The Dark Side of Academia: Competition, Inequality, and Violence in the Ivory Tower - Gayle Brewer

  • Feminist Book Club
  • Feminist Book Club
  • Cinema
  • Thursday 21.05 — 08:45 - 10:00

 This book is introduced not as a final answer, but as a reflection on issues that are often left unspoken. It is not based on any single case, but on a broader awareness that such experiences are widely recognised across academic environments. It grows out of repeated moments in academic settings where conversations about gender-based violence are followed more quietly by people sharing that these situations are common in their own institutions, even if they are rarely discussed openly. 

 At the same time, increasing pressures around funding, geopolitical tensions, and concerns about academic freedom raise an important question: how freely can people really speak about these issues? There often seems to be a kind of “cloak” of privacy, where individuals manage difficult experiences without feeling able to voice them publicly. This does not affect everyone in the same way. For those in marginalised groups, such as LGBTQIA+ people or researchers whose perspectives may not align with dominant political views, the risks of speaking out can be even greater. In this way, the session looks at how power works within academia, and also draws a parallel with similar imbalances in big tech companies, where the rights and conditions of data workers are shaped by who gets to speak and be heard. Rather than offering clear solutions, it invites participants to reflect on what is shared, what is held back, and why.

Gayle Brewer (Remote Speaker)

Gayle Brewer is Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Liverpool and holds doctorates in both subjects. She is an award-winning Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion advocate and has presented a range of written and oral evidence to Parliament in this area. Publications include Disability in Higher Education: Investigating Identity, Stigma, and Disclosure Amongst Academics (2022) and The Dark Side of Academia: Competition, Inequality, and Violence in the Ivory Tower (2026).

Anastasia Karagianni

LSTS, VUB - Belgium

Anastasia Karagianni is 3rd-year Doctoral Researcher at the LSTS research group of the Law and Criminology Faculty of VUB and former FARI Scholar. She is the main coordinator of the Feminist Book Club at CPDP and the LSTS Gender, Law, and Technology Sessions. 

She has been a visiting researcher at several Universities, including iCourts University of Copenhagen, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Seville, ITACA Institute-Universitat Politècnica de València, University of Alicante (upcoming) and McGill University in Montreal (upcoming). 

Her academic research focuses on the "Divergencies of Gender Discrimination in the EU AI Act Through Feminist Epistemologies and Epistemic Controversies”. She is currently a RHEA member (VUB Research Centre on Gender, Diversity and Intersectionality) and former member of the Feminist Gender Equality Network.

Besides her academic interests, Anastasia is a digital rights activist, since she is a co-founder of DATAWO, a civil society organisation based in Greece advocating about gender inequalities in the digital era. Anastasia Karagianni was a MozFest Ambassador 2023, and Mozilla Awardee for the project “A Feminist Dictionary in AI”– of the Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence working group. 

Sreyan Chatterjee (Remote Speaker)

Sreyan is an independent public policy and legal researcher, with specialisations in finance, sustainability, technology and labour regulation. His work has been cited by the International Monetary Fund and Agami Foundation.

He is currently working on his doctoral thesis which focuses on algorithmic management and digital Taylorism in the beauty industry at the Faculty of Business and Law in the Manchester Metropolitan University.

Salomé Lannier

University of Luxembourg - Luxembourg

Salomé Lannier (she/her) is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg. Her research focuses on human exploitation, gender-based violence, and sex work. She is currently the PI of the project "PROTect against EXploitation: exploitative offences versus legitimate work in a digitalised labour market". Salomé is a doctor of law and criminal sciences, after defending in December 2023 her thesis on "New technologies and human trafficking," in joint supervision between the University of Bordeaux (France) and the University of Valencia (Spain). Salomé is the lead author of the report on the criminalisation of gender-based violence in Luxembourg for the International Association of Penal Law, and the editor for a special issue on the same topic at the Revue Pénale Luxembourgeoise.

Pia Groenewolt

LSTS, VUB - Canada

Pia Groenewolt joined the VUB’s Law, Science, Technology and Society research group in September 2022 to work on the Data4food2030 project. As a Ph.D. candidate, she works under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Niels van Dijk at the d.pia.lab. She holds a Bachelor degree in Sociology and Political Science from the University of Calgary, a Master of Social Sciences in Sociology from the University of Helsinki, a Master in Political Science from the ULB, and an Advanced Master's in Human Right from Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles. After having gained working experience at the International labour Organisation, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swiss Academy for Development, Pia gained extensive experience in European Projects through positions at ALL DIGITAL aisbl and at European SchoolNet.