Problem
Doctoral students account for around one-fifth of all employees in the Swedish higher education sector. Doctoral students are central to research and education, but in studies on working life in academia, they are rarely singled out as a group and analysed separately. In studies on vulnerability within academia, this is even more uncommon.
Knowledge in related research areas
Whilst the research area of sexual harassment in academia is a well-established field internationally, the international research review ‘Sexual Harassment in Academia - An international research review’ shows that doctoral students are very rarely analysed as a separate category within the field.
The research area of ‘doctoral students’ vulnerability to sexual harassment’, and consequently, knowledge about the vulnerability of doctoral students, is therefore much more limited than that concerning other students and staff. This knowledge gap becomes striking when we combine what we know about gender-based vulnerability, namely that power imbalances in the workplace, hierarchical organisations and precarious working conditions are risk factors that correlate with a high incidence of gender-based vulnerability. In many ways, the situation of doctoral students can be understood as characterised by precisely this.
Furthermore, research indicates that doctoral students in Sweden are generally vulnerable to issues such as high levels of stress, precarious working conditions, bullying and mental health problems during their doctoral studies. For international doctoral students, changes in immigration legislation are a source of ill health, stress and anxiety. It is precisely the co-variation between different types of vulnerability that interests us in this project. Does sexual harassment constitute a specific type of vulnerability and experience, or does it reinforce/is reinforced by other types of vulnerability?
A striking knowledge gap
There is a gap here: we know quite a lot about the state of sexual harassment in academia, but not specifically regarding doctoral students and their particular circumstances. At the same time, we know something about the situation of doctoral students in a broader sense, but not specifically in terms of their vulnerability to sexual harassment. We need more and diverse knowledge about doctoral students’ vulnerability and circumstances in order to understand the consequences of this vulnerability at the individual level for doctoral students, at the organisational level for higher education institutions, and at the structural level for quality and equality in research and education.
Here, we draw primarily on the following sources
Sexual harassment:
Bondestam, F. & Lundqvist, M. (2020). Sexual Harassment in Higher Education. A Systematic Review. European Journal of Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2020.1729833.
Fedina, L., Holmes, J. L., & Backes, B. L. (2018). Campus Sexual Assault: A Systematic Review of Prevalence Research From 2000 to 2015 [Review of Campus Sexual Assault: A Systematic Review of Prevalence Research From 2000 to 2015]. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 19(1), 76–93. Sage Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838016631129
Henning, M. A., Zhou, C., Adams, P., Moir, F., Hobson, J., Hallett, C., & Webster, C. S. (2017). Workplace harassment among staff in higher education: a systematic review. Asia Pacific Education Review, 18(4), 521–539. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-017-9499-0
Lipinsky, A., Schredl, C., Baumann, H., Humbert, A., Tanwar, J. (2022). Gender-based violence and its consequences in European Academia, Summary results from the UniSAFE survey. Report, November 2022. UniSAFE project no.101006261 UniSAFE-survey_prevalence-results_2022.pdf
Pilinkaite Sotirovic, V., Blažytė, G., Limantė, A., Tereškinas, A., & Vaičiūnienė, R. (2024). What makes academia (un)safe: Experiences, observations, and consequences of gender-based violence in different stages of individual researchers’ careers. In Gender-Based Violence and the Law (1st ed., pp. 206–232). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003391937-14
Bondestam & Lundqvist, 2018 Sexuella trakasserier i akademin - Vetenskapsrådet
Doctoral students’ vulnerability, bullying, stress and poor health:
Bergvall, S., Fernström, C., Ranehill, E., Sandberg, A., & Department of Economics. (2024). The Impact of PhD Studies on Mental Health—A Longitudinal Population Study. University of Gothenburg. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2025.103070
Karlstad Studentkår. (2023). GSA PhD Survey Report 2023. Karlstad University
Keloharju, M., Knüpfer, S., Müller, D., & Tåg, J. (2024). PhD studies hurt mental health, but less than previously feared. Research Policy, 53(8), 105078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2024.105078
Palmgren, K. C. (2024) Doktorandspegeln 2024. Sammanställning av resultat från enkäter utskickade till doktorander och handledare vid Högskolan i Skövde. Högskolan Skövde (Summary of the results of surveys sent to Doctoral students and supervisors at the University of Skövde)
