This initiative was launched in 2019 as part of the eLife Ambassador program. Academic bullying is workplace bullying which takes place at universities and research institutes. Bullying can include social and professional isolation, public humiliation, control and manipulation of information, emotional abuse, abusive working conditions, professional discredit and denigration, intimidation, and the devaluation of professional achievements. Due to the highly hierarchical and competitive nature of the academic and scientific environments, bullying is common but relatively rarely reported. The power imbalance and dependency on the supervisor’s actions make early career researchers, postdocs, PhD students, and technicians particularly vulnerable. ery often victims are left without any support. The lack of adequate procedures to report and hold bullies accountable should not be tolerated. Our goals are to increase the visibility of these problems, to create universal strategies of how to recognize and reduce bullying, and share strategies with victims on how to overcome challenges during their career.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (cc-by-4.0) - please attribute to 'eLife Community Ambassadors Anti-bullying Initative 2019-2020.'
- Nafisa Jadavji
- Emily Furlong
- Sarah Hainer
- Renuka Kudva
- Gyan Prakash Mishra
- Gabriela Gaona
- Pawel Grzechnik
- Małgorzata Anna Gazda
- Juniper Kiss
- Huanan Shi
- Samantha Seah