Who can you contact?
Here you can find contact details for employees and students who have been exposed to, or have noticed, discrimination, harassment, violations or other incidents at KI.
Zero tolerance
At KI, there is zero tolerance towards discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and victimisation, and we want and must act at the earliest possible stage. When a manager or other employer representative, or course management, becomes aware of these events, we as employers (primarily the immediate manager) and education provider are obliged by law to act and investigate the events.
If you have been subjected to abuse
- It is you who has been subjected to abuse who determines if the event or behaviour is unwelcome.
- Act immediately if you feel that you have been subjected to abuse.
- If the situation is not threatening, try informing the person responsible for the behaviour that their behaviour is unwelcome, or alternatively ask someone else to do this.
- Ask for help - you always have the right to get help, advice and support if you feel vulnerable. Below is a list of contacts who can give you advice and support to report the incident further.
- Employed at KI: Inform your immediate manager. If this does not feel appropriate and/or safe: refer instead to your manager’s superior, administrative manager or equivalent, or any of the persons mentioned below.
- Students at KI: Inform any representative at KI, such as a teacher whom you trust. If this does not feel appropriate and/or safe: refer instead to the Head of Department, coordinator on student law issues or any of the contacts referred to below.
Contact and support functions
You should primarily contact a manager, course management or HR at your department. In KI's guidelines and below there is further information about various contact routes and support functions that you can turn to.
- Head of department, immediate responsible manager, administrative manager
- Safety representative, work environment representative, representative for equal conditions
- HR at your department or equivalent
Additional advice and support functions:
- Contact the course management at your department in the first instance
- Course responsible teacher, examiner, study advisor - see the course website
- Report an incident
Additional advice and support functions:
- Director of Studies for postgraduate education at the department
- Student and doctoral student ombudspersons at Medicinska föreningen
Doctoral students can also turn to the support functions for employees.
What happens when I tell you about any abuse?
What comes to the employer and/or course management must be investigated according to KI's guidelines. This primarily means that the responsible manager talks to the parties involved in order to find out what happened, stop what is going on and be able to put in place the right measures and support.
An investigation:
- aims to clarify the circumstances of the supposed misconduct
- is the basis for a decision on what measures must be taken in order to stop the unwelcome behaviour
- must be carried out quickly, objectively and legally
- must be documented and followed up
It is important that an investigation is conducted with consideration and respect for those involved. Only persons who are parties or witnesses should be involved in and kept informed of the process. The information will therefore be limited as much as possible. In the normal case, this means that the manager informs those who are needed to give the manager support in the investigation. If it proceeds to an investigation, the accused will be informed so that the accused can respond. It is also possible that any witnesses will be informed so that they can share their experience of what happened.
Prohibition of reprisals
In the Discrimination Act there is also a prohibition against subjecting someone to reprisals, that is to be subjected to any form of punishment or bad treatment as a reaction to having told anyone about, or reported, discrimination.
The prohibition against reprisals applies regardless of whether what is alleged can be proven or not. The protection also applies to someone who has participated in an investigation according to the Discrimination Act, or rejected or given in to harassment or sexual harassment.
Can reporting be done anonymously?
In an investigation into harassment, sexual harassment or abusive discrimination, it is not possible to remain anonymous. In order for the process to be legally secure for all parties, the person criticized needs to have the opportunity to respond to accusations. In the investigation process, the facts about what happened are clarified.
Of course, there is still the option of reporting problems anonymously. The employer and the education provider are obliged to investigate and prevent risks in the work environment and the study environment, even in the event of an anonymous report. However, the opportunity for the employer/course management to ensure the work environment and work proactively will be limited if employees, or students, do not come forward with their criticism.
Remember that you always have the right to help, advice and support if you feel vulnerable. You can, among other things, contact student health, the student and doctoral ombudspersons and the occupational health service anonymously.
Report an incident
By using KI:s incident reporting system you can:
- report harassment, discrimination or abusive discrimination
- submit comments or suggestions for improvement regarding your study or work environment
- get an opportunity to make an anonymous report. However, an investigation might not be completed due to the lack of personal information.