How to Notify NIH about a Concern that Sexual Harassment is Affecting an NIH-Funded Activity at a Grantee Institution

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In February, as part of a statement from NIH leadership on addressing sexual harassment in science, we encouraged the community to notify us about specific concerns by sending an email to GranteeHarassment@od.nih.gov. We received dozens of notifications through this channel and are taking each one seriously. We are working with the supported institutions to address these concerns and to assure that NIH-funded activities are conducted in a safe and harassment-free work environment.

As part of our continued efforts, we are pleased to announce a new webform that allows for anybody in the biomedical research community to share information related to a potential case of sexual harassment directly and, if desired, anonymously, to NIH. The establishment of this webform, in tandem with other actions, is taken as part of our continuing commitment to address the underlying culture that enables sexual harassment to take place.

For additional information and resources, please see NIH’s Anti-Sexual Harassment website.

We appreciate hearing from all those affected by this issue. NIH can and will follow up on all concerns related to NIH-funded research submitted through this resource. We also strongly encourage individuals to report allegations of sexual harassment or assault to the appropriate authorities, which may include local police department and/or organization/institution equal employment opportunity or human resources offices.

5 Comments

  1. Mike on the loan repayment, how do you know chicken from egg. Maybe the reason the ones you gave the loan repayment to were better scientists than those that did not get the support accounting for the better success or maybe getting the loan allowed them to focus on their work and that if you had given the money to the ones you did not fund, even greater producivity and scientific accomplishment might have been achieved.

  2. One of the parameters often used in adjudicating sexual harassment is known as the “reasonable woman standard”. However, before apply the reasonable woman standard, it is important to fully grasp the concept, its limitations and how it can be adequately applied 🙁

  3. Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances. The harasser can identify with any gender and have any relationship to the victim, including being a direct manager, indirect supervisor, coworker, teacher, peer, or colleague.

  4. NSF has taken steps in its agency-wide effort to ensure the research and learning environments it supports are free from harassment. NSF published a term and condition that requires awardee organizations to report findings and determinations of sexual harassment and established a secure online portal for submitting harassment notifications.

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