Episode 1 – Tackling Harassment in Research with Dr Amy Clarke
Harassment happens in universities, at every level of study, and for many students it has become so normal that they don’t call it harassment at all.
In the first episode of Difficult Conversations, Dr Kike Ladipo and Dr Gez Williams talk to Dr Amy Clarke, Deputy Director of the Centre for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester. Amy is Co-Investigator on A Catalyst for Change, an ESRC-funded study that surveyed more than 1,300 students across five English universities and interviewed 100 of them about their experiences. She explains why postgraduate researchers, who are often students and staff at the same time, find it so hard to report harassment, why international PGRs can be especially exposed, and why researchers whose work is labelled controversial are facing growing hostility from outside the university. She also sets out the financial case for protecting researchers at a time when budgets are under pressure.
Amy’s research shows that many of the changes students asked for are practical, achievable and not expensive. If you’ve ever wondered whether someone in your research team would know where to turn, and feel safe doing so, this conversation is a good place to start.
Listen to the episode
About our guest
Dr Amy Clarke is Deputy Director of the Centre for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester. Her research has focused on particularly ‘hidden’ forms of harassment and targeted hostility, including the experiences of new migrants and refugees living in the UK. She regularly advises external partners such as the Crown Prosecution Service and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to develop evidence-based policy and guidance on hate crime and harassment. Amy is currently Co-Investigator of ‘A Catalyst for Change: Transforming Responses to Harassment in Higher Education’, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, a project that explores all forms of harassment experienced by students at every level of study across English universities.
Useful links and resources
- The Centre for Hate Studies, University of Leicester
- A Catalyst for Change: Transforming Responses to Harassment in Higher Education
- A catalyst for change? Blog post by the research team
- A Catalyst for Change: Experiences of Harassment, the 2020 pilot study report (PDF)
- The Rural Racism Project: Towards an Inclusive Countryside
- I-REACCH: Inclusive Research Environment Achieved through Culture Change
Timecodes
- 00:00 Welcome to Difficult Conversations and the I-REACCH project
- 02:17 Introducing Dr Amy Clarke
- 03:08 What is the Catalyst for Change project, and why does it matter?
- 05:18 Why harassment is such a difficult conversation to have
- 06:24 How Amy came to research student experiences of harassment
- 08:10 Who took part, and what postgraduate researchers said
- 12:16 The biggest misconceptions about harassment in research
- 17:27 Making the case for protecting researchers when budgets are tight
- 20:17 Initiatives that could make a real difference
- 21:34 Practical actions universities can take
- 23:38 The one thing to remember
- 24:50 What gives Amy hope for higher education
- 26:24 Closing reflections from Kike
- 28:09 Credits
Difficult Conversations is hosted by Dr Kike Ladipo and Dr Gez Williams, and produced by Chaos Created for I-REACCH, a Wellcome-funded project at the University of Leicester.
Content note: this episode includes discussion of harassment, including racial abuse and sexual assault, and its effects on mental health.
