Thought Leadership

Will Donald Trump be ranked as a great president? Here’s what the research tells us

Associate Professor in US Politics David Andersen explores how President Trump could end up ranking compared to other US presidents.

Pope Francis autobiography: we’ve never known so much about the pontiff before

Assistant Professor in the History of Catholicism Liam Temple reviews the first autobiography written by a sitting pope.

The pope faces away from the camera and raises his right hand

What does it mean to be political for today’s students?

Rille Raaper, Associate Professor in our School of Education, writes for SRHEblog.com.

How to support neurodivergent postgraduate researchers

How can universities ensure PhD students of all neurotypes can thrive? Professor Debbie Riby, Dr Amy Pearson, and Jess Hirst, from our Department of Psychology, discuss how to provide neurodiversity-affirmative supervision.

A wooden jigsaw-like picture of a head, with coloured bricks apparently flying away from it

Academies haven’t raised pupil achievement – there’s no need for them to have privileges that other schools do not

Professor of Education and Public Policy Stephen Gorard responds to the current Labour government's plans to cut back on some of the exceptions afforded to academy schools.

A teacher stands in front of a white board while students sitting in front of her raise their hands

Do aliens exist? We studied what scientists really think

Professor in Philosophy of Science Peter Vickers reveals the results of four surveys asking experts if they think there's intelligent life beyond Earth.

A UFO floats against the night sky with its tractor beam lit

Why there’s no such thing as normal in child development

Associate Professor in Psychology Samuel Forbes challenges our current benchmarks for child development, which he argues are variable based on cultural context and individual personalities.

A child in a red shirt stacks colorful blocks in a tower

Dambusters raid: a feat of courage and skill whose cost outweighed its achievement

Professor Tim Luckhurst explains how press coverage following Operation Chastise obscured the high cost of the raid.

A Lancaster bomber plane flies over a cloudy gray sky

Seven ways to be a successful remote-working manager

Professor of Management Olga Epitropaki and Associate Professor in Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Anders Friis Marstand cover their research on remote working and how managers should respond to “psychological distance.”

A woman wearing headphones strokes her cat while sitting in front of a laptop with people's faces

I interviewed Syria’s militias at the start of the war – they will listen if other countries engage them

Assistant Professor in International Security William Plowright explores what may happen next in Syria following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Protesters with Syrian flags outside a building

Naked singularities: how quantum black holes explain why we don’t see the end of space and time

Mathematical and Theoretical Physics Fellow Robie Hennigar and his research partners outline their latest work on black holes.

An illustration of a black hole in space

Japanese scientists were pioneers of AI, yet they’re being written out of its history

Assistant Professor in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures Hansun Hsiung responds to the recent announcement of this year’s Nobel laureates in physics.

Blue lights form an orb on a black background