The Young Academy Leiden and Human Resources are pleased to invite you to our second Social Safety Dialogue Session, taking place on Tuesday, September 24th at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

This session is part of a series held across various university faculties, aimed at promoting a university-wide conversation on policy about social safety. Following the successful first session on "Trust" which gathered valuable insights, we are excited to continue these critical discussions with a focus on "Power Relations and Dynamics."

The aim is to address the gap that sometimes exists between the intended goals of policies and their actual impact in practice. We will explore and address the complexities of power relations and dynamics within our academic community, and gather input for actionable steps. Prof. dr. Sarah de Rijcke, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, will host the event.  

Session Details

• Date: Tuesday September 24th, 2024
• Time: 14:30 – 17:00
• Location: Faculty of Social Sciences, Pieter de la Court building (Wassenaarseweg 52), exact room TBD.

Agenda

• Opening remarks followed by a conversation with the participants, led by Prof. dr. Sarah de Rijcke, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
• Human Resources will provide an overview of how the input collected during the previous session has been utilized. They will share steps that have been initiated in response to your valuable contributions as well as existing initiatives.
• Dialogues focused on exploring the theme of "Power Relations and Dynamics" through small group interactions.

During this session, we will gather your input to further refine policies and practices. At a subsequent dialogue session Human Resources will present this input, and share actions taken.

Please Note

• While these sessions are hosted at different faculties, they are open to all university staff, regardless of their faculty affiliation.
• If you missed the first session, please feel free to join us.
• We encourage you to bring a colleague who can contribute to our discussions.

Refreshments will be provided.

To ensure a focused and open dialogue, we are limiting attendance to 50 participants. Please use the following link to sign up.

YAL is excited to launch the Social Safety Open Dialogue Sessions in collaboration with Human Resources (HR). We aim to connect the existing social safety policies and their implementation with the experiences and expectations of our community.

Our first session is centered around the theme of "Trust" and will be held on March 21st, from 15:00 – 17:00. We are honored to have the session opened by Prof. dr. Jasper Knoester, Dean of the Faculty of Science. This first dialogue session will take place at the Faculty of Science (information about the classroom will be announced soon). Future sessions will each be hosted at a different faculty. We welcome all university staff, regardless of faculty affiliation or position, to join. 

We promote a 'plus-1' set-up: when you intend to join the session, you are welcome to invite a colleague you trust and who you believe could offer valuable insights. During our discussions, drinks will be provided.

To ensure a focused and open dialogue, we are limiting attendance to 30 participants. Please use the following link to RSVP and secure your spot

Social safety at the workplace is a topic that affects us all. A working environment in which everyone feels safe and respected is crucial for employees’ overall well-being and health, job satisfaction and productivity. Young researchers sometimes face undesirable behaviors by colleagues or supervisors. For the Young Academy Leiden (YAL), creating a safe working environment at Leiden University is a priority that needs continuous attention.

On Thursday 12 May 2022, we organized an Interfaculty Lunch for early career scholars at Leiden University and the LUMC on social safety. Annetje Ottow (President of the Executive Board of Leiden University), Esther van Opstal (Director of Human Resource Management at Leiden University) and Aya Ezawa (Diversity Officer at Leiden University) all joined us to start a dialogue with early career researchers.

As Annemarie Samuels, YAL chair, noted in her opening talk, the immediate reason for YAL to initiate this dialogue was the recent report by the Young Academy Groningen (YAG) on harassment in academia. YAG members conducted interviews with 26 current and former employees of the University of Groningen who experienced harassment, discrimination, power abuse, and bullying. These shocking experiences spurred YAL members into participating in the conversation on social safety at our own university from the perspective of early-career scholars, for example through a follow-up of the Leiden University personnel monitor (employee satisfaction survey). University leaders are not sitting still, either, as shown by this interview with Annetje Ottow. Yet, a lot of work remains to be done in our academic community to provide a safe and inclusive work environment for all at Leiden University.

Bystanders

During our Interfaculty Lunch, we discussed topics such as whom to turn to when we ourselves experience not feeling safe, being harassed or abused. We also discussed how important bystanders are, both if we experience something ourselves and if our colleagues experience something. As a bystander, you can really make a difference. As Martin Berger (one of our YAL members) noted during the lunch: “Social safety is all about creating a supportive community”.

Act sooner rather than later

A supportive community could help to address issues of social safety at an early stage before things get out of hand. The importance of early detection was mentioned as one of the key lessons learned from previous cases. Yet, hesitation to report - common among Early Career Researchers and minority groups because of strong personal dependence and power relationships - does not facilitate such early detection.

Different structures in place

Annetje Ottow, Esther van Opstal and Aya Ezawa all stress there are many places you can turn to if you or colleagues experience an unsafe work environment. Annetje Ottow emphasized that it is important to connect with peers; colleagues that you trust and that you can find strength in. The key message? “Don’t do it alone”. The ‘formal route’ for addressing an unsafe work environment is to go to one’s direct manager (or the manager higher up in the hierarchy if your problem is with your direct manager). If doing that doesn’t feel safe, one may also look for colleagues more ‘horizontally placed’ in the organization. Other people who may help are the confidential counselors, the ombuds officer or your HR department.

What happens after an incident?

But is that all effective enough? And how are victims protected? This was one of the issues that felt urgent to many of the participants of the Interfaculty Lunch. As Aya Ezawa noted:“Raising awareness and prevention, as well as actions which promote safety and inclusion are key. I also advise departments after an instance of harassment has occurred. It is of course key to report these and file a complaint. However, filing a complaint does not always resolve tense relations. It is very important to improve strained relations and make the environment safe again, and we offer support and advice to departments where needed.”

To conclude, promoting social safety and preventing harassment and abuse are crucial to us all. All agreed that our Interfaculty Lunch should not be the end of the conversation; but that it is vital that we take action on this topic in all layers of the organization.