This is one for anybody who was at the B.S.A or who saw the front page of the Times Higher on Friday. What with our Bobby's TV series and my dally with an agent I thought it was quite timely. Aparently we have a duty to promote ourselves as public intellectuals, but UK academics in particular suffer from being misunderstood and ridiculed by the media & policy makers who think we're a bunch of abtract wafflers out of touch and with no grip on the real world.

Perhaps we need our own reality TV show - "I'm an academic, I rarely get out of here"

Freaky readers
Honey I'm boring the kids
Lame Academy
What not to study
Literature swap
Lab factor
Britain's next top academic ( though Nigel Barker noted fashion photographer should definately be a judge still )

How clean is your desk
What not to write
Mastergrad
Frustration Frustration Frustration

ooooh, stuff about the role of the expert is part of my thesis. sorry to lower the tone here, but

[rant]
Yes, academics are denigrated in the media etc but part of it is the fault of those academics who promote all this rubbish about 'lay expertise', which has led to riduculous notions such as the whole 'public participation' and 'personalisation of public services' thing, in other words the tyranny of the terminally stupid.

I defy anyone to come up with anything more depressing than this, from a recent press release from my uni about a new research project:

'One exciting aspect of the research is the inclusion in the team, not just of academics, but of three members of the public ... who have been involved in designing and managing the study and ensuring that the information it produces is interpreted appropriately'

I mean, why dont i just shoot myself now, as you are clearly better off without a PhD if you want to do reasearch.

[/rant]

I KNOW!

I have been described (once or twice...) as being 'elitist' - quite recently, actually (although I still have a school report on which one of my high school teachers has described me as an intellectual snob )

It might not sound very flattering on the face of it, but I'm sorry (actually, I'm not), i'm not claiming to know how to fit a central heating system, cut hair or fix computers...

More PhD TV suggestions...

"10 years older" (by the time you've submitted)

"CSI: Crying Student Investigates" (alternative career options)

"'Doctor(?) Who' are you kidding?"

And for those struggling to survive on a PhD bursary...

"Meal or No Meal"


...I'll get my coat

Nigel Barker what a hottie

Something we agree on for once pea

Nigel Barker is the most impossibley handsome man. Sometimes I wonder if he is a real person he is so good -looking.

he is so manly.....

I bet my fiance would not be impressed if he saw this thread

who's nigel barker? what have i missed?

I'm with insomniac on this one. I looked at google images, there are so many Nigel Barkers. Which one are you guys talking about? Who is he?

http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/sportspeakers/photos/2296Nigel_Barker.jpg

Who looks better on tv though!



I guess it's only me and pea who watch America's Next Top Model

Be still my beating heart .

Can we please have a nigel barker smiley?

404????