THINK Academia, the World’s 1st Global Initiative Against Bullying in the Academic Community

Today Cactus Communications (CACTUS), a science communications and technology company, launched ‘THINK Academia’, an initiative that envisions a global academic culture that is free from all forms of bullying. THINK stands for Thoughtful, Humane, Inclusive, Nurturing, and Kind­— all the qualities that we believe are necessary to create a better, safer, and more welcoming work environment for researchers globally.

Commenting on this initiative, Abhishek Goel, CEO & Co-founder, CACTUS said, “The CACTUS Mental Health Survey was only the beginning of our quest to support researchers and the academic community. Over the past few years, a growing body of evidence has pointed to an alarming incidence of bullying within academia and academic institutions. To address this issue and bring it to the fore, CACTUS is launching the THINK Academia initiative. We believe that the vast majority of researchers are willing to declare their support for best practices and also fully inform themselves on what constitutes academic bullying. THINK Academia will work towards creating a better academia – one where bullying is no longer ignored.”

In 2020, the CACTUS Mental Health Survey – with over 13,000 responses from researchers globally –found that over one-third (37%) of survey respondents had experienced some form of bullying or discrimination at the workplace. Also, nearly 40% of respondents indicated that their organizations lacked stringent policies to avert or act against such hostile behaviours in the workplace. The data further showed that bullying is one of the major factors negatively affecting the mental health and wellbeing of researchers.

One of the main goals of THINK Academia is to spread awareness on what academic bullying looks like, including certain acts and behaviours that might be subtle, non-verbal, and invisible. We are encouraging researchers and academics to embody more positive behaviour, to lead with kindness and empathy in their interactions, and to be more mindful of their actions and behaviour. CACTUS is also urging academic institutions to create safer channels of communication and to implement policies that prioritize their people’s safety, health, and holistic wellbeing.

This initiative is calling several stakeholders within academia, including individual researchers and academics, universities, research institutions, academic societies, research-related organizations, and others, to sign the THINK Academia pledge and join us in our mission towards creating a global academic culture that is free from bullying.

To extend your support and get involved, sign the THINK Academia Pledge today – https://cactusglobal.com/think-academia

About Cactus Communications

Founded in 2002, Cactus Communications (cactusglobal.com) is a science communications and technology company. CACTUS solves problems for researchers, universities, publishers, academic societies, and life science organizations through innovative products and services developed under the brands Editage, Cactus Life Sciences, Researcher.Life, Impact Science, UNSILO, Paperpal and Cactus Labs. CACTUS has offices in Princeton, London, Aarhus, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo, and Mumbai; a global workforce of over 3,000 experts; and customers from over 190 countries. CACTUS is considered a pioneer in its workplace best practices and has been consistently ranked a great place to work over the last several years.

Mechjunction, India’s first mechanical engineering platform for students and professionals

Mechjunction was founded in year 2013 with an intense vision of helping mechanical engineering students and professionals in best possible ways. A platform which is a job portal, provides Industrial training, skill development programs, online magazines etc. all for Mechanical Engineering Students. In a conversation with the 3 founders, Satwik Mishra, Abhinav Kishore and Harsh Vardhan we learn about the journey of this startup.

“Being a mechanical engineer, I faced many problems during and after my college life. I had to waste considerable amount of time to get my educational requirements fulfilled. Hence I planned to develop a platform where all the requirements can be furnished at a single platform for mechanical engineers. This led to the foundation of Mechjunction,” says Satwik, who got rewarded as a fellow by SAM Global Organization.

The website provides the following services to the mechanical engineers:

1) Projects
2) Opportunities Information/ Job Openings
3) Software Guidance
4) E Books
5) Video Tutorials
6) Info about related organizations
7) Discussion Forum
8) Recent Updates
9) PSU Exam's Details

They have partnered with many organizations for the workshops and opportunities. Few of them are Letonyx Technologies, Fyrsta, Unmanned Engineeria, SourceNXT. They are a team of 3 co-founders with a few interns. Though they are not yet funded, they have conducted workshops, partnered with events and benefited over 8000 students from their webpage. They have an internship program in the pipeline starting in December.

They are looking to launch book publication in coming days. "We are looking forward to set up publishing industry in the same domain, under same brand name. We are also planning to start production of robotics related parts and instruments," says Abhinav, a passout form VIT, Vellore. They have been conducting workshops with trainers from Italy providing international exposure to the students. They plan to tie up with colleges and provide training t students on a regular basis.

As a message for future entrepreneurs, Harsh says, “Don’t think much about the consequences, just start up! Either you win or lose, you are going to achieve something positive in both the cases. Don’t wait to get the perfection before you start. If you do so, you are late in this world. Just start up and keep on running until and unless it becomes the perfect one.”