GHE blog

A monthly blog published on ghe.ethz.ch

Black carbon in the atmosphere contributes to climate change and is a known carcinogen. Yet, this pollutant remains largely unmonitored and unregulated. Despite its dangers, there are no guidelines on safe levels of black carbon in the air we breathe. It’s time to focus on establishing effective regulations to monitor and control black carbon concentrations in the atmosphere.

Jul 16, 2024

Saloni Vijay, Mian Zhong, Elizabeth Tilley

6 min

Motivation for Team Award

This motivation was written in response to the call for nominations for the Swiss Reproducibility Award 2024. The motivation was written by Lars Schöbitz, a team member at…

Feb 27, 2024

Lars Schöbitz

2 min

In a university setting, a woman professor and a man professor, are depicted in a dynamic and detailed scene that embodies the multifaceted nature of academic life. The woman is seen sitting at a cluttered desk, surrounded by piles of papers and books, grading assignments and looking exasperated. Beside her, a laptop displays an email about another meeting. The man is standing, holding a stack of documents, looking at a poster on the wall that explains the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) for making research data public. The background is filled with elements that suggest a busy academic environment: a chalkboard filled with notes, a clock showing a late hour, and a door slightly ajar with a 'Data Steward Needed' sign hanging on it. The scene conveys the overwhelming workload and the additional pressure of adhering to new research data policies, highlighting the need for support in the academic community. Created with DALL-E by OpenAI.

Attention, Prof: You need a data steward for your team.

You are a professor. You’re working long hours; you’re working weekends; you’re sitting in committees, and stuck in meetings that could have been emails; you’re teaching, grading, supervising, and mentoring. And now, on top of all that, you are supposed to make all your research data public, by applying FAIR principles. You need a data steward.

Feb 13, 2024

Lars Schöbitz

5 min

A surreal depiction of publishing a scientific article without any people. Imagine an ethereal landscape where a giant, glowing book with scientific symbols and equations on its pages floats above a scenic landscape. Below the book, a stream of ink flows from a large, antique fountain pen, weaving through the scenery like a river. The background is filled with floating abstract shapes and mathematical formulas, creating an otherworldly atmosphere that symbolizes the journey of scientific discovery and publication. Drawing created by DALL-E

We can’t decolonize research until we fix publishing

Academic publishing needs a complete overhaul to make it less elite and biased. But until we see a revolution at a grand scale, we must focus on the power we have as ethical reviewers to revolutionize a system that is no longer fit for purpose.

Nov 14, 2023

Elizabeth Tilley

6 min

African landscape with earthy colours and small biogas digesters attached to homes in the scenery. Drawing. Created by DALL-E 3.

Creating collaboration on the ground: Reflecting on my first visit to Kenya

Work in higher education is about learning. Is there a better way to learn than travel?

Oct 10, 2023

Jakub Tkaczuk

3 min

In an era of open science, how is ‘transparency’ shifting within qualitative research

Within the social sciences, researchers value transparency to assess the scientific rigour of qualitative research. Although transparency in data production and analysis are increasingly commonplace, data access lags behind other disciplines. At GHE we are working to make our qualitative research more transparent, while developing standards for open access that will not be exclusionary for scholars in low-resource contexts.

Jun 21, 2023

Marc Kalina