McPhDs - is this the future?

Published 11 May 09 02:12 PM | robyn.owens 

A very interesting article on the ABC website today. See

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/11/2566534.htm

 

 

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# Google Bizkit said on May 12, 2009 11:40 AM:

Wow , very interesting article , glad you posted that. It worries me a little bit about the quality of new PHDs , but i guess that might just be me.

# Matthew Legge said on May 12, 2009 5:51 PM:

I wonder if the students are more likely than normal to run into intellectual property issues with McDonalds? Especially on topics that might lead to a competitive advantage to the corporation.

From a cynical point of view I think there is a strong potential for a conflict of interest at Mc U that might affect the student's ability to publish and be recognised for their work outside the corporation. I wonder how that might be policed?

The article is not reporting the whole story, there is probably a whole host of checks and balances in the background. There may be a precedent in regulations/legislation related to apprenticeships that might be relevant.  

Mind you, I am biased by the reported ferocity of the McDonalds legal team in the 'McLibel' case in Britain a few years back and more recently in Queensland. The IP lawyers of McDonalds jumped on a local firm sponsoring a rugby team because the name on the unifroms started with 'Mac'. Apparently McDonalds have a line in children's clothing that is not available in Australia (Hamburgler PJ's!) and this was a trademark infringement. From memory Maccas lost that case.

Something to watch closely...

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About robyn.owens

I started my academic life doing a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics at UWA before going to Oxford to complete an MSc and a DPhil, also in Mathematics. I then spent three years in Paris at l'Université de Paris-Sud, Orsay, continuing research in mathematical analysis and going to lots of movies before returning to UWA to work as a research mathematician. I have lectured in Maths and Computer Science at UWA, as well as for short periods at Berkeley, The University of Canterbury in Christchurch, and Prince Songkla University in Thailand. My research has focussed on computer vision, including feature detection in images, 3D shape measurement, image understanding, and representation.