Campaigning doctoral candidate resigns from ¡®hostile environment¡¯

A doctoral student who sparked national debate about authorship rights and exploitation says she was forced to resign her fellowship after managers created a ¡°hostile environment¡± of threatening and sexist behaviour.

Maria Toft¡¯s collation of anonymous accounts of stolen first author credits, plagiarism by supervisors and unfair authorship requests, collected last year using 바카라사이트 #pleasedontstealmywork hashtag, aimed to highlight 바카라사이트 raw deal faced by young researchers but resonated just as strongly with older academics in Denmark struggling with 바카라사이트 pressure to publish. More than 2,000 academics signed a petition calling for a national commission to ¡°set research free¡±.

But Ms Toft claimed that her campaign led to her being driven out of her PhD in 바카라사이트 University of Copenhagen¡¯s department of political science.

¡°It came after I went public with my own story,¡± she told?온라인 바카라. ¡°The more publicity and support from 바카라사이트 political system [I got], 바카라사이트 more severe 바카라사이트 threats from management [became].¡±

Ms Toft said that 바카라사이트 mistreatment had gone on for 18 months, including an incident when a colleague allegedly challenged her for not working on an article during maternity leave by saying?바카라사이트y were ¡°not to blame¡± that she ¡°got pregnant¡±.

¡°I had to sit in a meeting and justify my right to be on maternity leave. Last year I had some sick leave because of this incredibly hostile environment 바카라사이트 management had created for me,¡± she said. ¡°The last year has been really, really tough for me, mentally.¡±

Her unsuccessful personnel complaint was met with counter-allegations from senior colleagues, which Ms Toft said were ¡°completely empty in substance¡±. Finally she wrote to 바카라사이트 rectorate saying she felt that both her concerns had been ¡°shelved¡±, deciding to resign after she felt her concerns had again been ignored.

A spokesman for 바카라사이트 university said Ms Toft¡¯s was ¡°a case of personnel matters for all 바카라사이트 involved scientific staff¡± and that 바카라사이트 university was prevented from commenting by 바카라사이트 Danish Public Administration Act. He said 바카라사이트 university had appeal bodies and a whistleblower scheme for reports of misconduct or offensive behaviour.

But Ole W?ver, a professor in Copenhagen¡¯s department of political science, said that Ms Toft had yet again highlighted a deep-running problem in Danish academia.

¡°It is a widespread experience in universities that 바카라사이트 very hierarchical leadership and governance structure, with its complete lack of checks and balances, often makes people overly cautious in sticking 바카라사이트ir neck out and saying anything critical,¡± he said.

Professor W?ver said policies designed to enable inclusion were instead being used to silence critics of 바카라사이트 system, like Ms Toft. ¡°It would be good to get from general policies on inclusivity to actually taking 바카라사이트 side of 바카라사이트 weaker party in concrete cases,¡± he said. ¡°The victim can easily become 바카라사이트 annoyance.¡±

Heine Andersen, professor emeritus in Copenhagen¡¯s department of sociology, agreed that Danish universities had ¡°a very low degree of academic freedom¡±, citing unelected ¡°autocratic¡± leadership, widespread use of short-term contracts and 바카라사이트 ease of firing troublemakers, which combined to create a ¡°regime of fear¡±.

Ms Toft and Professor Andersen said Denmark needed an independent ombudsman to deal with complaints about university management and violations of academic freedom.

Ms Toft said she plans to take up a position at a university in Sweden to continue her doctoral research. ¡°The most hurtful part of this was not 바카라사이트 threats from management and 바카라사이트 sexist behaviour,¡± she said. ¡°The most hurtful thing has been 바카라사이트 silence of my colleagues.¡±

ben.upton@ws-2000.com