How Institutions Can Support Researchers

Researchers Facing Campaigns of Intimidation and Harassment Are Often Left to Fend for Themselves. They Need Your Support.

Researchers across disciplines and specialties are facing unprecedented levels of intimidation and harassment from external actors who aim to discredit, delay, or end their work altogether. This abuse has dire consequences for researchers, for their institutions, and for society as a whole.

For researchers, coordinated intimidation and harassment is an occupational hazard. It is the important work that they do—the research itself—that places them at risk. These attacks exert professional and personal costs, throwing the researchers, their teams, and those around them into crisis. They may endure a barrage of emotional abuse, explicit threats, the release of private information, and an onslaught of abusive emails, comments, phone calls, and messages spreading libelous claims about their work and their personal character. Such attacks often begin online but quickly move offline, with tactics including weaponized information requests, frivolous lawsuits, as well as serious physical threats. 

Facing any of these tactics can be profoundly isolating. Friends and family often struggle to understand the toll it takes. (“Just ignore the trolls!”) Fearing that they might also come under attack, colleagues, community partners, and collaborators distance themselves. And institutions often respond by going into crisis management mode, focusing first and foremost on the institution’s image and reputation, while forgetting to ensure that their employees’ needs are met as well. Feeling defeated and alone, researchers often question whether they should continue their work at all.