People & Institutions
Coverage of the institutions that host research and the people who lead them: appointments and leadership changes, institutional restructuring, closures and layoffs, research assessment exercises and rankings, major awards, and the research workforce and career pipeline.
Beats in this category
- Appointments & Leadership
Senior appointments and departures at research agencies, universities, publishers, and standards bodies, and what the change signals about institutional direction.…
- Awards & Recognition
Major research prizes, fellowships, and honours, and coverage of the selection and recognition systems behind them.…
- Institutional Restructuring
Department closures, mergers, layoffs, campus consolidations, and programme terminations affecting research capacity.…
- Research Assessment & Rankings
National research assessment exercises, university rankings, and reform of how research is evaluated — REF, CoARA, DORA implementation, and responsible-metrics developments.…
- Research Workforce & Careers
The research workforce — postdoc and graduate-student conditions, unionisation, visa and immigration policy affecting international researchers, and career-pathway developments.…
All coverage (12)
- CoARA Action Plans: Values Over Practice
A 2026 Scientometrics analysis of 248 CoARA action plans finds aspirational ‘values’ language far outweighs concrete operational commitments to open science.…
- DORA, CoARA Host Asia-Pacific RRA Workshop
DORA, FORCE11, CoARA and ALLEA convened funders, publishers and universities in Singapore to compare Asia-Pacific approaches to research-assessment reform.…
- DORA, GRC, and Science Europe Publish RFO Guide
In May 2026, DORA, the Global Research Council’s Responsible Research Assessment Working Group, and Science Europe jointly published a practical implementation guide for research funding organizations…
- NZ Scraps PBRF, Australia’s ERA Still Stalled
New Zealand has cancelled PBRF quality evaluation for good; Australia’s ERA replacement remains undesigned three years after ERA ended in 2023.…
- Kenya Unveils 2026-2036 Research Financing Plan
Kenya launched a 2026-2036 research-financing masterplan and the Grand Challenges Kenya fund to close its R&D spending gap and cut aid reliance.…
- ResearchGate Retires RG Score for RI Score
ResearchGate retired the opaque RG Score around 2022 for the Research Interest (RI) Score, a formula weighting citations, recommendations, and reads.…
- OECD’s 2026 Report “Reforming Research Assessment for Better Science”: What It Found
In April 2026 the OECD published a policy brief, Reforming Research Assessment for Better Science, finding that assessment still relies on narrow metrics that undervalue collaboration, openness, and s…
- MA3 Challenge: US research-assessment reform moves from declaration to implementation
MA3 (Modernizing Academic Appointment & Advancement) is a US-specific research-assessment reform initiative, distinct from DORA and CoARA: it funds a defined cohort of universities to actually rebuild…
- REF 2029: Pause Ends, Weightings and Output Rules Confirmed
REF 2029 criteria-setting paused 4 Sept 2025, resumed 10 Dec 2025: CKU/E&I/SPRE weightings, a 5-output cap, and lighter impact rules are now confirmed.…
- SEVIS Record Terminations: Where 2026 Litigation Stands
Where 2026 litigation over SEVIS record terminations and visa revocations stands, and what it means for international researchers.…
- H-1B’s $100,000 Fee: Effects on Postdoc, Faculty Hiring
The 2025 H-1B $100,000 fee hits new petitions requiring consular processing, including at universities. Litigation is ongoing — current status inside.…
- NIH Biomedical Workforce Diversity Programs: What Was Terminated
NIH terminated its Minority Biomedical Research Support Program and froze diversity supplements in 2025 – what was cut, and where litigation stands now.…
