Social safety within academia

Experiences of PhD candidates within GSLS

Over the last few years there have been various reports showing a lack of social safety within the academic world. Although institutions try to make a change, they experience great difficulty in doing so. For instance, a lot of money is spent on external parties that focus on short term solutions instead of on a structural change. Therefore, the ambition of this PhD project is to improve the UU as an organization by developing a sustainable instrument (in collaboration with HR) that can achieve and guarantee a socially safe work environment. To achieve this, first a literature review will be done to gather evidence about the important concepts regarding social safety, like psychological safety, culture and inclusive leadership. Secondly, qualitative interviews will be held with both supervisors and PhD-candidates within the Graduate School of Life Sciences, to explore what aspects of this working relationship are important to ensure social safety. Thirdly, an assessment framework will be established to evaluate the effectiveness of current interventions regarding social safety within the university. Lastly, an instrument will be designed and tested that can be used to improve social safety within the UU.