Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng is in the last phase of his PhD journey at Cambridge’s Faculty of Education. Explore his webfolio at https://lancep.notion.site/ and reach out via [email protected]

‘Spectral Schedules’ in Postdoctoral Applications: The Case for Transparency and Consistency in Academic Hiring  

This article highlights the issue of unclear and unpredictable application processes for postdoctoral opportunities in the UK and beyond. Drawing on philosophical concepts like hauntology, it calls for universities to honour (or refrain from setting!) their ‘outcome announcement’ dates, as this would alleviate disappointment and foster greater fairness and transparency in postdoctoral applications.

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Coping with Bereavement During a PhD: Grow Around the Grief

Grief is a lesser-discussed topic in academia, but processing grief due to the loss of a loved one compounds the challenges of doing a PhD. In this thought-provoking article, Kathryn Zacharek shares her experience of navigating a PhD during bereavement, where she took time out, leaned on her support networks, and researched ways to let her life ‘grow around the grief’.

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Building a Rainbow: Ideas and Coalition Building on the American Left, c. 1973-88

To some observers, the emergence of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other parts of the American left can appear to have come from nothing. Yet by looking at the intellectual and political changes of the 1970s and 1980s, we can see that they in fact have clear historical origins. The idea of a ‘rainbow coalition’ in particular reveals how they owe much to concepts developed in this foundational period.

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