An Australian PhD supervisor has been found to have plagiarised students' work, using it in research publications under his own name.
The revelation comes after an email was sent out to staff by Charles Darwin University Vice Chancellor Scott Bowman, detailing a complaint against an academic in 2021, ABC Australia reports.
The email revealed the social sciences PhD supervisor used his student's work in "some journal articles, and maybe in some book chapters as well".
ABC believes the academic has since died from illness, but was cleared of any wrongdoing — thanks to a botched and delayed internal investigation.
"There was quite a bit of confusion… really, I made some mistakes," Bowman said.
Following two complaints, including one about the university's handling of the information, the initial investigation kicked off.
"I rolled [the second complaint] into the same complaints process," Bowman said.
"In retrospect, this was a mistake, and I should have set up a second investigation."
After two years, the initial investigation found plagiarism had not occurred — the students appealed this.
Now, a panel has agreed that plagiarism had occurred, agreeing with the students.
"The independent panel found that plagiarism had taken place and that errors had been made in the administration of the [initial] investigation," Bowman said.
"Last week, the report from the independent panel was presented to the council of the university, and the council accepted these findings."
Bowman apologised to students for the "long delays, the administrative errors and for the distress this has caused".
"I want to share with you that I made mistakes in this matter. I have learned a lot from the process, and I will strive to do better in the future," he said.
One of the students has since completed their PhD, and the other is still studying.
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