Let’s emerge from the pandemic lockdown into a fairer academic world

At the beginning of the pandemic, as universities were shutting, a meme did the rounds on social media. Some academics suggested that they were looking forward to increased productivity in grant and paper writing under lockdown. They cited the fact that Isaac Newton came up with his theory of gravity whilst quarantined during the bubonic plague. Globally, the reaction from many was to inwardly — or publicly — scream.