Industry and Academia: Good and Bad
I picked up a copy of THES last night and the lead story was academics partnering with industry and becoming fabulously wealthy in the process. After reading the story and thinking a bit more, I’m more positive about this than I was. I’ve no objection to the principle of academics becoming rich off their research, if the parent institution has a share of the income, if their equipment was used. I might have a twinge of jealousy but not because I want a library-shaped swimming pool in the back garden. Rather because the income represents freedom. I think this is a safeguard of sorts. If academics do become post-economic then they can live the life of a bourgeois researcher.
The front page has the flip side of this. Do you remember the unhappiest day of the year formula?
Misery is expected to peak on Monday, as 24 January has been pinpointed as the worst day of the year.
January has been long regarded as the darkest of months, but a formula from a part-time tutor at Cardiff University shows it gets even worse this Monday.
Foul weather, debt, fading Christmas memories, failed resolutions and a lack of motivation conspire to depress, Cliff Arnalls found.
The THES has a story on how these surveys come to be. I’m naïve, I thought they were bits of fun by the researchers. They’re serious PR tools by companies. They get the story and then get a psychologist to sign-off the research. From THES:
PR companies approach Gary Wood, a social psychologist at Birmingham University, about 40 times a year. He was offered the “unhappiest day of the year” survey. “They worked out the formula, but there was no psychological evidence – so I said no. It damages psychology.”
Cliff Arnall defended the survey: “Peer-reviewed papers do not do what psychology ought to do – help people talk about their feelings and get the most out of life.”
The pay for this kind of thing is around £100 to £500 and it bothers me. All is not lost though as I have a practical solution. All academics should immediately be made millionaires.
Additional: I’ve just noticed. The formula for the depressing day is listed as 1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA while his formula for the happiest day is O + (N x S) + Cpm/T + He. In the happy day story he notes:
“Whether it’s a sunny day, a childhood memory, or something as effortless as eating a delicious ice cream, I wanted my formula to prove the key to happiness can really be that simple.”
This research was brought to you in association with Walls.
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