Addressing harassment and sexual misconduct experienced by postgraduate researchers – toolkit launch

Following an introduction by the Director of UKCGE, Dr Owen Gower, Dr Anna Bull began by looking at why the toolkit is needed. She said: ​“This is a regulatory moment where there’s a lot going on – universities have been ramping up their efforts to address sexual misconduct for some years”. However, there have been concerns raised that PGRs and their specific needs might get lost in implementing new regulatory requirements. For example, a survey conducted by the OfS in 2024 found that 6% of PGRs had experienced unwanted behaviours of a sexual nature in the previous year. 

Dr Bull also highlighted the finding that PGRs are more likely than any other students to face sexual misconduct from staff, and that non-binary and trans students experience much higher rates of sexual harassment than cis women.

She then went on to explain how the toolkit has been created to complement the E6 regulation, and how she and Dr Prince felt it would particularly assist the work of Doctoral Deans and Directors and people who work in HR and student service roles. However, their hope is for it to be widely adopted by those who need it. 

Dr Bull went on to make a few key recommendations including to: 

• Prioritise the issues which are urgent in your area or department.
• Implement measures to help prevent harassment before it occurs.
• Formulate a plan for responding in the short term, to ensure that there might not be a complaint.

Dr Bull added that – if possible – acting on informal disclosures of harassment is advisable, rather than waiting for a formal complaint to be made.

While the toolkit is comprehensive, Dr Bull said that efforts have been made to help people quickly find the answers they need. For example, she and Dr Prince have included a table of actions points with links to the regulatory frameworks – this section can be used to add weight to arguments needed to persuade colleagues in a department or institution. The toolkit also includes good-practice case-studies and the voices of PGRs themselves (all with their permission). 

“We hope that in five years’ time this toolkit will be outdated because people will have taken the points on-board and there will be lots of good practice underway,” she said.

Following this introduction to the toolkit, Dr Bull introduced two guests from the University of Bath: Dr Rachel Arnold (Academic Director, Doctoral) and Peter Eley (Deputy Director, HR Services). They shared their own systems of reporting and tackling harassment and sexual misconduct within their institution and the data-driven approach which they are using.

Firstly, Dr Arnold explained that they had established an Independent Advisor Service for Postgraduate Research Students at Bath. In addition to sexual misconduct, it covers a variety of issues including bullying and conflicts with supervisors, and it can be used by both staff and students. The scheme utilises four independent advisors who submit an annual report which is tabled at Senate. If suggested changes are thought to be useful or necessary, the right individuals can then be tasked with implementing them.

Peter then talked about the mechanism for raising concerns of harassment or other serious issues at Bath (which they have called ​“Support and Report”) along with the data-driven approach they have adopted to analyse the effectiveness of the initiative. He said that for the last three academic years, Bath has been producing a student report which has shown that their suite of informal interventions are being used with increasing frequency. They have also created a ​“Never OK” campaign, run jointly with the Students’ Union, which tackles all forms of harassment, bullying, sexual misconduct and discrimination.

To round off the event, Dr Bull then invited Sahana Arun Kumar (a PGR in the Department of Education at the University of York) to talk about a Research England-funded resource on which she is currently working, and which looks at harassment and sexual misconduct amongst racially minoritised PGRs. As Sahana explained, the project seeks to discover links between this cohort, their research environment, career aspirations and experiences of unwanted behaviour from colleagues. As she explained, there are already barriers to disclosure in this group – worries that it might affect their visa status and job opportunities, and difficulties such as families stigmatising the misconduct and being less than supportive.

She added: ​“sometimes being employed [by a university] but also being a PGR is murky territory — it has a bearing on how connected the PGR feels to the department and their projects”. Dr Bull agreed, adding that the OfS survey (mentioned above) found that international students are more likely to be in a sexual relationship with a supervisor than home students.

Following this final presentation, Dr Bull opened the floor for comments and questions (all of which were moderated and anonymised) and there were a few minutes of discussion before the event came to a close.