Academic Bullying

What is academic bullying?

The term ‘academic’ bullying is increasingly used, following a growing realisation that academia’s historically hierarchical structure seems to encourage common types of bullying to proliferate (e.g. genderism) as well as specific kinds based on the abuse of hierarchy and/or ‘pockets’ of vulnerability. As with some other historically elite professions, ‘risky’ interfaces include teacher-learner (supervisor/PhD student, Lecturer/student) as well as research- based interfaces, e.g. between different grades of staff in a large project.

How common is academic bullying?

In this under-researched area it is difficult to determine prevalence. As with many other bullying statistics, under- reporting is likely to be significant. The latter is usually related to the marked stigma around bullying but also an understanding that reporting bullying may lead to acute and longer term repercussions, e.g., for a person’s life to be made difficult, and to have their career progression stymied.

Did you know?

Many unpleasant or annoying behaviours in academia are caused by fear. Fear of….looking stupid, looking less able, being found out, being told off…..which seems odd, given that one main premise of academic work is to find out the unknown, try different ideas and so on…..food for thought. Even those really annoying people who take over discussions or try to show off….. might actually be fearful on the inside. Ideas about how to best mitigate fear, and to avoid these painful behaviours, can be found here.

What does academic bullying look like?

Any bullying behaviour (see Topics 1 & 2) might occur in academia and can certainly arise via online bullying (Topic 4). However, a number of types seem to specifically occur in the academic context:

General academia:

Moving the goalposts without good reason/warning or support
Threats of dismissal without reason or process
Intimidation around resource allocation
Claiming authorship where not warranted
Changing authorship order where not warranted/consulted
Ganging up (‘mobbing’) to prevent a colleague investigating or presenting a contradictory, risqué idea or one that might ‘steal the limelight’
Any other behaviour deemed to be bullying, e.g. racism, genderism.

Supervisor/learner or Lecturer/learner relationship

Purposefully & without good reason neglecting a learner’s academic needs, e.g. guidance about ethical issues, understanding requirements of a degree or around specialist knowledge and understanding
Claiming publication authorship where not warranted
Forcing a topic on a student driven by one’s own pursuit of kudos or refusal to do the grunt work

Who is more likely to get bullied?

Bullying is generally more likely, or to be exacerbated for those:

working in competitive/fast moving fields
where substantial financial issues are at stake
working with ‘difficult to replace’ seniors who abuse their power
in minorities e.g. ethnic, religious, gender identity, sexuality
who are easily ‘replaceable’ staff or students
who are ‘new’ to an academic context, e.g. newly graduated, postdoctoral, overseas
shy, quiet staff/students
with still-evolving social and resilience skills
for whom conflict is culturally unacceptable

The effects of bullying can also be exacerbated where a person has personal financial concerns, issues around visa / employment, difficulties in their home environment or other life stressors.

Why does academic bullying happen?

As with any kinds of bullying, it can happen for, and with, anyone, but in academia some specific conditions make it more likely.

Bullying is generally more likely by those who:

inhabit management or teaching positions with little training in them, or lack the ‘people management’ skills demanded by such roles
have narcissistic tendencies
are afraid of something, e.g. ‘being found out,’ not making promotion
have difficulty understanding verbal & non-verbal cues
have an underdeveloped emotional intelligence (EQ)
inherit behaviours - passed on through the workplace
were bullied themselves, e.g. as a student

Effects of academic bullying

Falling confidence in abilities
Increasing stress levels
Long and short term mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression (common in PhD study anyway)
Suicidal ideation
Shame
Failure to successfully exit a learning opportunity, e.g. PhD
Career rethinks
Staff turnover
General negative workplace culture
Failure to reach desired goals, outputs or quality standards

A quick word about conferences

Conferences are upheld as a foundational part of academic life and essential for information sharing, critique, receiving and giving feedback, honing presentation skills and networking.

However, these laudable goals also create several ‘spaces’ that seem to allow the following:

Overt criticism of student members/other staff in the development phases of their research and writing careers, with the intent to humiliate
Questioning students/staff in abusive or disrespectful ways, e.g. at ‘question time’
Alcohol intake, closer-than-usual social contact, foreign travel & pre-existing work dynamics present difficulties around boundaries
‘Enthusiasm’ for networking can lead to some feeling socially excluded

As with any learning environment, we are, at least in part, responsible for the guidance and assistance of learners and staff in our ‘care.’ This means that when organising a conference, behavioural expectations sometimes need to be made explicit. Ideally, this would also require a person immediately available should a person need assistance. Such an arrangement can be done via a ‘registration desk’ situation and a nominated ‘safe’ staff person on call for advice.

Because responding to a bullying situation can require skill, and can be associated with personal risk, it is important that we are both proactive in looking after our staff and learners and have taken steps to grow our skills. As mentioned before, training in such methods is currently a gap in staff development in the majority of workplaces.

A focus on helping each other in tricky situations can help prevent issues becoming chronic and leading to an unhappy or toxic workplace. This is in preference to waiting for a complaint to be made, by which time, issues are usually well cemented into the workplace in question.

How do we manage academic bullying in the short term?

The IFFy Method © - Discrimination
Copywright to WoRD LtD. Publication also in press.

ONLY if you feel safe and skilled enough, or that a situation is more handleable, the IFFy method can help you respond to a potential perpetrator in a non-encouraging non-threatening way.

This method accounts for those who bully but who are unaware they are doing it, those who have inherited behaviours or can’t yet see that their actions are unfair. If the person is militant in their intention, this method can lower the likelihood of conflict at the time of the incident.

This method can also assist a victim during an event, help the perpetrator to reflect on their actions and values and avoid escalating conflict. As before with harassment, this method can feel counterintuitive.

It is important to practice this method (say, with a colleague) specifically with academic issues. Get your friends to tell you how it sounds to them – and whether you are striking the right tone.

IFFY = a mnemonic in which each letter stands for part of a sentence.
I = Indirect approach at the outset
F = Focus on you/the group/victim (NOT the perp)
F = Focus on what you would like to achieve (positive, NOT focused on what the perp has done)

Example Scenario 1: Supervision
Example Scenario 2: Seminar
Example Scenario 3: Conference

In a supervisory meeting (3 supervisors and 1 student) the primary supervisor is challenging another’s wish to confirm the PhD Candidate, citing lack of progress. As Supervisor no. 2, you are aware that the primary supervisor has ignored work that the student has handed in and failed to give feedback on it in a timely fashion.

Consider the following questions:
Q – What makes this academic bullying?
Q – What do you think might account for the supervisor’s behaviour?
Q – What can you say or do?

You might say the following:
I'm thinking that the last draft may not have been seen by everyone. Shall we have a stocktake? Then we can provisionally confirm X, unless you have anything further to add.
Let's do a quick check of where we are at with drafts. X, when was the last one circulated? I think if we have all had time to offer feedback, we should be able to confirm on this basis.

A colleague is presenting some work at a departmental seminar, and you know that a Research Fellow undertook much of the legwork. The colleague has failed to acknowledge them in the presentation.

Consider the following questions:
Q – What makes this academic bullying?
Q – What do you think might account for the colleague’s behaviour?
Q – What can you say or do?

You might say the following:
After the presentation, not in public: can I have a quick look at that slide on acknowledgments? I'm thinking X may have been missed off, and I know what this work means to them.
I'm wondering if we made it clear about the whole research team. Should we email around a correction? I didn’t see X on there.

At a conference, two postgraduate students are being talked to in an overbearing way by a senior colleague of another gender. As their research interests don’t seem to be similar, you wonder what might be going on, and what to do.

Consider the following questions:
Q – What makes this academic bullying?
Q – What do you think might account for the colleague’s behaviour?
Q – What can you say or do?

You might say the following:
Oh, hello you two – can I just borrow you for a minute? I need some help just quickly. (Then check what was being said, remove them from the area if needs be.)
Hi Bob, what’s happening? Can I grab you just for a second? (Then ask if he is OK, as he looked a bit stressed out.)

Countering academic bullying in the long term?

IFFy can help academic bullying in the long term by encouraging staff and students to reflect on their actions. There are also some steps that you might take on a departmental level to mitigate the possibility that bullying will occur.

Ensure your staff are well versed in giving effective and safe feedback to their colleagues, and students. Such training can reduce bullying which can happen ‘accidentally’ (those unaware of what they are doing), or where staff lack specific skills, or where a challenging situation arises. All these are possible precursors to bullying.
Model good questioning skills at seminars and meetings, and try to use IFFy where you see others doing a bad job.
Encourage staff to discuss staff and student issues with each other and more experienced colleagues. This encourages a modicum of transparency and can bypass the temptation to bully that might result from disliking a student.
Have a nominated student representative who has access to a trusted senior staff member. Ensure students know why, and how to get in touch.
- This can allow students to discuss issues with a trusted, more experienced figure (such as a mentor or supervisor) before things get tricky. For example, a senior student (e.g. a PhD candidate) might have an agreed contract with one of their supervisors, who has proven to be trustworthy, and has agreed to be a source of advice.
- Reasons to get in touch might be that the student feels they are missing out on supervision time (early intervention is important!), or that they feel they have been harshly treated (again, early intervention is important, and this allows for discussion of ways around the situation).
Talk to your staff about IFFy and how/when to use it.