Broadcast: News items

The University and the Students’ Union stand against all forms of discrimination, harassment and bullying in our community. As part of the Sussex 2025 strategy, we made a commitment to create an inclusive and supportive environment where everyone can thrive.  

One of the measures we are implementing to promote an inclusive culture at Sussex is an online Report and Support tool for staff and students to report unacceptable behaviours either anonymously or by giving their contact details. If contact details are provided, an individual will be contacted by a trained responder who will help them think through their options and next steps. 

This month, Sussex is piloting the Report and Support tool to allow staff and students to make reports and to provide feedback on the design and the content, making sure it’s fit for purpose for our community. This testing phase will allow time for it to be refined and ready for full launch in September for the new academic year.  

Assistant Director HR: Organisational Development, Culture and Inclusion, Sharon Neal, said: “Any form of harassment and bullying is never acceptable, and we’ll do all we can to stop this - and support those affected by it. Our new tool can be used to support someone you know who may have experienced harassment or bullying.  

“The data we receive will allow us to understand what’s happening across our community and give people the help they need. We’ll be transparent about the data and the action we take. Please share your thoughts with us on how you think we can fine tune this valuable resource for the benefit of everyone in the Sussex community.” 

Sharon is hosting a series of focus groups to allow staff to share their thoughts on the tool during this testing phase – please register to participate now. A feedback form is also provided at the bottom of the Report and Support tool webpage. 

The report and support tool will better help us to understand and remove the barriers to people reporting incidents of bullying and harassment. This tool will give us better insight and understanding of what the issues are – and what we can do to address them and prevent future incidents.  

Sussex is one of many higher education institutions who are adopting a Report and Support tool to report unacceptable behaviours either anonymously or by giving details of the incident.