Professor Jo Phoenix Wins Landmark Tribunal Against Open University

The tribunal upheld claims of harassment and discrimination after Phoenix set up a Gender Critical Research Network, leading to backlash from colleagues and trans activists.

• Professor Jo Phoenix, a criminology professor at the Open University, won a landmark tribunal against the university, upholding 20 out of 22 claims of harassment, discrimination, and bullying.
• Phoenix had set up a Gender Critical Research Network to study how prisons and other spaces were dealing with the issue of gender self-identity.
• She faced backlash from colleagues and trans activists, with 368 of her colleagues signing an open letter accusing her and the network of being transphobic.
• The tribunal found that the university's discrimination against Phoenix was motivated by a 'fear of the pro-gender-identity section' of the university.
• Phoenix is now deputy head of the school of law at Reading University and is considering setting up a new Gender Critical Research Network.

3 Articles

The Telegraph The Guardian The Telegraph