Letter in the FT on FIFA Accountability

I've got a letter in the Financial Times today (subscription required) discussing briefly mechanisms and prospects for holding FIFA accountable.  Here is an excerpt:

The new allegations of corruption surfacing almost daily might suggest that FIFA sits out of reach of  mechanisms of accountability from member states. But such a judgment would be premature. The European Court of Justice has ruled on several occasions that, as an economic activity, football is subject to European law, with important decisions having been rendered on issues such as the mobility of players between teams and sports disciplinary rulings.

 There is an academic paper in the works, stay tuned.

Promoting women in science and medicine to become a priority

The University of Tromsø in Norway - the world's northernmost university - has adopted new recommendations designed to increase the number of female full professors from the current 23% to 30% by 2014.

Women spend longer as Associate Professors than men, partly because “men apply as soon as they think they have a chance of promotion, while women tend to wait until they are very confident”.

The panel developed 13 recommendations, among them:

- re-advertising positions if there are no women in the applicant pool
- ensuring that women receive training in salary negotiation
- assessing research quality rather than quantity
- improving the visibility of women within institutions
- encouraging diversity in leadership style

References:

Promoting women in science and medicine. The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9754, Page 1712, 20 November 2010.

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.