As a graduate student in a STEM discipline, you’ll be conducting your research work under the guidance of a research adviser and within a research group with other grad students and undergrads. Since you’ll be spending your time being mentored and surrounded by these individuals, you’re going to want to be associated with people who are going to help you and your career path. However, given the current state of academia, the STEM research work for graduate students can be a dark place. While graduate school is expected to challenge you into becoming an expert in some field, it’s not healthy for a graduate program, advisor, or research group to be a toxic environment. Or any job for that matter! Unfortunately, many STEM graduate students fall victim to hostile, toxic, and unhealthy research environments.
The main point of this post is for graduate students to understand that you shouldn’t excuse unprofessional behavior because “that’s how academia is.” Academia should not be a world where students are essentially treated like crap by their advisors simply because that’s the culture.
Why are some research advisors and groups toxic in STEM academia?
Not all programs, advisors, and groups are toxic, but the ones that are leave graduate students abused, bullied, overworked, and in most cases with mental health challenges. Why do groups and advisors like this exist? Well the answer complex. A negative and toxic research group can results from advisor who enables negative group behavior and exhibits toxic behavior themselves, all the while departments don’t crack down and stop such behavior. Academia is a competitive world where schools and advisors are left with a lot of freedom to run things as they please. While it’s expected they follow a code of ethics, many times, ethics go out the window when schools and advisors want to squeeze out all the research out of grad students as they can before they graduate. Because let’s face it, grad students are cheap labor for research (ie think about your grad student salary rn, if you even have one). In this world where grad students are expected to pump out good, publishable research, for the sake of learning and scholarship, advisors will create their own research expectations which often can contain toxic practices. This expectation is usually excused because it’s what everyone else has experienced in past generations, and its sometimes viewed as “paying your dues” and something you need to go through in order to earn the Ph.D. And like I said before, when the culture of academia expects and excuses toxic behavior, it gets passed on and excused by the next wave of graduates. Here are some sources and articles that discus this culture as well.
But I want to acknowledge, not all academic worlds are toxic. There are good people who don’t perpetuate this toxic culture. And these are the people who are leading by example and striving to change the culture.
What can I do if I’m a victim of abuse by my advisor or research group?
If you’re a victim of ANY kind of bullying, abuse, or toxic behavior by a research group member or an advisor, report it to your department and work your way up the chain of command. If you feel uncomfortable, seek advice from your graduate student association or union. They are there to protect you. If the abuse is sexual or physical, don’t be afraid to seek legal counsel.
Obviously, I understand it’s much easier said than done.
Academia’s culture can be very intimidating and unfortunately sometimes doesn’t help students. So fear is normal. From my personal experience, my advisor was toxic and when I attempted to speak up, my department took his side simply because he was a “leader in the field.” My voice wasn’t heard. I know and understand that speaking up can become a battle.
So those things being said, let’s get into the signs of a toxic research advisor and group!
Research Advisor and Research Group Red Flags
Your Research Group and PI Unreasonably Criticizes Your Work Ethic
This is probably the biggest red flag you can encounter in academia. A group and advisor who criticizes your research and work philosophy. Many groups don’t schedule lab times, so it’s up to the student to establish work hours to get their work done. This is the first cause of the problem here. Example, let’s say student A works from 9 to 5 every day and is productive, but student B works 8 to 8 every day and feels that student A should be putting in as a much time as themselves. So student B tells student A they should be in the lab more.
What is wrong with this situation is that student B shouldn’t be criticizing student A if student A is being productive. Comments like this make student A feel pressured to work more. From my experience, I was criticized by my lab mates for not working in the evenings, weekends, and holidays, even though I was working as hard and for as long as a I could. To them, I wasn’t working hard enough, which really made me feel bad about myself and my work ethic.
Snarky and abrasive comments about work and the pressure to work all the time from your lab mates isn’t healthy. Now I get it, there is a time and place for criticism, only if its warranted and not a projection of someone else’s frustrations or feelings.
Your Research Group Provides Poor or No Mentoring of Incoming and Junior Students
When you start in a new research lab, it’s likely one of the upper grad students or postdocs will train you in the lab, not the PI. This is normal and ok. But if new students in the lab are not properly trained and guided by others in the lab and the advisor doesn’t delegate or make this happen, this is setting new students up for failure! Junior students need proper guidance and mentorship. Poor mentorship will make the student’s experience more challenging!
Your Advisor is Rarely Around or Present in the Both the Lab and Their Office
This is huge. It’s one thing if your advisor is genuinely busy, but if they seem to be absent mysteriously, it could be a sign your advisor could be a problem. Advisors who are absent can be absent for a number of reasons, personal, travel, conferences, and other academic tasks. But when emails go unanswered for days when a student is seeking help, that a problem. When an advisor becomes so absent, it can be a sign that the advisor does not see their students as a priority and this can make students feel lost and like they’re an afterthought. If a student needs their advisor and can never seem to find them in the lab or office when they need help, how can a student be productive?
Your Advisor Delegates Tasks that Should be Their Own onto Students
This is a point I feel very strongly about. Because I was a victim of it.
There are tasks that are reserved for the advisor and tasks that are reserved for the student. If the advisor’s duties are pawned off onto students, it’s not only unethical, but students are not their advisor’s secretaries.
Examples of tasks include ghostwriting peer reviews, ghostwriting proposals, ordering lab equipment, negotiating quotes for equipment and supplies, setting up meetings and seminars, purchasing food for seminars and meetings with their own funds, doing research group paperwork, grading homework when you’re not hired as a teaching assistant. The list can go on
Make sure that you set boundaries and let your advisor know what you’re willing to do, and what you’re not willing to do on behalf of the group. There are some tasks that are ok, but if these tasks build up and begin to cut into your research and schoolwork time. It’s too much and shouldn’t be happening.
This creates an environment where your advisor will begin to rely on you for too many things. My experience had much of this, I spent hours writing proposals, planning things for my advisor, being his unpaid teaching assistant, and doing work that he should have been doing. All of this work not only was time consuming, but I received no visible credit.
Now some of you might be thinking, “well that’s good experience for a student! Now they know what being a professor is like.”
Advisor Doesn’t give Student the Freedom to Design and Plan Research
If your advisor plans and designs all of your papers, experiments, and research, they are not teaching you how to be an independent researcher. Instead, the student is being a lab tech. This is not a healthy way for a grad student to go through grad school. Students need to learn with the GUIDANCE of their advisor. Advisors should give students the freedom to make decisions, design projects, and conduct work without being micromanaged. It’s ok for an advisor to suggest and recommend research project ideas, but the student and advisor should work together to further develop the plan.
Advisor Pushes Classes to the Side
If your advisor tells you to put more time into research and not focus on your classes, that’s a problem. Or if they tell you to take specific classes because they are easy and not a lot of work, that is also a problem. Courses in grad school are meant to help complement your research and help you learn more and become better a researcher. As someone who had a very coursework heavy Ph.D. I wish I took the classes I wanted to, not the ones my advisor thought were easy.
Advisor and Research Group Doesn’t see Value in a Diverse Resume
It’s 2021 and if you’re from the US, a resume needs more than just experience. Most employers look beyond your experience and want to see leadership, volunteering, and expectational soft skills like teamwork, public speaking, and communication. Your advisor shouldn’t be focused on all research. They should want your resume to be diverse and competitive in the market, so they should see that your resume needs to be diverse. You can have fantastic research skills, but if you can’t communicate them in an interview, no one is going to know how fantastic you are!
Advisor Thinks They Can Do Anything They Want, Regardless of School Policy
The kind of advisor is the one who thinks that because they’re successful or that they’re tenured enough to get away to breezing past school policy are the ones who will abuse it if they can. Unfortunately, academia is a world where things are allowed to slide, exceptions will be made. But if your advisor is doing this to take shortcuts, manipulate the system, or get away with things that are wrong. That’s a huge NOPE. As I said, I shouldn’t have been a TA for a class I wasn’t getting paid for. But it happened.
Another example is the advisor unreasonably extends contracts for postdocs even though their appointments should be over. Or the advisors who use immigration paperwork to keep international students longer. Or advisors who withhold graduations from students. These are all abusive practices.
Advisor Uses Gaslighting Language
Gaslighting is when someone makes a point and the other person makes that person feel dumb or inferior for speaking. Gaslighting is like “flipping the narrative.” A gaslighting advisor will makes students feel bad about themselves for speaking up, and will take the student’s point and use it against them. This kind of language in any situation is wrong.
Advisor Can’t take Criticism and Won’t Admit they are Wrong
Everyone makes mistakes or is wrong at some point. If your advisor can’t accept they’re wrong, they’re toxic. Students should be allowed to reasonably challenge their advisor, especially in the world of research. Science is a world of challenging what is known. Advisors who can’t admit they are wrong will make students feel bad for speaking up (ie gaslighting). When advisors can’t accept they are wrong, they usually put students through repeating unnecessary experiments, redoing work, and doing things they don’t want to do, even though the student is correct.
Advisor Speaks over Students and Doesn’t Listen
Communication is key. If your advisor speaks over students, doesn’t listen or makes them feel small, it’s likely they don’t want to hear what you have to say. In the sciences, everyone should be heard.
Your Advisor and Group Appear Isolated from Others in the Program or Department
This is a very manipulative behavior but it happens. Some advisors do a very good job of isolating students from collaborations, working with other groups, or even other faculty because they don’t want their research leaving the group circle, or they don’t want students to see what it’s like in other labs. You should not feel isolated by your advisor or during grad school. Groups that are isolated are groups that are only seen in the lab, have few friends, and closely follow their advisor’s orders.
Advisor Withholds Students Graduations or Publications from Them
I’m a firsthand witness to this one. If an advisor “doesn’t allow” students to graduate when they want, or publish when they want, they’re controlling and manipulative. Students are supposed to choose their paths. I’ve seen an advisor not allow students to apply for graduation or publish when and where they want. This usually happens when advisors don’t want students to leave either because they’re good workers and they fear replacing them, or because they just want more people in the lab. I’ve also seen students who graduated never get finished manuscripts published even though they warranted publication simply because the advisor had a personal problem with the student.
Embarrasses and Criticizes Students and Tries to Use it as a “Teaching Moment”
This is the worst kind of advisor. Let’s say you give your first presentation reviewing and article in group meeting. It’s your first time giving this kind of presentation, and afterward, your advisor barrages you with criticism so much so you feel the tears coming on. Then they end the conversation with “You’ll thank me later when you apply for a job, present this paper again next week.” Afterward, you think, “They was just trying to help me and challenge me.” But after a day or so, you realize they didn’t tell you anything about how to fix the mistakes you made, instead they made you feel ashamed and foolish. This is wrong.
There are right and wrong ways to give feedback. A wrong way to give feedback, is it make the student feel stupid, instead of pointing out issues and offering solutions. Bullying and using abusive language and hiding it as a teaching moment is toxic.
Your Advisor Gossips and Talks about Other Students Behind Their Back
It’s not 6th grade anymore, professionals should not be gossiping in the workplace. I’ve had an advisor who poorly talked about other student to me, and it made me feel bad listening to it. And then it made me question if he was talking poorly about me to others.
Your Advisor Makes Comments About Gender, Ethnicity, and Student’s Family Life
No, just freaking no. An advisor, or an boss should not make comments about your gender, ethnicity, appearance, and the choices you make in regard to your family. Women and BIPOC are the most affected by this.
Your Advisor Claims You Need Them to be Successful
If your advisor claims that you “need them” to be successful, your advisor is toxic. An advisor should not make you feel like you need to rely on them, their namesake on publications, or their connections for you to be successful. An advisor is a mentor, a source of guidance and support. An advisor is not supposed to be someone who “makes you who you are.” Your success comes from you. If they make you feel like you need them for success, first off they’re wrong. And secondly, they’re wrong.
Your Advisor Doesn’t Support or Explore Different Career Paths for You
By going to grad school, you’re creating a career path for yourself. It’s important to have an advisor who wants to help you reach your goals. A toxic research advisor will typically be one-track-minded in terms of career paths for their students. If your advisor doesn’t support your goals, they’re not a supportive advisor. They should give you the opportunity to explore any career option in academia, industry, government, and much more! There’s more to getting a STEM PhD than working in a lab for the rest of your life. An advisor should also be supportive of you if you change your mind.
