A report has warned that UK universities have failed to protect gender-critical academics from bullying and career-threatening restrictions on their research.
The report, published by Professor Alice Sullivan of University College London (UCL Social Research Institute), says that students and staff taking part in freedom-restricting harassment should face consequences commensurate with the seriousness of the offence”.
Writing in the Times, Prof Sullivan also said that some academics have been “hamstrung by bureaucratic procedures or who have bitten their tongues to avoid becoming victims of the next witch hunt.”
The report recommends that students and staff “taking part in freedom-restricting harassment should face consequences commensurate with the seriousness of the offence.” In the report, Sullivan said that researchers “investigating vital issues have been subjected to sustained campaigns of intimidation simply for acknowledging the biological and social importance of sex.”
The sociology professor said that the real-world impact of this censorship includes harm to vulnerable people.” She noted how, in her 2024 review of gender services for children and young people, Baroness Cass lamented the lack of quality research into the effects of puberty blockers and other interventions.
“Sex is a fundamental category in all research concerning humans, from biology to sociology. When certain facts become unspeakable, it doesn’t just hurt individuals, it compromises the integrity of scholarship. This weakens public trust in universities, science and scholarship, and ultimately undermines our democracy. At a time when higher education faces grave financial difficulties, my recommendations provide an opportunity for vice-chancellors to cut bureaucratic bloat and promote research integrity — a win-win for the sector,” Prof Sullivan wrote.
The report said the updated Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which is to come into effect in the UK in August, will uphold researchers’ rights in England, calling for similar mechanisms in other parts of the UK.
Sullivan previously carried out a government-commissioned review into barriers to research on sex and gender.