Power relations and mental health in academia

Jana Lasser     |     jana.lasser@tugraz.at     |     @janalasser

with contributions from Bryony Porter

slides available at
https://janalasser.at/talks/UniWiND/

Who am I?

  • 2008 - 2015: Studied physics in Göttingen.

  • 2015 - 2018: PhD at MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization.

  • Pursued PhD in a structured PhD programm (graduate school).

  • During PhD: part of Max Planck PhDnet, 2018 president of PhDnet.

  • Now: PostDoc in Computational Social Science lab at TU Graz.

    • Warm up: which academic fields do we belong to?


    Go to https://fbr.io and enter code PBYGN
    What are we going to do in this workshop?


  • Look at problems in academia through the "lens" of power relations.

  • Focus on doctoral researchers.

  • Key outcome: mental health, not good scientific practice.

    • 11:00 - 11:10 Introduction and warm up
    11:10 - 11:20 Input: Power dimensions & mental health in academia
    11:20 - 11:30 Input: Instruments to balance power
    11:30 - 12:00 Interactive: Breakout rooms
    12:00 - 12:30 Interactive: Collect & discuss results

    Prevalence of depression and anxiety

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Demographic factors of anxiety

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Relation of anxiety and depression to supervision satisfaction

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Relation of anxiety to bullying and harassment

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Satisfaction with supervision and giving up

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    What can we do?

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf
    Hypothesis

    The (working) relationship to the supervisor is a major factor for mental heal of early career researchers. It is complicated by the multiple power differentials between early career researchers and their supervisors.
    Power Relations in academia

  • Employment: Supervisors often decide over contract durations, extensions and payment level. Visas might depend on the existence of a working contact.

  • Evaluation: Supervisors supervise the daily work and evaluate the PhD thesis in the end.

  • Reputation: Reputation is necessary to secure positions. This is codified in the letter of recommendation that supervisors are often asked to provide.

  • Knowledge: Fluctuation among early career reserachers is high. They often know less about institutional mechanisms and their rights than their supervisors.

    • See Lasser et al. 2021 "Power abuse and anonymous accusations in academia – Perspectives from early career researchers and recommendations for improvement" in Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung for details.

    Where do institutions come in?

    Possible levers to re-balance power

  • Formalization and professionalization of supervision
    [supervision agreement, thesis advisory committee]

  • Accountability of supervisors for supervision quality
    [supervision agreement, institutional guidelines]

  • Managing and communicating expectations
    [supervision agreement]

  • Empowering doctoral researchers
    [institutional guidelines, PhD representation]

  • ...

    • Does this work?

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Does this work?

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Does this work?

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Does this work?

    https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/145345/PhDnet_Survey_Report_2019.pdf

    Breakout rooms

    Q1: Which power dimensions are addressed by the supporting instruments and ow does the instrument balance power?
    Q2: Did you implement the instrument in your institution and have experiences with it that you can/would like to share?
    Q3: What difficulties could you foresee when newly implementing the instrument, and how could they be overcome?
    Room 1 empowering PhDs: https://bit.ly/unw_room_video
    Room 2 thesis advisory committee: https://bit.ly/unw_room_TAC_1
    Room 3 supervision agreement: https://bit.ly/unw_room_SA_1
    Room 4 institutional guidelines: https://bit.ly/unw_room_guidelines_1
    Room 5 thesis advisory committee: https://bit.ly/unw_room_TAC_2
    Room 6 supervision agreement: https://bit.ly/unw_room_SA_2
    Room 7 institutional guidelines: https://bit.ly/unw_room_guidelines_2

    What's next?

  • Video and additional ressources describing the Courage project (empowering PhDs).

  • COST action "researcher mental health": large-scale survey, looking for participating institutions.

  • "Netzwerk Machtmissbrauch" for the DACH-region: official start mid Oktober, looking for members.

  • Interested? Contact me at jana.lasser@tugraz.at or Twitter @janalasser.