Lecturer in civil engineering at University of Birmingham. Interested in #geophysics, site investigation, quantum gravity gradient instruments, #sailing, #nufc
Joined September 2010
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Sadly a lot of truth here
Dan Boddice retweeted
It's not just Cambridge. The whole UK higher education system is broken and needs investigation and reform.
This is true and also why universities are failing and becoming irrelevant. The academics themselves know this but the people who run universities have no academic values.
Dan Boddice retweeted
If academic standards don't matter, academia doesn't matter, and there is no real case for spending tens of billions of pounds of public money on it each year.
Academia matters because ideas matter. People act on ideas. So standards have to be upheld.
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Dan Boddice retweeted
The function of a university is teaching and research. Those who work at a university and do not perform teaching and research are there to support the work of those who do. Many of our managers have forgotten this.
I see the referee is just going to allow VARgentina to cheat. Presumably in return for a load of Infantios cash.
Dan Boddice retweeted
‘Nothing is so fatal to the progress of the human mind as to suppose our views of science are ultimate; that there are no mysteries in nature; that our triumphs are complete, and that there are no new worlds to conquer.’ Sir Humphrey Davey. 1810.
‘Overall, we will drive to be more entrepreneurial, to engage more with industry, to realize greater revenue and greater income into our program, which means there's less pressure on the public purse.’ Sir Ian Chapman. 2026.
If you want to understand why science in the UK is in such a mess ……..
Dan Boddice retweeted
Every single conference is filled with academics talking about how this period of UK higher education is the worst they've ever seen. The entire industry is collapsing and no one is doing anything. Union is dead, politicians don't give a shit, public still think we're all rich
Dan Boddice retweeted
In UK HE., an increased ranking within the range of variance attributable to random noise is the ultimate triumph.
Meanwhile, a decreased ranking within that same range is a good excuse to punish and start a new task force that pulls everyone away from their jobs.
Anytime somebody tells me I've never achieved anything I like to remind them I was Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2006.
Dan Boddice retweeted
Athena SWAN is run by @AdvanceHE, a company, owned by @UniversitiesUK
It's a company. It exists to make money by selling services
@21Group contacted them about bullying in 'Silver Athena SWAN' university
Not interested
If they can't sell you something, they're not interested
This thread is a useful summary of the challenges of assessment in UK universities
Dan Boddice retweeted
All over England today, hundreds of new councillors with remits that cover potholes, bins and adult social care are going to be meeting to figure out how to stop the boats.
This is sadly true. They'd also be shocked at how over managed most universities are and how destructive that is to their core purpose of research and education
Does anyone actually think this is remotely worth doing? Then idiots will use tiny differences in raw percentages of vastly different size courses to rank universities instead of doing basic statistics. Embarrassing.
What's working? What's not? The NSS is your chance to let your university or college know. Don't miss it! #NSS2026 #YourViewsYourNSS
Dan Boddice retweeted
A problem is that you can be brilliant at writing grant proposals -- and terrible at doing science
So you hire postdocs who can do the great science
Your weaknesses stay hidden … except to the people you’re taking credit from 😉
I completely agree that low-quality professors, meaning PIs, are a major part of the problem. This is especially true in medical schools and the life sciences.
NIH adopted affirmative action-like policies in study sections and councils to decrease the age at which scientists receive their first major research grant.
This had the outcome that these kinds of policies often have. Many undeserving professors began receiving large amounts of research funding and bringing substantial overhead to their institutions.
Universities then prioritized grant revenue as the major, if not sole, criterion for promotion and even tenure. Notably, tenure is vestigial when positions are effectively tied to research dollars.
As a result, very mediocre professors are retained and promoted because the system rewards their ability to bring in money, not their scientific quality or ability to mentor.
