission and European Parliament exercise powers in the name of a European community and identity that do not really exist - and asks what will happen to this deficit when the current, unworkable form of the Euro is forced to change.

Alex Smith, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology explores both sides of the debate surrounding continued support of stem cell research and calls for a re-commitment to democratised science.