Independence interrupted: creativity, context and the 'independent scholar'

Social and networked conceptions of creativity highlight the key role of collaboration and connection making in the work involved in creating and imagining new knowledge. With governments around the world keen to harness the potential of research to foster innovation and economic growth, the question arises as to whether the research degree experience is preparing graduates to be creative, or mobilise creativity, in this way. In this chapter we explore this issue through examining the persistent figure of the 'independent scholar' in accounts of research education and practice. We draw on preliminary analysis of data collected on the role of the doctorate in mid-career research success based on a survey of Australian Research Council Future Fellowship recipients. Our analysis focuses on responses to two open ended questions concerning; a) to what respondents' attribute their mid-career research sucess, and d) the extent to which the PhD experience provides preparation for a research career. We identify intriguing tensions and contradictions in the ways in which being and becoming a successful researcher are conceived. Most notably, the findings suggest that success can be achieved through different modes of working - and being trained - as a researcher. These have implications for universities seeking to promote research collaboration and creativity

The entrepreneurial subjectivity of successful researchers

This article begins the work of examining what kind of doctoral experiences positively influence researcher development, and what other attributes may contribute to a successful research career. It reports preliminary findings from the analysis of survey responses by a sample of successful mid-career researchers. Positive doctoral experiences and the early establishment of research activity are found to be important to researcher development. Successful researchers were also found to be able to acknowledge the importance of their 'soft skills', and to have flexible, responsive and adaptive dispositions. We term this disposition 'an entrepreneurial subjectivity' and argue that it is an important and underexamined characteristic of the successful researcher

How the doctorate contributes to the formation of active researchers: what the research tells us

While much research focuses on factors contributing to doctoral completion, few studies explore the role of the doctorate in forming active researchers with the skills, know-how and appetite to pursue research post-completion. This article investigates 15 existing studies for evidence of what factors in the doctoral experience may contribute to the formation of an active researcher with a capacity for later research productivity. The analysis reveals a productive advisor may be key to forming an active researcher and, although inconclusive, productivity post-completion. Further detailed research is required, however, into how the advisor influences candidates' productivity. The article also points to other potentially influential factors requiring further investigation, such as: developing collaborative capacities, conceptualising the purpose of the doctorate as forming an active researcher, advisor mentoring and fostering emotional engagement with research

'These are issues that should not be raised in black and white': the culture of progress reporting and the doctorate

This paper reports findings from Australian research into student, academic and administrative staff understandings of the role and efficacy of periodic progress reports designed to monitor the progress of higher-degree-by-research candidates. Major findings are that confusion of the purpose and ultimate audience of these reports is linked to less than effective reporting by all parties; countersigning and report dependency requirements inhibit the frank reporting of progress and 'social learning' impacts on the way candidates and sometimes supervisors approach reporting obligations, running counter to institutional imperatives. We conclude that no ready or transparent nexus between the progress report and progress may be assumed. Fundamentally, this calls into question the usefulness of this process as currently implemented. Arising from this is the recommendation that progress reporting be linked to substantive reviews of progress and embedded in the pedagogy and curriculum of higher-degree-by-research programmes

Community wealth building in an age of just transitions: exploring civil society approaches to net zero and future research synergies

Community Wealth Building (CWB) is a burgeoning international policy agenda for local economic development that seeks to enhance democratic ownership, retain the benefits of local economic activity and empower place-based economies and workers. Parallel to this, in the context of net zero transitions, there has been increasing interest in approaches to enhancing civil society and community ownership over local energy provision. However, in academic and practitioner debates, there has been very little interaction between these two strands of thinking and action on the need for radical change in current energy provision, particularly as part of a wider transformative change away from dominant neoliberal economic thinking, policies and structures. In this Perspective, we explore the various ways in which synergies exist between CWB and energy transitions by considering two civil society approaches to transitions; namely, the Thousand Flowers transition pathway and research in Grassroots Innovations. We examine how community energy could be strengthened through CWB, by showing how the ideas within these two approaches respond to the five core principles of CWB. Promising future directions for research and practice are identified, including linking up CWB and just transitions strategies, a renewed focus on local financial innovation and the growing role of anchor institutions in supporting net zero transitions, particularly where CWB supports economic democracy transformations in new net zero economies

Diagnostic accuracy of the Abbott ID NOW SARS-CoV-2 rapid test for the triage of acute medical admissions

Background: Decisions to isolate patients at risk of having coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the emergency department (ED) must be rapid and accurate to ensure prompt treatment and maintain patient flow whilst minimising nosocomial spread. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays are too slow to achieve this, and near-patient testing is being used increasingly to facilitate triage. The ID NOW severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) assay is an isothermal nucleic acid amplification near-patient test which targets the RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase gene. Aim: To assess the diagnostic performance of ID NOW as a COVID-19 triage tool for medical admissions from the ED of a large acute hospital. Methods: All adult acute medical admissions from the ED between 31st March and 31st July 2021 with valid ID NOW and RT-PCR results were included. The diagnostic accuracy of ID NOW [sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV)] was calculated against the laboratory reference standard. Discrepant results were explored further using cycle threshold values and clinical data. Findings: Two percent (124/6050) of medical admissions were SARS-CoV-2 positive on RT-PCR. Compared with PCR, ID NOW had sensitivity and specificity of 83.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) 75.4–88.7] and 99.5% (95% CI 99.3–99.6), respectively. PPV and NPV were 76.9% (95% CI 69.0–83.2) and 99.6% (95% CI 99.5–99.8), respectively. The median time from arrival in the ED to ID NOW result was 59 min. Conclusion: ID NOW provides a rapid and reliable adjunct for the safe triage of patients with COVID-19, and can work effectively when integrated into an ED triage algorithm

The role of research education coordinators in building research cultures in doctoral education

The development of cultures of support has become important in programmes for the preparation of research students. The paper draws on in-depth interviews with 21 research education coordinators from Australian and UK institutions to identify the strategies that they use to build research cultures and integrate research students into them. Students’ research cultures are not always linked to departmental research cultures more generally. Local contexts and conditions and staff (including supervisors’) attitudes are found to be critical in how research education coordinators respond and what is considered possible in order to ensure that research students are involved in research cultures

The clinical presentation of monkeypox: a retrospective case-control study of patients with possible or probable monkeypox in a West London cohort

Objectives: Since May 2022, cases of human monkeypox virus (hMPXV) with human-to-human cross-transmission have significantly increased in non-endemic countries. Our aim was to characterise diagnostic features of patients with confirmed and possible monkeypox to guide future risk stratification, and to describe a virtual care model. Methods: We performed a retrospective case-control study of 140 patients assessed and screened for suspected monkeypox; on hMPXV PCR testing, 70 were confirmed positive and 70 negative. Data were compared to generate odds ratios of demographic and clinical features. Results: Positive patients were predominantly cis-male (99%) and self-identified as gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) (94%). Lymphadenopathy at presentation was associated with a higher likelihood of a positive result (OR 7.69 [95% CI 3.58, 16.51]). Positive patients were more likely to have a rash affecting the genital (OR 5.38 [95% CI 2.57, 11.23]) or buttocks/perianal region (OR 3.79 [1.70, 8.45]) compared with negative controls. 79% of patients engaged with virtual ward follow-up. Conclusions: These data can inform a risk-based approach to management of suspected monkeypox in GBMSM populations. Lymphadenopathy at presentation and the location of the rash were more associated with a positive hMPXV result. Health authorities can consider a virtual ward approach in the hMPXV outbreak

Surgical jejunostomy and radiological gastro-jejunostomy feeding in children: Risks, benefits and nutritional outcomes

PURPOSE: Radiologically inserted gastrojejunal tubes (RGJ) and surgical jejunostomy (SJ) are established modes of jejunal feeding. The aim of the study is to review nutritional outcomes, complications and the practical consideration to enable patients and carers to make informed choice. METHODS: Retrospective review of patient notes with a RGJ or SJ in 2010, with detailed follow-up and review of the literature. RESULTS: Both RGJ and SJ are reliable modes to provide stable enteral nutrition. Both have complications and their own associated limitations. CONCLUSION: The choice has to be tailored to the individual patient, the social care available, the inherent medical disease and risk/benefit of repeated anaesthetic and radiation exposure. RGJ and SJ are important tools for nutritional management that achieve and maintain growth in a complex group of children. The risk and benefits should be reviewed for each individual patient