What goes on tour comes home

Evening (or morning on the other side of the planet)

Firstly, I know there's been radio silence from your fearless correspondent. Believe it or not, I've been a touch busy, and after an...eventful first half of the year I've been letting my fuel tank refill for a bit. I've also been preparing for a reasonably lengthy overseas trip, delivering seminars, and workshops and lectures in six different cities across three countries. So that kind of explains why I haven't had it in me to write the blog recently. My bad.

As I write I'm watching a student panel at the Academic and Research Integrity Conference Ireland, in lovely Galway. The conference has been great so far, bringing together the strands/challenges, etc that face both research and teaching. I was struck by something Bryan O'Mahony from the Union of Students of Ireland said- "we need to recapture the spirit of higher education." None of us could define what that means, but I feel like we'll know when we're on the road to it.

I've also been struck my how energised Ireland is in the integrity space, at a national level. Coming together regularly as a community, discussing and agreeing on what good practice and good ideas mean. Long may it continue. Organizing, learning, developing, and progressing together. I can tell you it's vastly more satisfying than watching atomised higher ed sectors running around (as the old saying goes) like chooks with their heads cut off.

On a personal level I've greatly enjoyed the workshops I've delivered so far, and really appreciate the openness with which my occasionally provocative) ideas have been received.

From here I'm talking in Cork, and Leeds, and London, before I journey to Canada to spread the virus there.

Meanwhile, there's been great interest in the approach my colleague Shaun Lehmann and I have taken with regard to a data driven approach to detecting online misconduct, and our Wiroo program. At this point on the life of higher ed I think it's imperative that we start thinking about efficiency, effectiveness and fairness in our approaches to these challenges.

Until next time (which I hope will be soon),

KM