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Recent Posts
- Head of UBC Mathematics: The end of an era
- Nicole Tomczak-Jaegermann 1945-2022
- UBC Campus Vision 2050, in a word, lacks vision
- Louis Nirenberg (1925-2020)
- UBC: The ill-fated revolt of those who ought to know better
- Shiny, happy, oblivious science
- NSERC has lost its bearings … again
- The Learning & Research of the UBC Board of Governors (II)
- The Learning & Research committee of the UBC Board: What a difference a year makes (I)
- UBC: Failures in governance are slowing down the pace of academic renewal
- A research community at the mercy of a leaderless NSERC
- A busy first four months on the UBC Board of Governors
- Academic publishing in the time of sanctions and boycotts
- Maurice Sion: 1927 – 2018
- Robert M. Miura: 1938 – 2018
- When the Walls of Governance Come Crumbling Down
- Why I am voting against the tuition increases for domestic students
- Resignation of the director of the Wall Institute: The reaction
- Why I am resigning from the directorship of the Wall institute
- Accountability and Governance at UBC: Budget
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Author Archives: Ghoussoub
Beyond UBC’s clumsy announcement regarding Gupta’s resignation
There are many puzzled, devastated, concerned and angry friends, colleagues and citizens wanting to learn about what happened at UBC last Friday evening. How can a promising energetic UBC president with far-reaching and refreshing ideas be led to resign after … Continue reading
Reform(atting) the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – a living autopsy
Last year, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), which is the primary federal funding agency of health research in Canada, embarked on a bold and wide-ranging series of reforms that change virtually every aspect of how health research funding … Continue reading
Posted in R&D Policy
Tagged cihr, Early Career Investigator, F-Scheme, P-Scheme, Virtual review
46 Comments
A few words at a happy event
Thank you, Mme. Chancellor. Thank You, Mr. President, and Thank you, University of Victoria, for this tremendous honour. I obviously have many connections to UVic, but I should start by mentioning a very special one.
Posted in Banff International Research Station, Honouring friends
Tagged Alan Turing, Alex McCauley, Ed Perkins, Emmy Noether, G.H. Hardy, Honorary Doctor of Science, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, John Nash, Martin Taylor, Ramanujan, Reinhard Illner, Sophie Germain, The University of Victoria
1 Comment
Light years from the academy
To Joseph on his 20th birthday Leaning over a game of Backgammon in the main square of this remote mountain village of the Levant, the four unemployed teenagers didn’t see it coming. Youssef Habib lunged at them from the back … Continue reading
The last graceful act of a beautiful mind
Sunday morning, May 24th: I am having breakfast with a life-long friend, Ivar Ekeland, at his kitchen table in Paris, France. He was just back from Oslo, and was telling me about the ceremony for the 2015 Abel prize, he … Continue reading
Posted in Honouring friends
Tagged Abel Prize, Ivar Ekeland, John Nash, Louis Nirenberg, Nobel prize Economics
1 Comment
An activist you are!
The letter from the president of The University of Victoria informing me about my honorary doctorate was a complete surprise. “My former graduate students and postdocs, who are now on the faculty at UVic, must have been behind this nomination,” I … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
Tagged Basic research, BIRS, Diversity, Honorary Doctor of Science, Mathematics, Mitacs, PIMS, The University of Victoria
2 Comments
Mathematics, poetry and beauty
Originally posted on Peter Cameron's Blog:
Comparing mathematics with poetry is an infinitely rich game. For every opinion you express, there is an equally valid counter-opinion. Contrasted to Hilbert’s dismissal of a student who had left mathematics for poetry,…
Posted in Uncategorized
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Four lessons from an amazing site visit
A joint site visit to the Banff International Research Station (BIRS) by four granting agencies representing four different governments, happened on April 16 and 17. Eight officials from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), Canada’s Natural Science and Engineering Research … Continue reading
Posted in Banff International Research Station
Tagged Alberta Innovation, BIRS, Conacyt, Doug Mitchell, Janice Price, NSERC, NSF, Peer review, Rita Colwell
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Why Canada’s research granting councils mean so little to this government’s agenda
NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR, Canada’s main granting agencies in support of university research are not doing well. Their total absence from Budget 2015 is only one of many symptoms indicating how tired they are. Tired are their ways in trying … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy
Tagged 2015 Budget, CERC, cihr, Harper Government, Mitacs, NRC, NSERC, sshrc, Thirty meter Telescope
3 Comments
How dare UBC take diversity so seriously?
It has been a year since UBC announced its very first …“president of colour”. And as of yesterday, UBC-Vancouver has its very first woman provost. On the surface, these look like de-facto corollaries of a post-racial, post-sexist era, at a … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
Tagged Change of the guard, Diversity, leadership, UBC, UBC Provost, Women in leadership
5 Comments
On the “clientèle-based” logic in redefining academic units
Are we just a service department? I doubt that Princeton’s Mathematics department thinks it is, neither does any Chemistry department on this continent. Yet, a Vice-President of the Canadian Mathematical Society wants us “to come to the realization that in … Continue reading
UBC’s free fall in university rankings
University rankings may be questionable. Their evaluation criteria may be flawed or unrepresentative. They may be based on false or manipulated data provided by some institutions. They can even, occasionally, be bought. But the reality is that they do matter. … Continue reading
Posted in R&D Policy
Tagged Arvind Gupta, research, TA strike, UBC, University of Toronto, University rankings
7 Comments
To some a citation is worth $3 per year
Originally posted on Bits of DNA:
Earlier this week US News and World Report (USNWR) released, for the first time, a global ranking of universities including rankings by subject area. In mathematics, the top ten universities are: 1. Berkeley 2.…
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Highlights from the installation speech of UBC’s 13th President, Arvind Gupta
Here are excerpts from the speech of Arvind Gupta at his official installation as UBC’s 13th president. Canada’s post-secondary system should take notice. “We recognize UBC as a Place of Mind, but also as a place of shared cultures, traditions, and … Continue reading
The President of the University of Alberta asked us to think twice, and we have!
Back in 2009, a dozen faculty members from 10 different Canadian universities initiated an open letter to the Prime Minister imploring him to “not leave Canada behind.” The federal “stimulus” budget had just announced a substantial cut to the three … Continue reading
A ton of career blood in the cause of clearly defining academic freedom
“This letter is also to advise you that the administration leave scheduled to begin on July 1, 2014 is hereby revoked…You are to receive your final pay on May 30, 2014, as per the normal payroll cycle. You are to … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors
Tagged Brett Fairbairn, Ilene Busch-Vishniac, Robert Buckingham, U. Saskatchewan
3 Comments
On the dark side of philanthropy
“We are deeply disappointed that Janis Sarra has had to step down as Director of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies… Like her, we will all work to secure the academic independence of the Institute and its programs, and … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors, Op-eds, Uncategorized
Tagged Academic freedom, Independence, Jim Balsillie, Munk Institute, UBC, Wall Institute, Waterloo, York University
1 Comment
Return on investment in faculty rarely captured by university CFOs
“Mr. President, We are not employees of the university. We are the university.” With these words, Isidore Rabi, a distinguished faculty member at Columbia University, interrupted Dwight Eisenhower, who had started off a speech by addressing the faculty as “employees … Continue reading
UBC appoints a doer as its 13th President
Once again, UBC has steered clear of appointing a career university administrator for its top position. Unlike UofT and UVic, who opted for the ultimate insiders, and McGill, who went for a consummate bureaucrat, UBC has chosen to appoint a … Continue reading
Bye Bye Board
Yesterday was my last day on the UBC Board of Governors, the end of an extremely rewarding six-year stint. To the faculty who elected me decisively twice for the Board and another time for the Presidential search committee, I say … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors
Tagged Board of Governors, Brad Bennett, Doug Mitchell, John Montalbano, Stephen Toope, UBC
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Piece of Mind 