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The Fellows of St Judas College are electing a new Master. The choice has almost been made. It is Kerris Bowles-Ottery, a distinguished scientist. His smooth ways charmed the Fellows, especially the ones who look like elderly crocodiles. He’s an FRS. He has Friends of the Right Sort. The Bowles-Ottery Read more…
The 21 Group has been receiving complaints about bullying from staff in UK Universities for over a year. One subject stands out as the worst for bullying and harassment. It is cancer research. We are aware of ongoing and serious issues at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and London, involving Read more…
The 21 Group has received the following report of misogynistic bullying in a UK University. The bully is the Director of the Research Centre, the victim is a woman on a fixed-term contract. How many times do we see this in our universities? To be a woman on a fixed-term Read more…
Cambridge University has now supplied more response to the article on bullying in The Observer. The percentages in the article were based on those who expressed an opinion. So, the University is conceding that the numbers in the article are the correct percentages with ‘don’t knows‘ excluded. If you have Read more…
This is the response of Cambridge University to the article in The Observer. Of course, any survey has sampling error and biases. The results always need careful interpretation. However, many of the responses in the University Culture Survey give grave cause for concern at the effectiveness of the University’s anti-bullying Read more…
The Guardian has just published an article on the endemic bullying and harassment in some Cambridge University departments. It is here. Toxicology, Pathology, Cancer Research UK, Oncology, History, Physics, Earth Sciences and Astronomy are named as amongst the worst performers. (We still do not have data at departmental level for Read more…
Often university heads of department or line managers can push someone out, merely because they don’t like him or her. The bullying can hide behind the scenes — blocking career moves, mocking contributions, cutting off access to key resources & meetings, or removing important tasks. Victims don’t always see it Read more…
The position of Chancellor of Cambridge University is vacant following the resignation of Lord Sainsbury of Turville. An election will shortly take place. The role is unpaid and has been seen in recent years as largely ceremonial. However, by Statute A4, the Chancellor has powers ‘to see that all officers of Read more…
University senior management are really good at some things — like evading responsibility for monumental cock-ups (see Dundee University here) or awarding each other big pay rises (see Stirling University here). And cover-ups. The home of the cover-up is Oxbridge. We’ll be dealing with massive cover-ups at Oxford and Cambridge Read more…
Some of the most vulnerable people in the desolate landscape of UK universities are postdocs. Nowadays, few independent research fellowships are available. Instead, many postdoctoral positions are project-related, supported by a grant obtained by the Principal Investigator (PI) Postdoctoral research associates (PDRAs) often spend most of their time on semi-directed Read more…