How do we optimize the learning environment in academic research labs, Patrick Brandt asks, and what must we do when the environment is toxic to trainees?
Every graduate student or postdoc deserves to be trained in a supportive environment by a respectful adviser. Yet you don’t have to search far to hear stories from graduate students and postdocs who suffer under abusive ones.
Most of those stories do not rise to the level of national outcry, and as is generally the case with any kind of bullying, it is the unrelenting microaggressions of badly behaved (tor)mentors compounded over months and years that snuff out the career aspirations of trainees. This is a tragedy not only for those trainees personally but also for science as a whole. We lose out on new and diverse discoveries when young scientists are not allowed to thrive.
One particularly egregious example of trainee abuse that did create national outcry spanned more than two decades in the engineering department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The faculty member in this case was well-known for verbally berating his students and humiliating them in front of their peers. His shouting reverberated down the hall into other labs and faculty offices, but little was done to call out the perpetrator until John Brady, a graduate student in this PI’s lab, tragically ended his own life because of the relentless abuse.
At what point could such a tragedy have been averted? Who is watching out at our institutions to ensure similar patterns aren’t developing? What policies are we implementing to level the power imbalance that exists between adviser and trainee?
Skill acquisition, technical mastery, personal development and innovation all thrive in supportive team environments that foster mutual respect and open communication. National conversations and policy recommendations related to the qualities of positive learning environments for graduate students and postdocs are increasing and harmonize strongly with current discussions about effective mentoring, wellness and mental health. But more than conversations are needed. Moving from discussion to action, the National Institutes of Health announced in May a new congressionally mandated policy that requires institutions to alert the NIH if an NIH-funded investigator is disciplined due to concerns about “harassment, bullying, retaliation or hostile working conditions.”
A working group of the Group on Research Education and Training (GREAT) convened by the Association of American Medical Colleges has released a report titled “Appropriate Treatment of Research Trainees” (AToRT) to assist universities who are ready to implement new learning environment policies. GREAT is the association’s professional development group for the faculty and administrative leaders of biomedical Ph.D., M.D.-Ph.D. and postdoctoral programs at academic medical centers. The report is a useful tool for trainees, faculty and policy makers and contains specific recommendations for any group advocating for positive training environments. A diverse subcommittee of GREAT, of which I was a member, drafted and distributed it among colleagues at academic medical institutions for comment before finalizing and releasing it publicly.
The AToRT document is structured such that it can have a broad range of uses including:
The focus of the document is positive and educational, but it also names and denounces behaviors that are incompatible with a positive learning environment, including actions that:
Reading this list of communally agreed-upon unacceptable behaviors can benefit scientists at all levels of training and leadership. The AToRT document is valuable because it goes beyond identifying harmful actions and urges a renewed commitment to three essential, positive principles within our scientific training environments: leadership, professionalism and equity. The document elaborates upon each, which I briefly discuss below.
When an adviser does not espouse the ideals outlined above, and mistreats trainees in their sphere of influence, a clear system must be in place for safe reporting of inappropriate actions. The reporting outcome needs to include meaningful training and discipline by those in authority. Imagine what could have been averted in the story of the abusive adviser at the University of Wisconsin had such a reporting and intervention structure been available and used. The AToRT document outlines possible models and structures, which can be tailored to each institution, for reporting, evaluating and intervening so that no trainee ever has to suffer in an abusive environment in order to contribute to scientific understanding.
The demands upon the professors and research advisers who are training the next generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians have never been greater. Faculty members need our support and advocacy just as much as trainees do. Fortunately, advocating for positive learning environments and effective mentoring relationships is a well-rounded win for trainees, faculty members and the entire scientific enterprise.
Patrick Brandt is director of career development and outreach at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a steering committee member in the Group on Research Education and Training with the Association of American Medical Colleges. He is also a member of the Graduate Career Consortium—an organization providing an international voice for graduate-level career and professional development leaders.
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