Hope in hard times. Higher Education for Good is published

After more than two years of work, our book Higher Education for Good, is published. It is a wonderful, exciting, satisfying and celebratory moment for co-editor Catherine Cronin, myself, and the 71 authors from all over the world, as well as for the fabulous Open Book Publishers.
I have so much to say but right now, the main things is YOOOOOHOOOO and, of course, also, WHEW!
Catherine and I have written about the principles and process of the book project and will write more about the content of the 27 chapters, and of course about the tenets towards a manifesto for HE For Good. There is also more to say about how many people and roles are involved in making a book like this.
It is really pleasing that the book is published during Open Access Week, an issue close to our hearts. I spoke about why this matters so much in this short clip for The Academy of Science, whose Chairperson, Prof Jonathan Jansen, wrote the Foreword for the book.
The realities of academic publishing, the variations of open access publishing (and its attendant open washing),  those are also definitely the subject of a future blog posting.
And, perhaps most importantly, it is not only higher education that needs help and hope right now. Given the heartbreaking events happening in the world, there is more need than ever for hope.
As Catherine and I wrote in our chapter......
Hope is firmly rooted in the belief that it is never too late.
Hope is practical. It means taking action, being disciplined, making plans.
Hope is impractical. It means dreaming, being undisciplined, being open-ended.
Hope is strengthened when practised in solidarity with others. It means building and strengthening alliances, coalitions, communities.
Hope is contested and contradictory. And yet whatever its form, it is essential.
Without hope, there would be no future worth living