The Cambridge Whistleblowing Saga

This is an update concerning the Employment tribunal I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

The claimant in the case is Professor Wyn Evans of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. Now that he has finished given evidence, it is now possible to release some of the background publicly. You can read a summary here. If you follow that link you will see reference to this guest post, published on this blog in late 2022:

https://telescoper.blog/2022/11/02/guest-post-the-bullying-of-hannelore/

That old post was carefully anonymised for legal reasons, but it can now be revealed that the Department concerned is, nor surprisingly given the affiliation of the claimant, the Intitute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge.

I will refrain from commenting further as the case is ongoing, but you can follow updates here. There is also piece about the case in the Guardian here.

P.S. Yes, it has taken a very long time for the matter to reach a head.

An Employment Tribunal

I only have time for a brief post here to point out that today saw the start of an Employment Tribunal in Bury St Edmunds in a case brought by Neil Wyn Evans relating to the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. I gather the proceedings will take up to four weeks. For more details see here, where updates will be provided as the case continues.

I can’t comment further because the matter is sub judice.

Bullying at UK Universities

Regular followers of this blog will interested to see that the Daily Telegraph has published an article about Professor Neil Wyn Evans about bullying in UK universities, with particular reference to his own experiences during a long-running dispute at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge.

If you would rather not click through to the Daily Telegraph, here is the most remarkable revelation (amongst many). It is about an investigation by an independent barrister that took over eighteen months to do complete. When Prof. blew the whistle on what he saw as bullying, he ended up being himself investigated, though the investigation dismissed all the claims made against him:

In his independent report into Prof Evans’ whistleblowing claims, the external barrister appointed by Cambridge University said he regretted the length of time that the investigation took and “the effect this will undoubtedly have had on all those involved”. The barrister also raised concerns that several staff members pulled out of providing testimony “over fears they would face retaliation.

It is a sorry state of affairs when members of staff refuse to provide testimony to an investigation for for fear of retaliation, and an even sorrier state when you realize that the feared retaliation would come from the University’s own Human Resources Department!

This is not only a problem at Cambridge, of course. Universities generally are terrible at dealing with this sort of thing. At least there’s at least a chance of doing something about it in Cambridge, however, as Neil Wyn Evans is standing for the Chancellorship of Cambridge University. He’s got my vote.

#Bullying #DailyTelegraph #InstituteOfAstronomy #NeilWynEvans #UniversityOfCambridge

Got to agree with this from Prof Wyn Evans in his candidate’s statement for Chancellor of Cambridge:

“If Cambridge needs a high-profile or celebrity chancellor to be noticed, we might as well give up and rebrand the University as a reality TV show: ‘Keeping Up with the Cantabrigians’.
We will always prosper provided we stay true to our core values of excellence in education, learning and research”
Pleased to have helped nominate an astrophysicist.
#Cambridge #Chancellor #InstituteOfAstronomy