Many studying or working in astronomy and geophysics have encountered bullying in their career. This fact, a key take-away from a survey done by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) carried out in 2020, brings into focus the experiences of students and researchers who have had to deal with this aspect of the toxic culture of current research environments. In communities infamous for valuing research output over the people who are researching, these survey results show how rife the issues of bullying and harassment have become. The report detailing the results of this survey, released in May 2024, gives a more detailed look into who are the victims of bullying in astronomy and geophysics, how bullying is dealt with by institutions, and what changes are needed so we can prevent a culture of bullying in our working environments.
The survey asked 661 participants currently or previously working in astronomy, solar system science, or geophysics to answer a series of questions about their experiences with bullying in their fields. Participants were located globally, with 61% of respondents from the UK. The respondents were broken down by demographics such as race, gender, sexuality, and disability. They did not have enough respondents to investigate the intersectionality of the participant’s experiences, i.e. the experiences of Black disabled respondents in comparison to Black non-disabled respondents.
“44% of 661 respondents had been subjected to some type of bullying and harassment in the last 12 months”
Figure 1: Left, a bar chart showing the frequency of bullying and harassment over the 12 months prior to the survey, showing 44% of respondents subjected to some type of bullying and 15% of respondents subjected to this at least once per fortnight. Right, a pie chart showing that 57% of respondents have witnessed some kind of bullying or harassment in their careers.
They found that 44% of respondents had been subject to some form of bullying or harassment in the prior 12 months to the survey, 32% more than once. Meanwhile more than half of respondents (57%) had witnessed instances of bullying and harassment. Breaking these results down by demographic (Figure 2), there was a clear trend that marginalised groups were more likely to experience bullying or harassment, something that must be addressed if we seek to make astronomy and geophysics a healthy working environment for all, particularly those who are traditionally underserved in these fields.
“20% of Black, Mixed and other heritage respondents reported suffering bullying and harassment more than fortnightly in the last 12 months”
Next, the report looked at the difficulties associated with reporting instances of bullying. Participants listing examples of institutions practising good reporting procedures focussed on the clarity of the reporting procedure and it’s steps, as well as having clear alternative procedures. Despite this, respondents still report how their institutions only care about preventing bullying and harassment on paper, but in reality do not live up to their promises to uphold this. In one particular case, a participant recalls “A code of conduct exists, but one of the persons who bullied me is one of the chairs of the committee in charge of upholding it”. The power hierarchies existing in the respondents’ places of work and study give protection and invincibility to those in higher positions, especially to those who secure funding for their institutions.
“Known bullies and harassers in UK
astronomy have not lost their jobs.”
Overall, 40% of those reporting instances of bullying and harassment were not satisfied with the outcome, and 25% had had their report completely ignored. Traditionally marginalised and under-served groups were less likely to think that their employer takes sufficient action to prevent bullying and harassment or unwanted behaviours at work. Building trust in the reporting procedure and making sure that reports don’t go unanswered, including ensuring effective consequences for bullying, is therefore a top priority to tackle these systemic problems.
“20% of gay or lesbian respondents think their
employer takes sufficient action to prevent bullying
and harassment or unwanted behaviours at work,
compared to 41% of heterosexual respondents.”
The survey concludes with a series of recommendations for individuals, managers and leaders, and organisations, focussing on three key areas to develop in order to combat the proliferating bullying culture: prevention, reporting, and accountability.
Prevention focuses on challenging the systemic issues which normalise the acceptance of bullying. For example: individuals learning about recognising bullying behaviours and being an active bystander; leaders encouraging a culture of sharing of cultural and social understandings, discussing bullying and harassment openly at team meetings; and organisations providing good quality and up to date training opportunities, and working with other organisations to ensure prevention.
Reporting needs to be changed to ensure that reportees feel empowered to report bullying incidences. This requires changes by institutions and leaders to not miss or ignore reports of bullying, have transparency in the reporting procedure, and review membership of those on panels responding to reports.
Accountability is required so that there are effective consequences, such that the injured party is able to continue thriving in their career. These consequences should be transparent to all, and might involve removal from boards, roles, events, funding, membership or employment.
“We need individuals and organisations
to understand that it is the consequences of
the bullying and harassment that matters most,
not their own perceptions of what is acceptable.“
These results show how far we have to go in making astronomy and geophysics a healthy community free from bullying and harassment. We know from the impacts shown on marginalised groups that tackling bullying is a necessary step to diversifying science and making astronomy and geophysics a truly inclusive endeavour. Toxic working environments impact the progression of diversity in these fields: the survey found men were 50% more likely to recommend their careers to their family and friends than women and non-binary respondents. This survey gives a voice to those who have suffered from bullying and harassment, and the recommendations give guidelines for how to implement change, now we need to see it happen.
Astrobite edited by Janette Suherli
Featured image credit: Royal Astronomical Society
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