News 2019

Co-authoring a research paper with an established scientist early in an academic's career leads to significant future benefits for the junior researcher, finds a paper by UCL. This effect is much stronger for early-career researchers affiliated with less prestigious institutions, who are statistically less likely later in their careers to reach the same levels those at the most prestigious institutions will.

Women and men experience a 'large divergence' in their career paths in the years following childbirth, according to a study following more than 3,500 new parents. Only 27.8 per cent of women are in full-time work or self-employed three years after childbirth, compared to 90 per cent of new fathers.

Being a woman has a negative association with academic rank, a study led by Cardiff University researchers has shown. A total of 2,270 academics from the 24 Russell Group universities, across all fields of knowledge, were surveyed for the research. They were asked a wide range of questions about their academic credentials, research productivity, working conditions and duties, socio-demographic characteristics and family circumstances - such as number of children and responsibility for their care.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham have received a grant worth over £275,000 from leading men's health charity, Prostate Cancer UK. Their aim is to help develop a new test to accurately show how aggressive someone's prostate cancer is, in order to help doctors identify the best treatment for each individual man.