‘Paralysed by anxiety’: researchers speak about life in troubled ancient-DNA lab

Nature NEWS, 23 August 2019, by Dyani Lewis 

 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02540-5

 

 Colleagues of Alan Cooper, who has been suspended as leader of the prestigious Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, describe a toxic work environment.

 

The University of Adelaide has suspended evolutionary biologist Alan Cooper as head of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA.Credit: David Solm

The University of Adelaide has suspended the leader and founder of its premier ancient-DNA centre, Alan Cooper, following an investigation into the ‘culture’ at the Australian centre. The university has not given a reason for its decision, but current and former co-workers of Cooper — an award-winning evolutionary biologist who specializes in human migration — have told Nature that he bullied them or that they watched him bully others.

Their accounts paint a picture of a lab that was exciting scientifically — but that also had a toxic work environment. A former student, Nic Rawlence, who says he was bullied, says he developed stress-induced health issues while at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD). Another, Dean Male, says he left the lab as a result of Cooper’s bullying. “I couldn't get out of there fast enough,” he says.
 
Altogether, Nature interviewed nine of Cooper’s current and former co-workers at ACAD. Four — including one current member of his team — say that he bullied them; four more, two of whom still work at the centre, say that they observed him bullying team members. Most of those people requested anonymity for fear of damaging their academic careers. Three of those who allege that Cooper bullied them gave evidence to the investigation, as did two of those who say they observed it.

Another former colleague, Paul Brotherton, told Nature that although Cooper is brash, he is not a bully. Cooper could be disdainful towards someone and their work if it wasn’t going to lead to a high-profile publication, he says. “Perhaps he’s not very good at disguising his impatience and his lack of interest.”

 

Some of the people Nature spoke to say they had complained before but that things did not change. Others say they did not make formal complaints for fear that Cooper would find out and the bullying would get worse.

Rawlence says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the university’s decision to suspend one of its most prominent scientists is a sign that the institute is taking the allegations against Cooper seriously. But others are sceptical that the university will take further meaningful action or that the situation will improve, citing the funding that Cooper brings in, and the fact that previous complaints seem to have had little effect. In 2016, Cooper was South Australian Scientist of the Year. He has also been awarded several highly competitive grants from the Australian Research Council — worth at least Aus$5 million (US$3.4 million) — since he established ACAD in 2005.

Several of the researchers say that the university should permanently remove Cooper as leader of ACAD, which has about 36 staff and students, according to its website. “He is just going to tear up lives as long as he’s in that role,” says one former student.

At the time of publication, Cooper had not responded to Nature’s request for comment on the allegations against him.

Cooper is a pioneer of ancient-DNA research, and his work to improve extraction techniques in the mid-1990s transformed the field. In 2001, he sequenced the first full mitochondrial genome from an extinct animal, two species of the New Zealand moa (Emeus crassus and Dinornis giganteus)¹. He has also characterized dental plaque on ancient teeth to understand changes in early-human diet across Europe². In the past five years, he has led a project to sequence the genomes of Indigenous Australian groups, which was awarded a prestigious Australian Museum Eureka Prize in 2017 and a South Australian Science Excellence Award in 2018.

 

Cooper’s suspension comes after the university engaged an external firm, SAE Consulting in Adelaide, to conduct a ‘culture check’ of ACAD in July. Cooper was not named as a focus of the probe, and the university did not say what prompted it, but on Monday, ACAD students and staff were notified of Cooper’s suspension. “Following on from the information provided, the University has decided to take further action,” a spokesperson from the university told Nature. Cooper will remain suspended pending “the outcome of further processes”, the statement read.

Nightmare lab

One of those who gave evidence to the investigation was Rawlence, who was a PhD student and postdoctoral researcher at ACAD from 2006 to 2013. He says Cooper would yell at him alone or in front of colleagues during lab meetings and criticize his work. “It was pretty much an everyday occurrence,” says Rawlence, who now leads a lab at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Nic Rawlence alleges that Alan Cooper bullied him at ACAD.Credit: Ken Miller

Rawlence says he developed stomach pains, weight loss and facial tics owing to the stress he experienced while at ACAD. Two of the people whom Nature spoke to have confirmed Rawlence’s account.

Male, who was a senior researcher at ACAD from 2006 to 2007 and did not give evidence to the investigation, says his experience of working in a world-class lab was marred by Cooper’s bullying. “It was fantastic science, really breath-taking, cutting-edge stuff,” he said. But he says he decided to leave because Cooper bullied him, included yelling, swearing and intimidation.

Cooper often targeted the most vulnerable people in the lab, according to Male, who still works in research but has left academia. “He was selective over who he’d pick on. They wouldn’t bite back too much,” he says.


Male recalls on several occasions hearing Cooper’s shouting from behind his closed office door, and was himself yelled at a number of times while seated in front of Cooper’s desk. “He'd kind of stalk and walk a bit, warming up and then the door would close and he’d be behind you and it was actually quite intimidating, and then the shouting and yelling would start,” he says.

Cooper’s criticisms of students’ work was unconstructive and tinged with personal insults, according to a former ACAD student who witnessed Cooper bullying other students. “It borders on cruel because it’s just so relentless and not everyone is subjected to it,” they say.

The current student who accuses Cooper of bullying them and who gave evidence to the investigation told Nature in an e-mail that being shamed in meetings was so frequent that they were surprised when they came out of one unscathed. “I was frequently paralysed by anxiety

 

This long story continues .. at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02540-5

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