Institution
University College London - Queen Square Institute of Neurology
Author
Dimitrios Zachos, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Project Manager
Overview
The PATTERN initiative (tagline ‘Change the Pattern’) developed at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, in collaboration with Koç University, Türkiye, translates evidence‑based research into an impactful, freely accessible multimedia campaign (visuals, workshops, merch and digital tools) exposing unacceptable behaviours, their systemic triggers and unequal effects across gender and other protected characteristics. PATTERN is driving cultural change and improving reporting confidence and awareness, with 87% of men and 81% of women now knowing how to report bullying and harassment.
About the organisation
The UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (IoN) is a leading biomedical research and teaching institute within UCL’s Faculty of Brain Sciences, based across the Bloomsbury and Royal Free London campuses. Closely linked with the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, IoN is internationally recognised for excellence in basic and clinical neuroscience, ranking first in the UK for neuroscience research output in REF2021. The Institute hosts 772 staff and 449 postgraduate students, with women representing 57% of staff and 67% of students. IoN runs 10 postgraduate programmes and oversees 671 active research projects, supported by a diverse funding portfolio. IoN has been an active participant in the Athena Swan Charter since 2013 (Bronze), achieving its first Gold award in 2026, with the newly developed PATTERN initiative contributing key evidence to the Institute’s Gold submission.
Purpose of the initiative
The PATTERN initiative was developed at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, in collaboration with Koç University, Türkiye, to address a key Athena Swan priority: fostering a safe, respectful culture where staff feel confident identifying and reporting unacceptable behaviours. Our targeted cross-institutional research conducted in 2023-2024 showed that behaviours such as favouritism, undermining, exclusion, misuse of authority and persistent incivility were often normalised, poorly recognised, and rarely reported - despite having significant negative impacts on individuals’ wellbeing, confidence, and career progression, as well as on departmental cohesion, trust and productivity.
Over two‑thirds of women and nearly half of men reported experiencing such behaviours in academic or similar settings within the previous five years, highlighting both the scale of the issue and clear gendered differences in exposure. Self-assessment data from 2025 also indicated that 24% of women and 17% of men had witnessed bullying or harassment, while 12% of women compared to 5% of men reported experiencing it. These findings underscored the need for targeted interventions that raise awareness of harmful behaviours and their consequences, unpack structural triggers, and empower staff to speak up without fear of repercussions. PATTERN was designed to meet this need and to support a cultural shift away from “thick skin” norms toward a culture of care, accountability and psychological safety.
Description of the initiative
PATTERN began in 2023 as a cross‑institutional research project between the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and Koç University, designed to investigate:
- Unacceptable behaviours in academic and similar settings
- Structural and cultural triggers that enable them
- Impacts on individuals and institutions
This research used literature reviews, participatory workshops, focus groups and extensive surveys involving academic, research, teaching, technical and professional services staff, and PhD students. The analysis drew on cross‑institutional data from both institutions, allowing for comparative insights across different academic contexts (for Athena Swan purposes, more detailed gender‑disaggregated analysis was conducted using UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology data only – some of these gendered findings are presented below).The research revealed approximately 80 distinct unacceptable behaviours that people experienced or witnessed within the past 5 years. These behaviours fall under 9 areas:
- Abuse of power, hierarchy, seniority
- Ignoring, dismissing, excluding, isolating
- Intimidation, direct threats
- Belittling, undermining, undervaluing work or individuals
- Unreasonable/inappropriate pressure to produce work
- Invasion of privacy, boundary breaches
- Unethical conduct and academic dishonesty
- Microaggressions
- Sexual harassment or misconduct
Research also showed that perceptions and experiences varied significantly by professional seniority, staff category, gender, disability and age. Across both institutions (UCL QS IoN and Koç University), gender emerged as an important factor shaping perceptions of risk, with respondents in both contexts identifying it as a likely contributor to exposure to unacceptable behaviours (38% vs 42%). At the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, while gender was not a statistically significant predictor of overall reported experience of unacceptable behaviour, descriptive trends indicated that women reported higher levels of exposure. Importantly, gender differences emerged more strongly in perceptions of risk and behaviours. Gender plays an important role in shaping perceptions of risk, with women consistently perceiving higher levels of risk, particularly in relation to everyday interpersonal behaviours (belittling and undermining, microaggressions, exclusion, and unreasonable pressure to produce work) and structural or care-related inequalities (pregnancy and maternity, parental leave, disability, biological sex, gender or gender reassignment, staff category, and professional seniority/juniority).
Following a holistic approach, we also researched and identified 8 triggers for the behaviours listed above:
- Pressure to build reputation (publications, conferences, lectures)
- Pressure to secure funding
- Pressure to secure employment and promotions
- Pressure from critique and peer review
- Pressure to optimise financial resources
- Pressure to produce innovation
- Workplace mirroring societal inequalities
- Interculturality and differences in perceptions of what is “normal” and acceptable
Through ongoing participatory workshops, additional triggers were identified, particularly linked to workplace culture, including the norms and behaviours individuals encounter and internalise, personality dynamics and clashes, gaps in communication, and insufficient people management capability.
Most importantly, the research revealed the negative impact of unacceptable behaviours across 7 key areas:
- Mental health
- Physical health
- Behavioural changes
- Personal relationships
- Career development
- Local workplace/study culture
- Departmental operations and performance (reputation, staffing, finances, productivity)
In addition, analysis of the data revealed gendered differences in how these impacts are experienced from UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology participants. Women reported substantially higher levels of impact across all domains, particularly in relation to mental health, career development and workplace culture, while men were more likely to report no impact. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution, as existing evidence indicates that men may be less likely to report or disclose issues such as mental health challenges. As such, these patterns are best understood as indicative trends rather than definitive measures, reinforcing the need for continued research and targeted interventions.
Guided by these findings, the team partnered with CIRCLE (graphic communication design studio) to translate the evidence into PATTERN, a Creative Commons multimedia campaign comprising:
- Visual posters: Triggers, Behaviours, Impacts
- Digital tools: email signatures, Zoom/Teams backgrounds, desktop wallpapers, PowerPoint templates
- Branded merchandise: badges, lanyards, stickers, T‑shirts, tote bags, mugs, banners
- Workshops & public events rooted in the research dataset
All materials challenge “thick skin” and “that’s the way we do things around here” narratives and promote a culture of care. The campaign launched in June 2025 with an open event presenting key findings and a keynote on behaviour change, attended by staff from across UCL as well as external organisations and universities.
PATTERN is led by 2 full‑time staff:
- UCL QS IoN EDI Project Manager
- Koç University Head of Sustainability
They oversee planning, research administration, stakeholder engagement, workshop development/delivery — supported by volunteers from the IoN EDI Committee and a professional design team (CIRCLE).
Rationale
We developed PATTERN in response to clear evidence from internal and external staff surveys, qualitative feedback and lived experiences showing that harmful behaviours were widespread, normalised, and unevenly recognised and experienced across staff groups. Working in a multicultural environment also highlighted how blurred boundaries around what constitutes unacceptable behaviour can be, and how often individuals fail to appreciate the impact of their actions. Our assessment further confirmed that these issues are not local but part of a global academic culture in which entrenched norms—competition, hierarchy and “thick skin” expectations—sustain harm and disproportionately affect certain genders and staff categories. A research‑driven, awareness‑raising initiative was therefore the most effective and pragmatic way to build shared understanding, empower staff, and shift culture at scale.
Results
Although recently launched, PATTERN is already gaining significant traction. Faculties and universities are reaching out for materials and workshops, and the feedback has been powerful: colleagues report recognising behaviours they had endured for years, feeling less isolated, and initiating conversations they had previously felt unable to start. These early responses indicate that PATTERN is meeting a clear and long‑standing need.
The initiative has strengthened organisational understanding of unacceptable behaviours by making a wide spectrum of harmful conduct visible and harder to dismiss. Staff now have clearer language for describing experiences, and workshops have prompted greater self‑reflection.
PATTERN has also contributed directly to gender‑equality improvements, particularly around recognition and reporting confidence. Survey data show that awareness of reporting routes has increased markedly, rising from 82% of men and 76% of women in 2021 to 87% and 81% respectively in 2025. Notably, the proportion of staff who reported not knowing how to report was almost halved, from 18% to 9% among women and from 11% to 6% among men. This represents meaningful progress, especially given the baseline gendered differences in exposure (24% of women vs 17% of men witnessing B+H; 12% vs 5% experiencing it). PATTERN’s targeted messaging ensures that women and other disproportionately affected groups are better informed and supported.
Engagement has been strong: 364 survey respondents, 11 workshops reaching ~350 participants, and more than 1,000 staff and students receiving campaign materials. Qualitative feedback highlights PATTERN’s personal impact, with comments such as: “These materials helped me recognise behaviours I’d normalised,” and “PATTERN gave me the language to describe what was happening.”
As the campaign gained traction within UCL, Koç University and externally, the team revised elements of its approach:
- making the PATTERN campaign a standalone brand, free of UCL and Koç University branding, so that it can be easily adopted by other institutions
- expanding workshop themes
- tailoring sessions to specific staff groups
- refining messaging in response to participant feedback and emerging insights.
Unexpected positive outcomes include substantial sector and international interest, conference invitations, and recognition by the QS Reimagine Education 2025 awards (shortlisted amongst 1,600 submissions). PATTERN continues to evolve, informing cultural‑change work across UCL and beyond. Its impact will be monitored locally through ongoing staff surveys and a follow‑up PATTERN survey planned five years after the initial study, and more broadly through uptake of the campaign by external institutions and invitations to share the work through workshops, collaborations and talks.
Key barriers and facilitators
The implementation of PATTERN involved navigating several barriers as well as benefiting from strong facilitators that shaped its success. A primary barrier was limited time and capacity of the project leads: both held multiple responsibilities and were managing several parallel initiatives. However, their permanent roles with explicit EDI remits also acted as a facilitator, ensuring continuity, commitment and institutional alignment. Another barrier was university bureaucracy, particularly the lengthy process required to establish a Memorandum of Understanding between UCL and Koç University, which delayed aspects of joint planning and delivery.
In contrast, PATTERN benefited greatly from a number of powerful facilitators. Immediate buy‑in from leadership provided early momentum and legitimacy, accompanied by strong encouragement from senior leaders for staff to participate in the research phase. The initiative was further supported by a large and highly engaged UCL IoN EDI Committee, including a dedicated EDI Campaigns & Engagement Action Group that provided iterative feedback on branding, messaging and campaign materials.
Koç University contributed significant facilitative capacity through access to an in‑house graphic design team and previous experience developing successful student‑facing campaigns, enabling rapid and high‑quality creative development. A major facilitator was PATTERN’s universal applicability: external workshop participants consistently confirmed that the issues identified resonated across institutions and disciplines, validating its relevance beyond the IoN.
Finally, the decision to create a standalone brand and release all materials under a Creative Commons licence proved crucial. This enhanced scalability, reduced barriers to adoption, and led to early requests from other departments and universities to use or adapt the campaign. Together, these factors enabled PATTERN to evolve into a widely transferable and sustainable culture‑change initiative.
The future?
PATTERN will continue as a core element of our culture‑change work at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and will expand across UCL and partner institutions. To sustain its impact, we will maintain ongoing workshops, update resources based on new data, and deepen collaboration with Koç University. Building on growing external interest, we plan to translate materials into Spanish and support adoption across international institutions, including through a developing PATTERN Champions Network spanning universities and countries. The initiative’s open‑access, scalable model will enable continued sector‑wide replication, while learning from PATTERN will inform future EDI interventions and reporting‑confidence initiatives.
Advice for other members
Recognise that unacceptable behaviours are not local problems but symptoms of a global academic culture, so do not approach this work in isolation. Join forces with partner institutions, share learning openly, and co‑develop solutions wherever possible. Use evidence to understand behaviours, triggers and impacts before designing interventions, and ensure staff have a shared language for recognising harm. Build in scalability from the start—open‑access resources, a clear brand, and adaptable workshop formats all support wider adoption. Most importantly, centre psychological safety and empower staff to speak up. Cultural change is collective work: collaboration accelerates impact and sustains progress.
Web links
Pattern website: www.ucl.ac.uk/ion/pattern
UCL IoN BlueSky: @uclqsion.bsky.social
UCL IoN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ucl-queen-square-institute-of-neurology
Advance HE shares a range of practice and approaches to charters awards. Case studies/example applications illustrate one approach to race/gender equality work but there are a variety of successful approaches and we recommend charter members consider their local evidence-base and context when deciding how to advance equality in their setting.