Sociologist barred from access to her data by City Uni

[SuperLoudPoppingAction]

I can see there's a thread on this in the feminist section but wondered if anyone was up for a chat about it from an academic perspective.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/34c1983e-d0be-11ed-b394-d2cc17d1b9ea?shareToken=e22f4ff713dda8ae6c07f496ce062327

As the article says, Favaro has had a really hard time of it.

If you search on Crowdjustice for AcademicFreedomForFeminists there is a bit more info.

I think this case struck me as more shocking than the others in the sense that it isn't 'only' the typical institutional bullying but obstruction of her work.

I just came here to post about this. I think they still won’t give her access to the survey data? And tried to get her to destroy the interviews. Unbelievable.

That'a right. It is genuinely chilling.

Also “we don’t want to get involved in the sex and gender debate” from the Gender and Sexualities Research Centre. Surely that debate is their whole remit!?

Yep absolutely.
I really worry about research in this area. Where I work, there is a balance of sources from different perspectives in teaching on sex and gender which is surely as it should be.
But I worry so much when working out how to situate myself when writing because it isnt possible to just bracket it anymore - it is in the public consciousness and comes up during data collection.
I am early career too, and feel very vulnerable.
What Favaro has done is both brave and very important just now, I think.

What City have done is unconscionable. I've pledged.

The bullying by abuse of disciplinary procedures and cancelling is wrong and I hope she wins her employment tribunal. However, access to her research depends on the IP agreement she has with the University. Quite often the IP from research is owned by whoever funds it, not the researcher him or herself. So, whether they can legally block her access to the research she did all depends on the IP agreement that would have been either in her employment contract or as part of the grant T&Cs that funded her research.

She may not own the data...

Basically the IRB gave permission for the data to be stored & processed in a specific place. She can go back to IRB & ask for amendment to store & process it somewhere else. That will need to be somewhere with high security, not her Dropbox account. She never had permission to move the data elsewhere.

Challenge is the IRB may view themselves as having no jurisdiction if she's no longer employed by their institution. She could be in a limbo place where no one can give permission for the data to move somewhere else to her. However, usually ethics applications have multiple applicants & one of the others could apply. That's probably the way forward. She won't get access without IRB oversight saying the data are ok to move to wherever else.

She could ask for an honorary contract to get back to the files she previously created. Her best recourse is definitely to cultivate some collaborators. Looks like she's published a lot with Ros Gill previously, get RG to help broker a deal to finish up LF's research at CU.

Thank you all for your interest and support 🙏💜

@MedSchoolRat As RG is head of the centre where all of this happened suspect that relationship has broken down 😕

Good luck Laura! You’re very brave.

Good luck @LauraFavaro You have an army of Mumsnetters behind you!

What a huge relief and real honor! Thank you, always, Mumsnetters 💜

https://x.com/drlaurafavaro/status/1734595646546473006?s=48
Some good news for Laura in terms of access to the data.