An update on Ronin Women – successes and lessons learned while developing the Ronin Institute Women IG+

  This post is the second in a blog series based on discussions at monthly meetings of the Ronin Institute Women’s Interest Group.The first post in this series was on Productivity and balance as a woman scholar Forthcoming posts in this series will include thoughts on managing stress and more. In early 2021, a trend all too common …

Productivity and balance as a woman scholar: challenges, ideals, and strategies

This post is part of a blog series based on discussions at monthly meetings of the Ronin Institute Women’s Interest Group. An earlier original version of this specific post first appeared in the The Deliberate Owl on 15 November 2022. Forthcoming posts in this series will include a summary of the Women’s group’s discussions in 2022 and thoughts on …

Academic Freedom

Why does academic freedom matter?

By Ronin Research Scholar Maria Jakubik I have spent more than half of my life living in Finland, but I have studied at five and taught at nine universities across Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the USA. Here is an interesting situation I would like to share with you. Recently, …

Overcoming systemic barriers to inclusion in academia: the case for a hybrid conference format

By Research Scholar William Donald An earlier original version of this post first appeared in the Times Higher Education on 9 August 2022. Conference season is upon us, and in-person events are back this year. My social media feed is full of posts from fellow academics jetting off to exciting destinations and relieved that the …

Save Cantonese: language advocacy for a project to preserve Cantonese in the West

By Research Scholar Keith Tse Cantonese means a lot to me. My interest in it is twofold: academic and personal. As I do research in Linguistics and I frequently analyse my native language (Chinese), I am naturally interested in Cantonese and its reception in the West. I also come from Hong Kong, China, and Cantonese …

Sustainability at the Ronin Institute

By Research Scholar Oumaima Ben Amor What we innovate, invent, advance, or know today started off as research fueled by our curiosity. Research is an essential phase in the understanding of problems and challenges which involves the development of new ideas and solutions. It has long shed light on the global threats that we are …

Our Ronin Institute home at 10 years

By Research Scholar Emily Monosson, first published in the May 2022 issue of Kitsune Welcome! You’ve stumbled across the launch of the good ship Ronin Blog, the official blog of the Ronin Institute. Updates here will cover developments at the Ronin Institute, as well as topics of potential interest to independent scholars everywhere – or …

Reinventing the humanities: fostering a new culture of scholarship or looking back to the past?

By Research Scholar Miloš Todorović Why not start this with a personal story? It is, after all, a personal essay on why I joined the Ronin Institute, even if the title is a bit misleading. Like so many others, 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic took me by surprise, changing my day-to-day life entirely. Yes, this …

Preserving cultural heritage in times of crisis: the role of social media

By Research Scholar Kristin Parker I identify as a cultural heritage defender.  I’ve been fortunate to have spent decades working with several remarkable museums including The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. With a speciality in managing museum collections, I’ve worked with  every …

Multilingualism, global competency and language learning for a better world: The role of independent scholars

By Research Scholar Kathleen Stein-Smith Languages offer benefits and opportunities for those who can learn and use additional languages in their studies and professional lives, and in their roles as citizens both locally and globally. Language learning and language use also offer cognitive benefits at all ages. Unfortunately, US students do not always have the …