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A lack of oversight allows abusive supervisors to operate unchecked in research labs

As institutions panic over the looming prospect of reduced federal support for scientific research, it’s important not to forget another big problem: the internal, systemic mistreatment of postdoctoral scholars. In 2023, a working group organized by the National Institutes of Health studied the postdoctoral training system, looking for explanations of why more and more science Ph.D.s are passing up postdoc positions in academe to go straight into industry. One of the three factors cited (alongside financial strain and inadequate career support in academe): abusive faculty mentors.

This has long been an open secret, but the NIH report has had the effect of shining a light on the underside of a very large rock, propelling the issue of academic bullying to center stage. Now the question is whether anyone is going to do anything about it.

Continue reading: “How to Fix Academe’s Postdoc Bullying Problem,” by Asmi A. Ahmad

Send questions or comments to Denise Magner, an editor at The Chronicle, at denise.magner@chronicle.com.

What we’re reading

Here’s more on career issues and trends from around the web. See something we should include? Let me know.

• Advice in the Harvard Business Review on five techniques “to build a more powerful speaking voice.”
• In The Wall Street Journal, a look at jobs in some of the “fastest growing” fields and “why they are so hard to fill.”
• A report in The Atlantic on how federal workers are coping with the “manufactured chaos” of a new administration.