I will be respectful and polite to everyone I work with irrespective of their age,
gender, sexual orientation, nationality, race, religion, type of employment (contractual
or permanent), or academic seniority.
I will identify my own biases and constantly check if these biases are affecting my
interactions with someone in the workplace – physical or virtual.
I acknowledge and understand that bullying is not restricted to a single type of
behaviour and that anyone could become a target. I will be careful to not indulge in or
initiate any action or behaviour (individual, as part of a group, or both) that could be
classified as bullying.
a) I will be mindful of my language usage, tone, and communication style (written, verbal, non-verbal), ensuring that it is polite and kind and does not serve to intimidate, offend, bully, abuse, or harass the recipient.
b) I will not intentionally cause pain, injury, embarrassment, or discomfort to any
individual at my institution/organization for any reason – either individually or as a
representative of a group.
If I witness an incident(s) of bullying around me, I will not be a silent bystander. I will do everything I can to speak out and advocate for the individual being bullied. I will make space for them to talk about their experiences freely and validate their experiences. I will call out bullying – either to the perpetrator, someone else who can influence the perpetrator, to a senior figure, or appropriate office/authority.
I will assume good intentions from other parties where communication is constrained.
When I am in a position of authority, I will THINK – be thoughtful, humane, inclusive,
nurturing, and kind.
By signing the THINK Academia Pledge, I am publicly declaring that I, as an individual, will do my part to make academia a welcoming and safe environment.
We will create a welcoming, inclusive, nurturing, kind environment for researchers and academics to thrive in. We pledge to make all those who are part of our institution feel valued and that we treat their safety, health, and wellbeing at work as the highest priority.
We will encourage everyone in our institution to read THINK Academia’s list of bullying behaviours and understand that such negative behaviour/actions will not be tolerated or condoned by the institution/organization.
We will ensure that those who have experienced bullying are given the space and time to speak about their experiences in as much detail as they’re comfortable with.
We will not ignore instances of bullying within our institution/organization. We will ensure that our institution/organization has clear, transparent policies and processes to address and resolve instances of bullying.
a) We will create and maintain a safe channel of communication for those who have experienced bullying. We will publish and communicate clear guidelines on how to report bullying and allow for anonymous reporting of the same.
b) All reports of bullying will be investigated as a matter of urgency and the anonymity of all parties involved will be preserved during the investigation and afterwards (where there was found to be no case to answer).
We will not be dismissive of those who initiate conversations about or express a desire to report instances of bullying.
a) We will be mindful of our interactions with them and not do/say anything to make them feel like they've stirred up trouble, disturbed the status quo, or done something bad by talking about and/or reporting their experiences.
b) Reporting an act of bullying will not negatively affect the status of the individual who reports it, nor will it affect their standing within the institution/organization. We will not allow their unfortunate experience to be used against them. Targets of bullying will not have to deal with retaliation from the institution/organization in terms of dismissal, being labelled as problematic, being excluded from decisions, being excluded from promotional decisions, etc.
We will record all instances and/or reports of bullying from people working for the institution/organization, learning/studying at the institution, or contracted to work there. We will listen to all complaints and act to support and protect the affected individual.
Our promise to the community is that we will publish, annually and publicly on World Mental Health Day (October 10) of each year, a snapshot of our efforts towards making our institution a welcoming and safe environment – number of cases raised in the last 12 months, number of cases resolved, average time to resolution, percentage breakdown of resolutions (upheld, dismissed, spurious).
