How to get back control of my research

[user8789738967]

So, I started a new research project a few years ago in an area that is interdisciplinary and new for me. Hired a PhD student to work on it. It has been going very well, we've published a couple of papers and I asked student to apply to give talks at conferences/workshops etc. I usually try to give them a lot of credit and visibility and independence.

Anyhow, student has been giving these talks etc (he doesn't mention I'm his supervisor and usually will pass off things I've said to him as his own) . Some of these have been closed talks (i.e I couldn't join) and now he's being asked to be part of discussions that I would generally have been participating in. He does let me know what has gone on but I feel a bit like I'm losing control of my research. He's a good student, not exceptional, but diligent and hardworking. However, definitely not at a stage where he's a panel member with senior faculty etc. I don't want to seem petty or like I don't want the student to get his due but I feel like I've been painted out of my own research project. Any ideas?

So he is doing what he was hired to do and you've not been going along to these talks and now he is being asked to do stuff that you would have been asked to do but because you weren't there, and this is a problem?

Do you not discuss at his 1-2-1s what he is doing and tell him when you want to be involved?

I couldn't go to some of the talks because they weren't open. Yes, we discuss it every day. I think I just need to tell him to cc me on all correspondence related to this.

to some extent, you have to allow that he can talk about this work and build his career on it.

but you need to also use the same work to build your career. can you get yourself invited to give talks anywhere? Or do something like arrange a conference or special issue of a journal on your hot-topic yourself. that always is a good way to get your name out there.

I’m guessing you’re female?

On a joint project, a male will always, always, take credit for as much work as possible, including any of the female’s work that she doesn’t defend. They don’t seem to see this as wrong.

You’re his boss. Tell him to get back in his box. Taking credit for things you said is not ok, failing to credit you is intellectual property theft, him being invited to events without you is showing that he is promoting his career at the expense of your career.

You need to have a serious, disciplinary type meeting with him, and possibly follow up in writing so he can’t later gaslight you about what was agreed. Make clear that you expect a basic level of professionalism in your assistants and that includes that he credit you on all joint work, cc you on all work, and ensure that he does not pass off joint work as sole work.

Or in years to come he’ll be a high flyer and you’ll be a joke he tells to his mates over golf.

What @Skysblue said. Been there, got the T-shirt (not in academia but in another work context). Men have no scruples about passing off your hard work as their own

Thank you! You all have really hit the nail on the head. I feel I'm always very generous in giving credit to my PhD students, hence it was my initiative to ask him to apply to give talks etc. However, lately that has meant me being excluded as the 'originator/leader' of that work. He will say things like 'both user and I think xyz' and basically repeat a discussion that I have had with him where I've told him what I think of the state of play of the field and how I plan to evolve the work etc. Now ofcourse it's fine that he agrees with me (he always says 'yes I agree' etc) but it's felt a little weird when later he paraphrases what I've said as ' Both user and I think .....'.

I'm constantly feeling uncomfortable about it, which tells me something is wrong. I'm very good (probably too good/generous) at giving credit to my juniors but this has left me reeling.

Also, what I started is basically a new area and the whole point is to be seen as the 'pioneering' person leading that in the UK. I'm hoping to be able to get grants after having established myself in this area.

@parietal thanks for the advice - yes, I have in the past organised small workshops on topics that I was working on and that really helped visibility and building collaborative links with people. Haven't been able to do that yet because would really prefer it to be an in person thing and covid hasn't allowed that yet. But I'm looking into it now for the next year.

I've been invited to give a number of seminars on this work.
As for doing a review in a special issue of a journal - any advice on how to go about doing that?

I don't have a faculty position yet (that's a whole other thread) so I do need ownership of this work to further my career too.

A small but easy suggestion (which depends on what area you’re in, but is quite common in my area now). Make a lab name and logo and insist it goes on all posters, presentations, etc. from the lab. You can ask to see slides as ‘practice’ for him, and is easy to tell off if doesn’t do. People are moving away from ‘The surname lab’ but you can probably come up with something flags you as part of it even if it’s not explicitly stated.

You need to have a serious, disciplinary type meeting with him, and possibly follow up in writing so he can’t later gaslight you about what was agreed. Make clear that you expect a basic level of professionalism in your assistants and that includes that he credit you on all joint work, cc you on all work, and ensure that he does not pass off joint work as sole work.

This.

And you need to be clear - it won't be easy - about him NOT taking credit for ideas you've given him. Maybe talk about the essential skill of collaboration, and point out to him that you've given him opportunities he would not have had, and that it is neither professional nor ethical to pass someone else's work off as his own ...

And I totally agree with PP - it's because he's a man. He doesn't see you as "serious" even though you are senior & his supervisor.

He needs pulling up sharply about this. Very sharply.

@JoPaV Thanks for the suggestion - in my area, it's very very rarely done, so it probably won't be easy to own it in that way.

@KaycePollard the problem is it's not that he's passing my work as his own but that we have a chat where I tell him which direction I think we should go in next and that there is still mileage in idea X and he'll say 'yes I agree we should look more into idea X' and then in a more public setting (i.e with other collaborators) he'll say 'Me and user both think we should pursue idea X further'. So then I basically lose ownership of the original research idea/direction, which, as a senior researcher is one of my biggest contributions. I don't usually sit there and write the code for it, that's what the student does. I've since tried to avoid having any conversations with him where I give away ideas on where we might go next and why and what I think is interesting etc, and instead save those conversations for group chats with collaborators.

What I'm trying to say is that he's doing it in quite a subtle way (I say something, he says he agrees with it, he tells others both me and him think it, like we're equals), so it's not easy to pull him up on it.

If you want to host a special issue of a journal, there are several options

• mega-journals like Frontiers in ... will take Special Issue submissions on almost any topic. but they can be a bit spammy / predatory, so check what the reputation is in your field.
• approach the Editor in Chief of a journal you like and ask if it is possible to do a special issue. As EiC of a journal, I love it if a sensible person in my field wants to do a special issue.
• if there is a journal linked to a conference in your field, see if you can propose a symposium and the conference and use that as a stepping stone to a special issue
• apply to the Royal Society for funding to do a Hooke Discussion meeting & they will help you do a special issue too. they have lots of financial & editorial support which is great.

From the comments above, having a lab logo would be good. Also, your student probably doesn't even realise he is taking credit for others ideas. I think a strict disciplinary conversation is not necessarily the way to go, but you could talk about giving credit, to you but also to an junior students / RAs who helped on the project.

one more comment - I've sometimes had a conversation with a student / postdoc as they leave the lab along the lines of

• we both think topic X (that we've worked on together) is great and has a lot of future potential. but we should make sure we aren't competing for the same grants etc. Shall we plan to move in slightly different directions so we don't clash?

And I encourage the student to develop his/her ideas & future career in a subtly different direction to what I want to do. Because in many ways, it benefits me to have more people working on my new favourite topic, but also to grow that topic & not have clashes.

@parietal - Thanks for the very useful advice! I'm already looking into some of the suggestions you made.

Sorry to bleat on about this but I asked my PhD student to keep me cc'd in future correspondence. He just did this and I got an email from being cc'd and looking through the earlier email trail he's said 'I am very interested in XYZ' and 'my group and I have some ideas on X'. This is from when he was the only one in touch with these potential new collaborators. So he has given the impression that he is leading this effort. Even with an actual research group I sometimes hesitate to write 'my group and I ' ....

He definitely needs pulling up on this use of language. He's only there because of your ideas & intellectual work.

yes, and in the cc he introduced me as ‘other members of the group that I am working in.’ Not inaccurate ofcourse but certainly feels like an attempt to project himself as the leader.

So I think after he cc'd you in you need to introduce yourself - just a quick email saying 'great to meet you, I'm user87887, I'm the project leader on this research, I've been working on this since x and am supervising Mr Pushy' s PhD so please don't hesitate to get in touch if you need clarification on anything, bla bla bla'

Hi all,

I'm back for some more advice after a few more instances of the above. Your advice was super helpful last time and I've taken on board the comments and working on them.

The student asked if he could work on another paper with our collaborator and someone else (apparently our collaborator approached him and asked for his help with a paper). He's funded by my grant and given our history I'm really reluctant to fund him to go and work on something else that won't have anything to do with me (it's still a continuation of our work but in a slightly different direction but he's made it clear it won't involve me as he said he'd like to work on it along with X and Y in parallel with whatever we work on together). Anyhow, I told him this and quite bluntly. He's now gone to the head of group and I've received an email from him saying they can fund him to do this if I don't want to......
I have no choice but to say yes but gosh this is infuriating. I feel so gaslighted by this student. Just sent him on a snazzy conference as well!

Infuriating, indeed.

You said there have been a few more incidents. Can you give us an idea of what they have entailed? Do you have a good working relationship Me Pusey’s PhD supervisor? HoG? If you are in the U.K., does your School or unit have Athena Swan certification?

I am trying to get a sense of what steps you can take now, because I fear Mr Pushy is on the brink of usurping you. In your favour, you have email evidence of a history of behaviour I think most would find pushy to improper.

It sounds like this student wants to leave & do other things with other people. If the other group are happy to fund him, I'll let that happen because to force a student to work on a project they hate will just lead to resentment & bad results.

the key thing to think about is - what happens to the work with you that this student should have been doing? can someone else pick it up?. Or if not, that is a good reason to come back to the student and say 'it would be great for you to work with prof X but you have got to finish my project off first'. and you can make the same case to prof X or whoever else the student is talking too.

PS - Apologies if you are Mr Pushy’s supervisor of record. From the way you mentioned hiring him, as well as not yet having a regular position yourself, this seemed less likely to me. But your discipline or uni could be different from what I know

He just did this and I got an email from being cc'd and looking through the earlier email trail he's said 'I am very interested in XYZ' and 'my group and I have some ideas on X'. This is from when he was the only one in touch with these potential new collaborators. So he has given the impression that he is leading this effort.

Oh, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man....

He absolutely knows what he's doing, and this would infuriate me.

After he sent that email, I'd email him very sharply and remind him of your position and his inferior position to you. Remind him that YOU are in charge, not him. Then I agree with @Nowisthemonthofmaying - email his contacts and introduce yourself to put them right too.

I don't think you will be able to carry on working with this guy. You don't trust him - how can you bounce ideas around any more? You'll always be afraid that he will steal your ideas and take credit. It would be good if he left...

@parietal has a great exit plan. But you need a way to protect your interests during any further work with this guy

Thanks fo much for your replies. I am this student's supervisor and he's funded from my grant money, as in I got the money for this grant to fund a studentship to advance MY research. Ordinarily him working on something else (albeit something that actually uses the results of our paper together) for a short period might have been okay, but given his past behaviour and the way he's trying to chalk me out of the project makes me not want to use MY grant money to fund him to work on a project with other people. He's saying he can do this alongside the work he does with me. Our collaborator from our previous paper asked him if he can help on a paper he wants to write with someone else. Getting that email from the HoG (it's actually my former HoG, I've now changed institutions, but that's a whole other thread) has really infuriated me. I feel really gaslighted and at the same time feel petty for feeling the way I do, but it's difficult to show his behaviour without pointing out all the email behaviour you can see upthread. Since then, he's been talking me down at our meetings, whenever I raise a point he'll answer as though it's a stupid, obvious question! Gosh, and he's the LEAST smart of all the phd students I've had.

@parietal He's interested in what we're working on, this paper with other people is very much a continuation of that, just in a slightly different direction. So, it's not that he's not interested in what we're doing. He's been undermining my role in it for months, and now he wants me to fund him to work on this other project. I'm usually always looking out for visibility and career opportunities for my PhD students (nominating them for thesis awards etc), but this just feels so OFF.