PhD’s ‘please don’t steal my work’ plea sparks national debate

This behaviour is nothing new and sadly continues to happen. It happened to me years ago and has held me back whilst those who 'borrowed' my work rose to stellar heights. It will continue to happen if we continue to applaud those 'great professors' who publish hundreds of papers (which is impossible if one is to have made a substantial contribution to the paper) and if journals continue to publish papers with hundreds of authors without a thorough investigation of all contributors. Universities should not promote and indeed should investigate and demote professors who purport to publish copious multi-author papers. There are clear breaches of research integrity that are not being addressed and if we continue to promote on the basis of number of papers, we will continue this exploitation of younger researchers.

where modern leaders tend to care more about brand control and avoiding disturbances - hits the nail on the head. They dont care unless it threatens their livelihood. University leadership positions are often occupied by low quality managers and failed academics turned managers. What else do you expect from this lot. Not all universities for sure, but many are infested with these sorts.

Each case is different.

I tend to see throughout education there can be a lot of people get on by how well they get on with their teachers/lecturers or Supervisors rather than the quality of their work. That I think often runs throughout education even from a very young age such as primary/elementary School. Structures need to be put in place to ensure everyone gets a fair and equal treatment so the truly talented are not preyed upon and exploited while less talented tush kissers rise to the top.