Bullying of research students in universities

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Dissenter

The bullying culture in universities would appear to be ingrained. There have been several articles by anonymous academics in the Guardian on the subject. This not unfamiliar tale of an aggressive overbearing supervisor ensures that the future of research in this country is built on shaky grounds. Dissenter has seen something like this happen at Kingston; a research student lasted about a year before he quit because he couldn’t stand his domineering supervisor. Have you any experience of this? Let us know in the comments.

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4 Responses to Bullying of research students in universities

  1. Anonymous says:
    March 23, 2019 at 1:14 am

    I gave up one PhD (after nearly 5 years of work) due to a bullying supervisor. Luckily I had a much better experience the second time around.

    Reply
  2. B Leagured says:
    February 18, 2019 at 6:51 pm

    Not unknown in SEC. Graeme Jones is a prime contender, well known for his bullying. He had his wings clipped by Edith Sim when she stopped him getting the research director job in the new faculty, about the only good thing she did do. Now he’s annoying everyone as head of department. Then there was Rajiv Sharma-Drake in admin. A few of the admin staff cleared off while she was in SEC. Like all good bullies she was promoted to a higher role. SEC knows how to produce them.

    Reply
  3. Observer says:
    January 30, 2019 at 10:59 am

    Yes, there should be more accountability by universities for the way they treat students. Also, back in the annals of this blog are recountings of this continuing on into the treatment of vulnerable postdocs, which have left Kingston due to having no help with the bullying. I know of multiple instances where Kingston have hushed this up with paying settlements to the aggrieved.

    Bullying of students and postdocs are very normal at Kingston – so normal, no-one does anything about it. I have always wondered why staff who are found guilty of bullying, don’t get sacked?

    Reply
  4. DannyBoy says:
    January 28, 2019 at 6:43 pm

    From Kingston Dissenter Twitter:

    Clarissa Wilks had only three research articles and 58 citations, yet through nepotism was appointed “Pro Vice-Chancellor of Learning and Teaching” at @KingstonUni. Where else ?! Thankfully, this nonentity finally retired last autumn;

    https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Clarissa_Wilks

    For further examples of nepotism one needs only to cast an eye over the constituent departments of Wilks’ now-defunct former faculty FASS. Just count the number of current and former husband and wife pairs or other partnerships. And almost inevitably where one partner has been promoted, including to “Professor”, so has the other. Given the tendency of the fish to rot from the head, former Dean of FASS Gail Cunningham and her husband Joe Bailey were prime examples. Thank goodness they were replaced by the far more ethical McQueasy and Moron Shagalot.

    Also from Kingston Dissenter Twitter:

    Current plans are for Roehampton Vale campus to close in 2022. Courses will move to Penrhyn Road

    Reply

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