German researchers studying power abuse in academia in Germany have come to some interesting conclusions about how common the problem is. Not enough checks are in place to prevent professors from exploiting doctoral candidates and other students.
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00:00At first everything was fine. Katrin started work on her doctorate and got on
00:06very well with her PhD advisor. But when she decided to leave the position in
00:11order to continue working abroad, things took a turn for the worse.
00:15She thinks mostly because she refused to leave her job earlier than was required
00:20by the contractual terms of her employment contract.
00:24He bad-mouthed me in front of other employees, bullied me and accidentally
00:30misdirected emails in which he talked badly about me, calling me brash and
00:35incompetent. The best way to describe it is that I felt powerless. Like many
00:44students and academic staff at universities in Germany, Katrin was at
00:48the mercy of the professor advising her dissertation. He was her direct
00:53supervisor and HR manager all rolled into one. He was also so well connected
01:00in her small field of research that he could harm her professionally.
01:07There are scholarships you can only apply for if you have a high grade on your
01:11dissertation and mostly the doctoral supervisor decides what that'll be. So if
01:17I get a bad evaluation or maybe one day find myself before an appointment
01:22committee when applying for a professorship myself, he might be asked
01:26for his opinion and could then say that I'm not suitable. And bullying is not the
01:34only kind of misconduct in academia. Some professors insist on appearing as
01:39authors in publications they haven't actually worked on, an abuse of their
01:43power. The same applies if they exert pressure to falsify data or evaluate
01:49results in a one-sided way. And there are even worse offenses involving
01:53physical and sexual abuse. So is it easier to abuse power at universities
01:59and research institutions than elsewhere? Professor Daniel Leising is
02:04investigating this question. A professor who teaches at the Dresden University of
02:10Technology, he chairs a commission at the German Psychological Society on the
02:14subject. And his verdict is clear. We know from a whole series of surveys that
02:22it's unquestionably part and parcel of the scientific community that scientists
02:27are treated badly. And this also applies to other European countries like the
02:31Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria. Mobbing, bullying and exploitation are
02:36common. But what exactly makes it so easy for perpetrators at universities and
02:42research institutions to get away with it? As with cases of power abuse in other
02:47areas of society, the issue remained a taboo topic for years. The biggest
02:52problem? The amount of power held by a single person. According to Leising, the
02:58reputation professors have in German society also plays a role. Unethical
03:05behavior is easier in organizations that are reputed to be highly ethical. If you
03:11were sexually assaulted by a pastor or priest in the 1960s or 70s, then came
03:17home and told your mother about the very strange things he did to you, you were
03:21probably sent off to bed without dinner. Because you don't say things like that
03:25about a man of the cloth. And I notice a similar inhibition when it comes to
03:30scientists. Professor Stefan Schulz-Hart, the German Psychological Society's
03:39chairman, says that policing bad behavior is difficult. Academic freedom
03:45enshrined in the country's laws guarantees professors a high degree of
03:49independence in research and teaching, but also in the supervision of their
03:53staff. There's little monitoring and misconduct is rarely punished. Abusing
03:59your power can therefore pay off. We need to strengthen the positions of those who
04:07may fall victim to power abuse. We need better employment conditions, more
04:11permanent contracts, more reliable career paths. We have to change incentive
04:16structures so it no longer pays to exploit others or behave unethically. We
04:22have to pay more attention to research quality and not focus purely on quantity.
04:26And we need strong control and sanction bodies. For example, we need to give
04:32ombudspersons and committees more resources and power. Preventing power
04:39abuse in German academia therefore requires sustainable changes, among them
04:44effective independent controls. The United States, for example, has a
04:50government organization for investigating scientific misconduct.
04:55Katrin contacted the responsible counseling center at her university. The
05:01results were sobering. You make yourself go there and open yourself up to
05:09somebody who's actually a stranger, someone who suggests that justice will
05:13be done. But in the end nothing happens, because in this case the professor is
05:18untouchable. The HR department had already received several complaints about
05:23him, but what could they do? He's a civil servant with tenure. He's the final
05:28authority. In addition to more monitoring, splitting scientific
05:35supervision from personnel duties would help. After all, being even an
05:41outstanding scientist doesn't mean you also have the social skills necessary to
05:47be a good boss.