#WeResearchAsOne

I believe, that every one in academia — whatever gender, gender identity, ethics, background, etc. — should work together as a whole, which is how “#WeResearchAsOne” initiates. Every gender, ethics, or background should be respected and treated equally. Only by collaborating well with each other, can we make great progress in research.

In academia, there are still a lot of problems happening nowadays. There are discrimination, harassment, and bullying — that’s why I’m calling on every researcher to “research as one”.

For example, women are the most vulnerable group in academia. I heard a lot of cases when women were belittled, bullied, or even sexually harassed. Another problem that seems to be less serious but still important is disrespecting someone by ignoring their opinion, or even worse, by stealing their idea. This can frustrate the person, or even lead to worse consequences, e.g., depression. This is quite common in sexual minority groups, e.g., LGBTQ+, because there are still a lot of people who think they are abnormal and have a bad attitude towards them. Other problems includes belittling someone by yelling at them, or by forcing them to only do boring work, e.g., administrative work and repetitive work. This can make the person feel inferior to others, and lose their confidence.

Alongside these problems, there are also some unprofessional behaviours. The most simple one is a senior researcher pointing fingers at a junior researcher. This can make the junior researcher feel under great pressure, and eliminate their passion for research. Other problems includes romantic relationships despite conflict of interest, for example, between a teaching assistant and a student, advisor and advisee, or mentor and mentee. This can lead to unfair treatment to other people. To make things worse, if the relationship is ambiguous, it is really hard to tell whether it is a real romantic relationship or not.

One of the reasons why these problems are still happening is the lack of actual punishment. The Appendix A lists the obstacles in actually enforcing punishment that I thought of. If the punishment is not served, the offender will still do the same thing again.

In my opinion, all people in academia, since they are all qualified to be in academia, have the capability to work as a good researcher. Therefore, they should not be blamed because they fail to meet the expectation of others, as long as they make their best effort. Any unfair treatment and unprofessional behaviour are not acceptable and should be eliminated as soon as possible.

I always strongly support anyone who are belittled, discriminated, harassed, treated unfairly, etc. I am committed to keep a supportive environment in all labs where I work or have worked. I respect all people, particularly the minority, because they have suffered much greater emotional hardships. If I spot any cases when people are disrespected, I will make every effort to address the problem, and make the victim feel better. If direct action is not possible or brings more harm, I will try to find a way to help the victim indirectly. If necessary, I will transfer the case into written form, and report them to the appropriate authorities.

I believe that if all people, regardless of their gender, gender identity, ethics, background, etc., work together collectively and collaboratively without discrimination and inequality, we can push the boundary of human knowledge further and make greater achievements for all people. Every researcher should join hands and support every single person in academia to create a better world for all human beings!

Appendix A — Obstacles in Enforcing Punishment

The enforcement of punishment is the most important part in eliminating or reducing the occurrence of unprofessional behaviour. Without punishment, the policy is just a piece of paper. However, various obstacles exist in enforcing punishment.

1. Excessive protection on students (offenders). Students are normally considered as the group that can be easily corrected. Therefore, the department might probably give a chance to the students and only warn them. This makes sense, but some students might regard their misconduct as minor and continue to do the same thing again.
2. The reputation of universities and departments. Universities and departments care about their reputation a lot. To avoid the negative impact on their reputation, they might try to cover up the case, or give a light punishment to the offender.
3. Too severe punishment. Admittedly, severe punishment will prevent people from doing these misconducts. However, if the punishment is too severe, it might backfire. The department might be afraid of ruining the offender’s career, and choose not to enforce the punishment. If the punishment can have a wider range, according to the severity of the problem, these problems might be resolved. On the other hand, with the wider range of punishment, the punishment can be more reasonable and fair.
4. The lack of evidence. In some cases, the evidence is not enough to prove the misconduct. This makes it hard to enforce the punishment. To make things worse, some problem that is marginal is difficult to judge. For example, the ambiguous romantic relationship is hard to tell whether it breaches the policy or not.
5. Relationship with the offender. People might choose not to report the case because they are afraid of ruining the offender’s relationship, or even worse, ruining their own career. This is particularly true when the offender is a close friend, or a person who has a great influence on the department.