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Christopher Bigsby on the hardships and high points of life under canvas

Melissa Terras to call for ‘better communication’ of benefits

Ignorance of one’s native English means other languages and cultures are a closed book, says Felipe Fernández-Armesto

A postcolonial scholar began a troubling quest after learning about his father’s role in counterinsurgency in India

The continuing impact of historian Eric Hobsbawm was celebrated at a major conference held this week.

Emma Rees on the self-absorbed musings of Adrian Mole, the much-loved creation of the late Sue Townsend

Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman on the subject’s colour line

Despite the snobbery of Oxford, a young literary scholar found the liberty to know and speak his mind

A debate on whether “an arts degree is a waste of time and money” saw the motion decisively defeated.

Philosophers need to follow Socrates’ example and get back among the people, say John Kaag and David O’Hara

A new British Academy booklet aims to show how the social sciences and humanities can help build a society which combines prosperity with wisdom.

Historian Barbara Taylor’s account of the asylum system is woven into a memoir of breakdown and recovery aided by a ‘safe haven’, analysis and friendship

Milton and Alex Mermikides’ AHRC-funded work fuses music, dance and medicine

Food, feminism and assumptions about asylum seekers among areas explored in eight AHRC-backed projects

A former psychiatric nurse who is now a lecturer in creative writing has been awarded the Costa Book of the Year award for his debut novel.

Eminent academics restate worth of ‘knowledge for its own sake’

Frigid weather fails to dampen enthusiasm at the MLA conference, finds Robert Eaglestone

How has 16 years of growth in enrolment affected the fortunes of different disciplines?

The neglected, inaccessible land beside arterial routes is the subject of an exhibition and book

Oxford scholar says discipline can play vital role in meeting biggest challenges

Forcing students to choose sides leaves them, and society, poorer, says Christopher Bigsby

Lack of interdisciplinarity and pared funds a cause of concern for social sciences

A new booklet has been launched on the role of social science in promoting “mental wellbeing”.  

Academics must counter ‘verbicide’, which constrains expression, to foster new ideas and ways of seeing

Robert Colls on why E. P. Thompson’s landmark book belongs on more university reading lists

Symposium considers drawing’s role in refining and communicating knowledge, from geology to surgery to unicorns

Sally Feldman welcomes a modern reimagining of the incomparable Jane

On Halloween, Richard Sugg reveals how early stories of death from paralysing nightmares morphed into tales of vampires

Time is a harsh mistress but there’s much to look forward to, says the doyenne of the Left

Robert Eaglestone and Simon Kövesi ponder the problems that could sink the subject

Manchester Met launches interdisciplinary Centre for Gothic Studies

Cambridge critic points to July report’s ‘bad faith’ arguments

Discord over vocational and theoretical aspects of music study in the 19th century still resonates in today’s debates about higher education’s purpose

A new monthly online magazine of social research and policy analysis has been launched.

Born Global research looks to bridge gap between supply and demand

Q-Step programme at 15 universities set to improve social science students’ expertise

Imperial College London has moved its Translation Studies Unit to University College London.

Matthew Reisz talks to academics who have devoted their lives to studying the Bard

New book aims to promote calm in place of ‘grievance’

Critics of The Satanic Verses lost the battle but are winning the war, warns Dennis Hayes

Lecturer says profession should widen its global outlook

Hip programme targets the groups others cannot reach

John Williams’ novel about the careworn life of an obscure US academic deserves its belated success, Christopher Bigsby writes

Humanities and social sciences in Australia could lose A$100 million (£60 million) in funding following a change in government, it is feared. 

Felipe Fernández-Armesto on two undergraduates’ stairways to heaven (via Cincinnati)

David Gewanter recalls the time he spent studying under the late poet

Commemoration of the 1914-18 war should involve critical reflection rather than arouse an inarticulate glow of national pride

Students get deeper insights when writers and poets such as Dickens and Neruda are on the syllabus, David Aberbach argues

Sarah Coakley, Cambridge professor of divinity, discusses how theology throws light on evolution, gender and other issues

Computer generated jokes can make people laugh, researchers have found, although they are still not as funny as human witticisms.

A sense of impending doom is nothing new in higher education, says Alan Ryan

Laura Frost on the paradox of women’s lust that science struggles to comprehend

Study of the past gives Nick Hillman insight into policymaking dilemmas as well as personal and practical rewards

Aaron Rosen on how the UK is improving on a US staple

British Academy’s new president demands clarity and humility

A British university has purchased the manuscript of a literary landmark at a price of close to a million pounds.

Lecturers aid students in ‘School of the Damned’

Long-term study of alumni careers questions coalition’s STEM emphasis

Scholars at two UK universities are to recreate the 400-year-old walking adventures of celebrated playwright Ben Jonson using social media.

Edge Hill scholar turns a queer eye on ageing