Print This PostThe problem
Dear Nature,
I’m a biogeochemist from the United States. I experienced bullying in a previous workplace, where I wasn’t given opportunities to participate in academic activities such as applying for grants, teaching students and publishing papers. I have since learnt that others have been similarly victimized, but at the time I was encouraged not to take any formal action.
Three years of no opportunities means I have very little to show from that crucial time in my career, and I have no reference from my manager.
How do I explain this career gap to prospective employers or represent this in my CV? — A struggling biogeochemist
The advice
Nature’s careers section spoke to three academics who study academic bullying and its impacts. All expressed their sympathy for any researcher — particularly those in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) — caught in such a situation.
“I’ve seen scholars who are in the social sciences and the liberal arts who can work their way around the mentor, and I think it’s harder in STEMM subjects because so much emphasis is put on the head of your lab: your adviser,” says Leah Hollis, associate dean of access, equity and inclusion at Pennsylvania State University in University Park.
Hollis notes that a gap in a publication record isn’t unusual, and can come from any number of life events, such as serious illness or caring responsibilities. However, she notes, “I know those stories are much more palatable than ‘my adviser was a jerk’.”
Loraleigh Keashly, a communications scholar at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, agrees that it is OK to have a break in your career record, because “we already have mechanisms in place that say that there are extraordinary circumstances in one’s life that draw people’s attention away”.
The challenge is how to frame this particular circumstance. Having been on interview panels, Keashly says she might be curious enough to ask about a gap. Her advice is to address that question simply — saying, for example, that ‘there was a challenging environment, and it wasn’t a good fit’, or ‘the principal investigator (PI) wanted to move in one direction, I wanted to move in another’ — and move on to talk about other things, to avoid drawing extra attention to the experience.
Both Hollis and Keashly also suggested seeking out other researchers and academics in the field who could serve as references in place of the difficult supervisor. “Access professional networks, other people in the discipline,” Keashly says — maybe people you’ve worked with before, or you’ve met at conferences and “had positive, constructive conversations” about your work.
Hollis also suggests contacting the Academic Parity Movement — a non-profit organization in Brookline, Massachusetts, working to address academic bullying, discrimination and violence — which she is on the advisory board for. “Perhaps we can get you connected with somebody,” she says, such as other senior scientists in the field who might be familiar with your work and the situation.
Support for your future career might also be found among your colleagues, or people who have previously worked in your laboratory and therefore might have an understanding of the circumstances. “Try to find out who would be open to having that conversation, or speak to previous students who left that area: somebody may have been forced out. How did they handle it?” Hollis says. However, she advises approaching them with caution. “You don’t just call them up and say ‘Hey, I’m being bullied, did it happen to you, too?’,” she says. Instead, she suggests, you should seek advice or mentorship, to build rapport.
There can be genuine reasons for a researcher to leave a lab without the same publication record as colleagues, but a systemic pattern of behaviour that affects several people does suggest academic bullying is occurring. In this case, Morteza Mahmoudi, a nanotechnologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing and co-founder of the Academic Parity Movement, says that it is important for researchers in that situation to report their concerns to their institution. “A strong recommendation that I always make is that when you make a formal complaint, demand your university provide documentation on their findings,” he says.
If that documentation is available, applicants can then better explain the situation in their cover letter, knowing that they have a paper trail. “In the presence of such a letter showing that the university made their internal investigation and found that the PI basically did the same thing to many other scientists in the lab, that needs to be explicitly mentioned in the job application,” says Mahmoudi.
In the absence of a formal finding, he offers advice similar to Keashly’s: when appropriate, hint that your PI held back their publications, despite your best efforts.
You might have left the lab already, but if not, Mahmoudi stresses the importance of speaking up when the bullying is happening, and recognizing the situation and actively getting out, rather than passively enduring it. “One thing they need to bear in mind is that bullying doesn’t stop,” he says. “So acting earlier is better.”
Shared from the Nature Careers Website – for the original and more great content visit: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00982-8
Nature Careers Blog
Having experienced these behaviours within the lab I did my PhD, the question remains – why is this behaviour so permissibly rife within academia.
The stance of a prominent university was to say that the behaviour was not ideal but not the worst they had seen and dismissed the need to formally document it leaving it as an informal complaint.
Talking further with others outside of my lab the experience was not unique. The fact this article even exists suggests the problem is widespread.
If we want to make a difference then can the middle and top leaders please engage with the lower echelons to ensure everyone is treated with respect and understanding rather than “you’re in it to win it or get out of the way” attitude that still prevails.
Imperial College have recently published a study of women in clinical academia but it is very relevant to all women and anyone who works less than full time.
I would recommend reading it as a relatable article that is of relevance to everyone in academia. https://facultyofpublicmed.newsweaver.com/icfiles/4/83394/237236/1468636/_nw_test_mailing/a7d6aa972c18491b38d2b8a9/wca_full_report_final.pdf