Campus Talks: Why universities need to start taking microaggressions seriously

Drawing on research into the experiences of Chinese academics in the UK, we hear how these subtle but powerful discriminatory acts manifest in universities and what could be done to address them

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Microaggressions are often overlooked in the official literature on discrimination which tends to focus on more explicit behaviours that can be readily identified and dealt with.

Yet these seemingly subtle acts can have a big impact on those subjected to them, as this week’s podcast guest explains.

Ming Cheng, professor of higher education at Sheffield Hallam University, carried out research into the experiences of Chinese scholars working in English universities and found a striking prevalence of microaggressions.

On this week’s episode of Campus Talks, she shares her definition of microaggressions and gives examples of how they manifest within universities, drawn from her research.

We hear about the impact of these behaviours but also what action universities could take to prevent microaggressions going unnamed and unopposed.

You can read Ming's full research paper here: Navigating microaggressions in the workplace: experiences of Chinese international academics in England | Higher Education | Springer Nature Link.