Harassment and discrimination

Research on discrimination and harassment in academia suggests that younger researchers are more likely than older to experience such behaviour, and that temporary positions and foreign citizenship may further increase this risk. Students report the most cases.

We briefly outline what harassment and discrimination are below. If you want to view the research institutions’ guidelines and reporting systems, go to: Speak up!

You can read more about the following on this page:

• What is discrimination?
• What is harassment?
• Sexual harassment
• Multiple discrimination and intersectionality
• Racism
• Measures and reporting
• How many people experience discrimination and harassment?

In 2023, the working environment and climate surveys (abbreviated ARK in Norwegian) for the higher education sector included questions about bullying and harassment for the first time.

Among students, a health and wellbeing survey (abbreviated SHoT in Norwegian) is conducted every four years. The most recent results are from 2022.

The 2019 national survey of bullying and harassment in the research sector remains the only one of its kind at the national level, although there have been repeated calls for more.

Knowledge and the prevention of bullying and harassment are also important in work on equality and diversity. The mandate from the Ministry of Education and Research to the Committee for Gender Balance and Diversity in Research and Higher Education (KIF Committee) for the period 2026–2029, states, among other things:
“The Committee shall seek to raise awareness of issues related to diversity, inclusion and harassment at institutions of higher education and research.”

What is discrimination?

As the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud (LDO) states on its website, everyone has characteristics that may make them subject to differential treatment. Discrimination is unfair differential treatment on the basis of a protected characteristic.

Protected grounds are characteristics that are protected by law, for example:

• Age
• Disability
• Sexual orientation
• Ethnicity
• Gender/sex
• Sexual harassment

Read more under Laws and regulations

Beret Bråten and Maja Feng Mikalsen wrote the report «Mangfold og inkludering ved Universitetet i Oslo – en forskningsrapport» (Diversity and inclusion at the University of Oslo – a research report (in Norwegian only)) (2022). The report is based on a questionnaire completed by around 1,650 employees and qualitative interviews with 26 employees at the university. They found that nearly 11 per cent of those born in Norway and almost 19 per cent of those born abroad reported having experienced discrimination.

The authors of the report believe that much of the discrimination is subtle, and that those who experience it do not always know whether they can describe it as discrimination. As a result, it is not addressed, and the discrimination becomes individualised. Racism and discrimination should therefore not be defined solely in terms of individuals’ intentions, but also in terms of how seemingly neutral institutional practices and structures can produce inequality and exclusion.

Read our news articles about discrimination

What is harassment?

Harassment refers to actions, omissions or statements that are offensive, intimidating, hostile or degrading.

The law clearly states that employers and the management of organisations shall preclude and seek to prevent harassment and sexual harassment, and educational institutions are specifically mentioned.

Harassment – a difficult concept

Gender-based harassment and sexual harassment can be difficult to distinguish from one another. However, when harassment is sexual in nature, it is referred to as sexual harassment. Harassment is a way of exercising power and must be understood in light of power and inequality structures such as gender, age, class and ethnicity (Report No 44 to the Storting).

Types of harassment:

• Sexual harassment.
• Harassment on the basis of sex, pregnancy, leave in connection with birth or adoption, caregiving responsibilities, ethnicity, religion, belief, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age or combinations of these.

When is it sexual harassment?
A challenge for researchers studying sexual harassment is that even incidents that can be defined as such under the law are not always identified as sexual harassment by the person who experiences it. Some researchers therefore ask specifically about behaviours and experiences, rather than ‘sexual harassment’, when studying the topic.

Criticism
A common criticism is that much of the research literature does not distinguish between bullying and sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is unwanted sexual attention that is perceived as intrusive, offensive, intimidating, hostile or degrading. This can range from unwanted sexual comments about a person’s body or appearance to groping and touching, or nude photos or videos of a sexual nature.

Sexual harassment can take different forms, such as:

• Physical: groping, touching and sexual abuse.
• Verbal: sexual comments about a person’s body and appearance.
• Non-verbal: showing photos and videos of a sexual nature.

There is no reason to believe that academia is an exception when it comes to sexual harassment. When the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment emerged in autumn 2017, protests and calls to address sexual harassment appeared across many sectors of society: in the media, politics, the cultural industry – and in academia: #MeTooAkademia.

Who reports sexual harassment?
Research in the field shows that women are more likely than men to report sexual harassment. Younger women experience most harassment.

Read our news articles about sexual harassment

Multiple discrimination and intersectionality

Multiple discrimination is when a person experiences discrimination on the basis of multiple protected grounds at the same time.

Research institutions work to promote equality among students and staff by addressing multiple protected grounds. Many researchers and EU projects advocate an approach that examines how factors such as gender, social background and ethnicity may intersect – often referred to as intersectionality or intersectional perspectives.

An intersectional perspective holds that different aspects of a person’s background can shape their opportunities and privileges – and risk of discrimination or harassment – in a given context. This makes it possible to understand how people from different backgrounds may have different opportunities for a career in academia.

Racism

In the article «Rasisme og motstand» (Racism and resistance – in Norwegian only), the authors write that they use the term ‘racism’ as an “umbrella term referring to the many different forms of negative categorisation of other people based on ideas of ‘race’ or ethnicity”.

Recently, a number of people have raised the issue of racism in the education and research sector. Researcher Sandra Fylkesnes believes there is a reluctance to talk about racism in academia.

Doctor and PhD candidate Davina Kaur Patel was among several people who took the initiative to bring together students and PhD candidates at the Institute of Health and Society at the University of Oslo. It became the Working Group on Racism, Discrimination and Health.

“We now have a work environment survey that shows that there is racism at the University of Oslo. Also, the Young Academy of Norway has previously conducted a survey showing incidents of discrimination based on ethnicity, and again: the university is not separate from the wider society.” (Patel to Kifinfo in 2024).

The KIF Committee also focused on this in its strategy for the 2022–2025 period. The Committee shall: “Raise the topic of how the institutions work on sexual harassment, racial harassment and discrimination on all grounds.” (The KIF Committee’s strategy: harassment and discrimination)

In 2023, the Government launched an action plan on racism and discrimination for the period 2024–2027. Under the heading “What is racism and discrimination?”, the plan states: “There is no universal understanding of the concept of racism, nor is it defined in law in the same way as discrimination.”

The KIF Committee has criticised the action plan for not including the research sector, despite its significant size. “There is no reason to believe that racism and discrimination do not exist in our sector,” the KIF Committee wrote in its submission to the plan.

Researchers and members of the KIF Committee have also been engaged in efforts to combat racism and discrimination in the research sector, and have, among other things, written an opinion piece (in Norwegian only) on the topic.

Read our news articles about racism

Measures and reporting

Beret Bråten and Maja Feng Mikalsen, authors of ‘Diversity and inclusion at the University of Oslo - a research report’, found that a total of 14 per cent of respondents at the University of Oslo reported having experienced discrimination.

The researchers made several recommendations in the report, including:

• Discuss the goals of equality and diversity, and why they matter at the university.
• Set up recruitment panels based on criteria other than gender.
• Affirm that it is an institutional responsibility to contribute to an inclusive working environment and collegial community.
• Establish a clear language policy and practice.
• Launch a ‘what is discrimination’ campaign.

Bråten and Mikalsen argue that if the research sector wants to learn more about opportunities and barriers for descendants of immigrants, researchers from working-class backgrounds and/or researchers with disabilities, it must design targeted surveys to examine the challenges faced by different groups.

What you can do

• Both students and staff can use the institutions’ reporting and speak-up systems to report unwanted incidents.
• The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud (LDO) can provide guidance on anti-discrimination legislation and assess your case and offer advice.
• The Anti-Discrimination Tribunal has the authority to hear complaints regarding discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment.

The Norwegian Parliament adopted a low-threshold system for enforcing the ban on sexual harassment in June 2019, and the tribunal opened in 2020. Read more at the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal

How many people experience discrimination and harassment?

The first national survey of working and study conditions for queer people was conducted in 2024/2025. Researchers from the University of Stavanger and Kristiania carried out the survey. A total of 250 responses were received, and most respondents identified as gay, queer or bisexual. Although the findings have not yet been published, the study indicates that many queer people in academia experience insecurity and resistance from colleagues, students, administration and management.

In 2023, the working environment and climate survey (abbreviated ARK in Norwegian) for the higher education sector included questions about bullying and harassment for the first time.

The student health and wellbeing survey (abbreviated SHoT in Norwegian) is conducted every four years and is the largest student survey with questions on bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination.

The 2022 SHoT survey showed, among other things, that:

• Three in ten report having experienced some form of sexual harassment.
• Major gender differences: 39 per cent of women and 9 per cent of men have experienced sexual harassment.
• The vast majority of students, around 96 per cent across gender, age and geographical region, have not been bullied in recent months.
• The most common form of discrimination is gender, particularly among women, with 19 per cent having experienced discrimination.
• The other most common forms of discrimination are political views and ethnic origin (both 4 per cent) and age (5 per cent).
• It is the youngest students who feel most discriminated against.

Findings from the only nationwide survey

Twenty-six universities and university colleges initiated a joint survey of bullying and harassment in the research sector. In 2019, the first national survey of bullying and harassment in the higher education sector was presented. Read the National Report: Bullying and Harassment in the UH Sector (August 2019)

A total of 299 of the 17,984 respondents in the survey reported experiencing sexual harassment in their current workplace over the past year. Of this figure, 79 per cent were women and 21 per cent men. Younger employees are also overrepresented among those who reported experiencing sexual harassment. Respondents under the age of 40 make up 30.5 per cent of respondents, and experience 51.2 per cent of all sexual harassment. Another finding from the survey is that PhD candidates are the group that has experienced the most sexual harassment.

Read more about the findings in the news article: New survey indicates urgent need for research on sexual harassment (2019)

Before this, in 2018, Universities Norway (UHR) established UHRMOT, a working group on bullying and harassment in the higher education sector.

Read the UHRMOT report (in Norwegian only) (May 2019)

You can read more about what research institutions do under the duty of institutions, speak-up reporting systems, laws and agreements, and publications in our literature list.