December 02, 2008

Not accountable

... not accountable? A Professor at a reputable university and a recipient of the Brian Mercer Award for Innovation uses his PhD students to do work relating to the commercialisation of his invention but claims in the annual PhD reviews, sent to the Dean of the faculty, that the students did work of academic quality. He then asks one specialist researcher, towards the end of the PhD student's research, to act as a co-supervisor. This gives him the incentive to include the specialist researcher's own work in the PhD student's theses. He spreads the academic work done among the PhD students. An old story, No?!

Anonymous

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rosa sat so Martin could walk

Martin walked so Obama could run

Obama ran so our children can fly

Told to me at the UCU conference last week

The conference addressed the issue of workplace bullying

So well done Sally

A huge step forward

There is now a sense of progress in that UCU are speaking out about work place bullying

People at the conference spoke out about the actions they had taken and the support they had received from UCU officials and others in their university

There are clearly UCU officials who have the moral courage to dare to speak out and support their members...

They were at the conference

This contrasts sharply with my own experiences where the UCU officials I have dealt with at both local and regional level appear to be cowed with fear

So there is still much fear and little 'sitting down' to challenge workplace bullying...

But we have I believe started to voice a challenge now ... there is a feeling in the air that others may dare to challenge and speak out... even if in a whisper...

Thanks in huge part to this blog and the dedication of those who run it

There is still a hell of a way to go

My own context - I believe- remains a seedbed of collective denial at all levels

So no challenging there

I remain a lone voice

There are days when it makes me so ill that I can hardly get out of bed as I curl up in a foetal position reduced to a sobbing exhausted wreck

But there are the other days when I go in and challenge them... on my own... no UCU official by my side at my university...

There are times when I can imagine what it might be like if others sat down with me and challenged their working practices that feel to me like workplace bullying...

But as yet... apart from this blog... I am a lone voice

Keep with us Sally - we need you... so much...

At the conference UCU called for collective action...

UCU must become a force to be reckoned with in the drive to challenge universities to acknowledge the workplace bullying that they condone...

No more secret out of court compromise agreements with the lone staff who dare to challenge

There are better ways to spend public funds

You know it makes sense

Bullying can and does KILL

So speak out against workplace bullying

Today

You know it makes sense

Aphra Behn

Anonymous said...

I know this situation well.

During my studies for my M. Sc., there were rumours about my supervisor having published data obtained by one of his Ph. D. students without that student's knowledge or permission, let alone giving him credit.

During my thesis research, I read some papers written by that supervisor. He could have produced one excellent publication with the data he had but, instead, half of it went into one paper, half into another, and half the data from each of these papers went into a third. Amazing: three papers for the price of one!

The supervisor died a few years ago. His obituary described him in glowing terms, emphasizing his generosity and the sacrifices he made for his students. When I was his student, he was nothing of the sort. I knew him as a work-shy incompetent who freely exploited others to maintain his reputation. Either he underwent a miraculous transformation or somebody wrote fairy tales about him.

El Cid