From shouting and public humiliation to thinly-veiled sexism, an internal report by the University of Ghent (UGent) has revealed widespread misconduct towards doctoral students.
The report, based on interviews with 120 young researchers from ten faculties at the university, paints a particularly poor picture of the working culture and management response to issues. It comes in the wake of a string of reports of misconduct by staff at the Ghent institution and those in other cities, including Brussels.
Complaints by the young researchers include being forced into non-research tasks such as teaching or lab work, that were never contractually agreed. This can leave little time for their doctoral research. One student said that "not having a social life" is the norm in their faculty. Others even alleged of being shouted at and facing public humiliation, De Standaard reported.
Incorrigible misconduct
Several young researchers lamented a "structural" lack of feedback, an unrestrained workload, a culture of favouritism and an “excessive hierarchical structure” in which senior staff take advantage of students afraid of reprisals and facing financial pressure, for instance having grant money withheld.
Interviewees also spoke of sexism and reports of racism. One supervisor in particular was denounced for "attracting mainly Chinese PhD students to cultivate a kind of forced labour". It was reported that non-Belgian researchers have to systematically work longer days because they are assigned extra tasks.
The outcome of this toxic work environment is sometimes telling: one department has failed to have a single PhD completed for ten years as the researchers all left early owing to the behaviour of supervisors.
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The report – an initiative of the representatives of the group of 7,000 PhD students and doctorates – calls for a thorough review of Trustpunt, the central hotline at UGent, which in itself received criticism, with several young researchers arguing they distrust this system. Some stated this misconduct goes unreprimanded by the university.
The board of governors will discuss the report next week. In the meantime, Rector Rik Van de Walle stressed that “the testimonies that are covered are very painful but credible” and underlined that the issue must remain “an absolute priority," which will require further consultations in the coming months.