Updates made to The Millenium Project in March 2016

Despite the hiatus, the writing continued. The University of Wollongong awarded a PhD to a totally undeserving candidate. I was not pleased, and had something to say in Australasian Science magazine. The candidate's supervisor wasn't happy with me.

What is a PhD worth?

In late 2015 the University of Wollongong accepted a PhD thesis titled "A critical analysis of the Australian government's rationale for its vaccination policy", written by Judy Wilyman. She will now be awarded a doctorate.

There are three players in the drama – Dr Wilyman, Professor Brian Martin who supervised the process, and the University of Wollongong which awarded the degree.

I should start off by countering one of the criticisms that have been made of the thesis – that the research was conducted in a Humanities department. This is actually irrelevant. (He would say that, wouldn't he? He has a BA.) It is perfectly legitimate to investigate science from outside the world of science, and in fact most of the most famous and well-known philosophers of science were not themselves scientists. The real criticism is that the thesis is not of the academic quality expected for the granting of a doctorate from a legitimate university.

You can read the rest here.