The study, which ran from 2019-2020, was conducted via surveys sent to all staff and students at Lund University; the response rate was around one third in both groups. The results show that most of those subjected to sexual harassment do not tell anyone at the University. This is despite the fact that sexual harassment is a common phenomenon, with an estimated one in four women and one in twelve men experiencing it during their working lives.
“Tellus making sexual harassment in academia visible is a good thing. We know what the situation is and has been in universities. We are actively working in various ways within the University to emphasise support, prevention and lowering the thresholds for daring to share what an individual has been through," says Jimmie Kristensson, vice-chancellor for integrity and character.
- Read more: What determines the 'culture of silence'? Disclosing and reporting sexual harassment among university employees and students at a large Swedish public university, PLOS
- Read previous news item from 2020: The result from the Tellus project about sexual harassment at Lund university is now out!
- Read The Tellus report
Measures to increase the reporting of abusive conduct and harassment among employees
All abusive conduct and harassment (not just that of a sexual nature) is now be reported in the IA system and to the line manager. This does not always happen, however.
“We realise that not everyone reports incidents, which could be down to several different factors, such as being new at work, being young or being in a position of dependence, or the fact that there may generally be a high degree of tolerance for what you are allowed to say and do in the workplace,” says Lena Lindell, HR specialist in handling abusive conduct and harassment.
To tackle this culture of silence, Lund University has taken several measures. A process is underway for handling reported sexual harassment where the information on the HR website and Staff Pages will be revised. More focus is to be put on the manager ensuring that both parties in a case are supported (e.g. counselling). The handling of cases will be more professional, with integrity and transparency for the alleged victim and the person accused, with the aim of building trust in the process. It is hoped that this will increase the propensity of people to report.
Measures to increase the reporting of abusive conduct and harassment among students
The 2020 Tellus report also showed that sexual harassment is common in student life, often taking place away from University premises. A university-wide project aimed at bolstering work to prevent sexual harassment and harassment in student life has been running for two years. The project seeks to develop long-term capacity-building initiatives, support the development of common working methods and develop procedures for investigating and handling sexual harassment.
“Effective collaboration with the Academic Society, the student nations and the student unions helps to make the University visible as a way in for reporting incidents and as a place where support is available," says Åsa K Nilsson, coordinator for equal opportunities at the Student Health Centre and project manager for the student life project.
The Student Health Centre, together with student life bodies, offers training to students on how to deal with and prevent sexual harassment. Training for student health and safety representatives is also provided. The number of incidents reported by students has increased from the year 2023 to 2024. This may be due, among other things, to the University's efforts to visualise and encourage more students to report incidents in the digital IA system.
Read more about the work the University is doing for students: Harassment and sexual harassment
Initiatives for managers
The University works systematically with preventive work against discrimination in accordance with the Discrimination Act, through the process of work aimed at the systematic prevention of discrimination (SFAD) and the annual SFAD follow-up, as well as through systematic work environment management. All organisations have the opportunity play the SFAD game to explore risks of victimisation, harassment and sexual harassment in the work environment. There is a SFAD team that supports organisations both in prevention work and in the handling of reported abusive conduct.
Read more about the SFAD game on the HR website: The process for systematic preventive work against discrimination (Swedish acronym SFAD) (in Swedish).
In the autumn, the Division of HR will investigate what expertise for investigating victimisation, harassment and sexual harassment exists at the University. The investigation is a follow-up to the Internal Audit Office’s recommendations in the 2024 report Granskning av universitetets hantering av kränkningar och trakasserier (Review of the University’s handling of abusive conduct and harassment (in Swedish)).Work is also underway to develop training programmes and the faculties can request workshops on how to deal with abusive conduct and harassment.
An information pack including three videos showing scenes featuring different forms of abusive conduct has been produced. The videos are accompanied by tutorials for managers who would like to raise and discuss these issues in their work groups. The material and videos are available, in Swedish and English, in Kompetensportalen.