Bullying is a feature of UK research universities, not a bug

the issues with the above is that all the bullies I have encountered were the trade union representatives and that fact alone meant their sexism, misogyny and poor behaviour was seen as untouchable.....HR don't do anything that is very true but I also don't trust anyone else to help you.

It is true that HR's sole interest is to defend the rep of the University and make sure nothing leaks out and there are no loose ends. They are single minded and very determined and you need to be very hard indeed to get the better of them. The position of a postgrad..yes, I agree with the advice in this column as there is really nothing you can do. University supervisors and powerful Profs do behave like minor potentates and the money they bring in does make them valuable and places like Cambridge/Oxford/Imperial place their management objectives some miles above the lives of their fully expendable employees. The overall message is and always has been, you are easily replaced and there are hundreds behind you who will take your place and take the 'supervision' in the chin or wherever else the academics choose to place it. The whole academic business is just that, a business. You are in or you are out and it is not even your choice. If you are a postgrad/postdoc in this position, you have to learn strategies to cope until you can find another place and you do need a reference, but it does help to cultivate some political awareness and find an sympathetic academic that you can rely on if all else fails. Sometimes this is one of your supervisor's enemies, which can be a double-edged sword...better if you can find somebody senior that you are friendly with. If all else fails you can get a reference out of them. However, don't let the reference thing totally terrify you-academics know that people fall out and often they are only too aware of the environment. If you have produced the papers-that is the currency-that is what counts. To paraphrase the Emperor Caligula, 'Let them hate you as long as you publish..' one day you will find somewhere sympatico...

"So if you are a female member of support staff, there is no way to sugarcoat it: you are at high risk of being bullied. In the saddest case known to me, one such individual at a UK university killed herself because of bullying." Many may already be familiar with the details of the case to which Wyn is likely referring, but for those who are not, it occurred a couple of years ago at a university in the southeast and got a lot of coverage in the tabloid news.

We don’t tolerate bullying in broader society, so why is it accepted as a “feature” at the top research universities and is it not called out as a disgrace? The author correctly states, “Huge grants, prestigious prizes, adulatory press coverage, first-author publications, untrammelled power over enormous research groups—these are all highly flattering to the ego. It is no coincidence, then, that big egos are associated with “top academics,” alongside charisma, self-promotion, and self-importance. And these qualities are also present in the kinds of people who bully others.”. What is wrong with the ethics of the institutions in question and the system as a whole that allows these traits to go unchecked to the detriment of their peers, colleagues, and proteges? How can these institutions that are supposed to represent the apex of human intelligence, home to our greatest minds and most influential changemakers, tolerate this culture and these behaviours? And every day still wonder why declining student enrollments and funding cuts grace the headlines. Why could that be? These are the people our species entrusts with conducting research for the good of all humankind, training the best and brightest to be future global leaders, and championing diversity and inclusion among our policymakers. It's not good enough; funders (donors, taxpayers, etc.) deserve better; students deserve better; and society deserves better. Research has shown that people increase mimicry of another person when affiliation goals exist compared to when they do not, meaning if you are engaged in a task with other people or working on a collaborative project, it is more likely that mimicry will be displayed (1). If our academic elite wants to win the masses, make their research impactful, get the best out of people, and in turn change the world, they need to be humble and practice what they preach. “The true measure of a man [or woman] is the degree to which he [or she] has managed to subjugate his [or her] ego”. - Albert Einstein References (1) JoVE Science Education Database. <em>Social Psychology.</em> Nonconscious Mimicry Occurs when Affiliation Goals are Present. JoVE, Cambridge, MA, (2024).