The visualisations we use to present our findings matter as much as the text, if not more. We will walk through the steps to create beautiful figures that can make posters,

A report by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute reveals that Canada's strict race-based hiring quotas in universities since 2017 have led to a measurable decline in research productivity. The study analyzed the h-index of 1,906 Canada Research Chairs and found that scholars from marginalized groups, including Black, Indigenous, and female researchers, consistently have lower productivity scores compared to their white and Asian male counterparts. The report attributes this to the 'non-meritorious appointment of less qualified' candidates, arguing that prioritizing diversity over academic merit has resulted in an average loss of 3.2 h-index points when replacing high-achieving scholars with underperforming hires. While the study acknowledges that some individuals from underrepresented groups may not impose a cost on research quality, it concludes that systemic prioritization of identity-based criteria over scholarly excellence is undermining Canada's academic reputation. The findings highlight a growing tension between equity initiatives and the pursuit of high-quality research, raising questions about the long-term impact of diversity policies on academic institutions.

A Perimeter Institute lecture excerpt played on Megatrends described how modern LLMs have advanced from language tasks to producing original mathematical arguments, including high scores on International Mathematical Olympiad problems and a reported LLM-assisted proof of a longstanding problem.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 55 articles abou...

Legislative Council staff presented a draft funding formula that uses recent fall census FTE as the base (sample placeholder rate $7,000 per undergraduate FTE, graduate rate 1.5×) and separate incentive buckets for in‑demand completions and research; the draft would raise NDSU funding and reduce UND funding under the illustrative rates, prompting calls for hold‑harmless protections and further analytic detail.

Do AI 'co-scientist' tools actually accelerate research? STAT News analysis reveals significant gaps between vendor promises and re… #AIvalidation #Artificialintelligence #Researchproductivity #Researchtechnology #Scientificresearch

Measuring researchers’ output mass against their body mass will incentivise even harder running on the academic treadmill, says Dariusz Jemielniak