Within the area of activity A free knowledge society, the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research at the University of Gothenburg examines conditions for education and research. The higher education sector is analysed based on its importance for a democratic society and as a workplace with specific working conditions, norms and structures.
For many years, the Secretariat for Gender Research has produced research reviews, survey studies and analyses on sexual harassment and threats and harassment in academia, nationally, in the Nordic region and internationally. These show that there is limited research on the exposure of doctoral students, not least to sexual harassment. This year, the Secretariat has therefore launched the project Precarious conditions of doctoral students in academia.
Data from previous prevalence study analysed
The project is based on the results of the Swedish national prevalence study on sexual harassment in academia, conducted in 2020 by the Karolinska Institute, the Royal Institute of Technology, Malmö University and the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research. In addition to questions about sexual harassment, the prevalence study also asked questions about other forms of vulnerability, the working environment and academia as an organisation.
‘In the final report’s overall analysis, the group of doctoral students stands out. So it will be exciting to take a closer look at both how sexual harassment interacts with other forms of vulnerability, and whether vulnerability in academia takes different forms depending on who is affected,’ says Maja Lundqvist, analyst at the secretariat and coordinator of the project.
Academic organisation creates particular vulnerabilities
Studies on working environment problems at Swedish universities, previous research on the doctoral student group and formal forms of support for doctoral students are also included in the project. Several studies show, among other things, that doctoral students are particularly exposed, with uncertain employment conditions and strong dependency relationships in a hierarchical organisation. At the same time, the academic system is dependent on the work of doctoral students. All in all, this makes the doctoral student group particularly interesting to study, explains Maja Lundqvist.
‘Doctoral students are extremely important to academic organisations, yet they are at the bottom of the academic hierarchy. It feels like a perfect storm, and it’s almost strange that this hasn’t been more researched,’ she says.
The project will result in scholarly publications, reports, and various forms of dialogue. By initiating collaborative projects, it is also hoped that the results of the study will later be used to investigate how conditions for doctoral students can be improved.
