Citizen Writes
Research hot topics
A catalyst for change?
2025-03-06
By Professor Neil Chakraborti, Dr Amy Clarke, Dr Yunyan Li and Dr Talitha Brown, School of Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leicester
A major new nationwide study, led by the Centre for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester, will examine the complex landscape of harassment within higher education institutions. The research, led by Professor Neil Chakraborti and Dr Amy Clarke and commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), breaks new ground by investigating the full range of unacceptable behaviours and hostilities that students are exposed to, and the barriers to effective support.
The research team share further details below, and outline how their evidence could generate meaningful change for the sector.
Why does this research matter?
We are in the midst of a global crisis in social relations. Spiralling levels of harassment, increased scapegoating and a heightened sense of online and interpersonal hostility have become normalised as part of routine, everyday life for many, and particularly for members of minoritised and stigmatised communities. As microcosms of wider society, university spaces are not immune from the social, cultural and political tensions that exist within the world around them, and yet the ways in which prejudices play out within higher education are typically unacknowledged and under-explored. As such, the contexts in which students feel unsafe and unsupported remain unknown at a time when multiple points of crisis have exposed student communities to a heightened risk of harassment.
Despite the Office for Students calling for a more vigorous approach to tackling harassment within higher education, and its new requirements on what higher education providers must do to protect students coming to fruition in August 2025, sector-wide conversations focus almost exclusively on sexual harassment. This leaves a significant knowledge gap around other forms of harassment, with institutional responses typically best described as piecemeal, reactionary and lacking the consistency that comes with an evidence-based, trauma-informed sector-wide approach.
What does the research involve?
To address these fundamental gaps within practice and policy frameworks, this project draws on surveys, interviews and focus groups to investigate the nature and impacts of harassment experienced by students during their time at university. It centres the voices of undergraduate, postgraduate, domestic and international students and foregrounds their experiences of interpersonal violence, online victimisation, as well as more ‘everyday’ actions and microaggressions such as name-calling, mockery and exclusion. The research is being undertaken in collaboration with a diverse range of universities across England, each of which has been purposefully selected for their very different geographical locations, student demographics and institutional profile.
Crucially, this research embraces a fully inclusive, victim-centred definition of harassment that recognises the different forms of hostility directed towards students at all levels of study, including sexual, racist, disablist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic harassment, and the ways in which students’ experiences can be shaped by multiple aspects of ‘disadvantage. Using this approach, we can move beyond the assumptions commonly made of the monolithic student or the uniform student body, and instead showcase the stories and journeys of ‘invisiblised’ and marginalised groups. The research also identifies the risk factors associated with particular spaces on and off campus, and the barriers to effective support as perceived both by students and by key professional services leads tasked with responding to harassment. These insights will enable us to provide a more nuanced understanding of how university policies relating to harassment are operationalised and evaluated, and to identify examples of good practice from across the sector when it comes to student care and harassment prevention.
How will the research catalyse change?
We are confident that the evidence generated through this project will provide the tools to shape sector-wide changes to policy and practice. To drive improved awareness and prioritisation across the sector, we will develop a co-produced Student Manifesto for Change which will directly draw from student testimonies to provide clear guidance on good practice on how universities can respond effectively to harassment. Additionally, we will create a toolkit which enables institutions to evaluate their existing approaches to tackling harassment and which provides a bank of evidence-based resources and guidance to support institutions when designing new initiatives. We will also harness creative activities which facilitate difficult conversations, promote empathy and encourage cultural change. This includes short plays, designed exclusively on the basis of student testimonials and for staff and student communities to read through together and to engage in honest dialogue. Student voices will also take centre stage within a short film which will be screened at participating universities across the country, and which showcase experiences of harassment in ways that are poignant, accessible and evidence-based.
These are just some of the ways in which this project will seek to generate change at a time when change is urgently needed. To find out more, please reach out to the research team at catalystforchange@le.ac.uk.