Redacted Email Extracts

17 April 2026 · boundary raised early

Professional, project, personal, and informal boundaries were raised at the start

Before the later complaint route, the participant-author had already asked for boundary clarity around material shared with an individual involved in the project.

“I want to raise a boundary issue early so it can be managed properly.”

“I have shared work with [individual project member], but I do not want there to be any blurring between professional/project involvement and anything more personal or informal.”

“I also want to make sure that anything to do with my work is only engaged with on clearly mutual and appropriate terms...”

This matters because the later concern was not created after the fact. Boundary, role, and mutuality were raised before the formal complaint.

23 April 2026 · clarification and concern

Use, credit, workability, and ethical framework were already live issues

The participant-author explained that the concern was not a complaint at that stage, but a clarification about use of work within the project.

“This is not a complaint. It is a clarification and a concern about the use of my work within [the project].”

“My concern is that, so far, direct discussion of the work I have shared has largely been avoided. It has only been referred to briefly and in roundabout ways, which leaves it unclear to me where I stand, in what context my work is being engaged, and on what basis it may be taken up.”

“I have been told that the team will work with me, and I have been promised more than once that I will receive credit if the work is used. At the point of recognition, I made it clear that the only credit I truly want is to see the work actually work.”

“The declaration I sent is therefore not a personal grievance. It is a principled boundary. I need clarity on whether the work is being seriously engaged, on what terms, and within what ethical framework.”

This directly contradicts any later minimisation of the matter as ordinary personal encouragement. The questions of use, credit, seriousness, and ethical framework had already been put in writing.

23 April 2026 · senior contact reply

The concern was treated as clear and agreement/protection were named

The senior contact did not respond by saying the concern was irrelevant or that the participant-author was mistaken. The response encouraged formalising an agreement around collaboration, contribution, and protection of material.

“Many thanks for sharing this with me and I note your concerns.”

“In my understanding of your concerns I would encourage you to share these formally with the project lead and to formalise an agreement on your collaboration and contribution including appropriate protection of your material.”

23 April 2026 · participant reply

Reading/discussion were distinguished from use

The participant-author then clarified the action sought: the concern should be noted, formalised, and no use should proceed beyond reading or discussion without written agreement.

“My main expectation is not that this be handled as a complaint, but that my concern is properly noted and that no use of my work proceeds beyond reading or discussion unless and until a formal written agreement is in place.”

“What I am looking for is clear written agreement on the following: the basis of my collaboration and contribution; the boundaries and role clarity around my involvement; what material of mine may or may not be used; how attribution/credit would work in practice; what protection is in place for material already shared; the ethical terms on which the work could be taken up at all.”

This gave a clear route: discussion was not being refused, but use required boundary, attribution, protection, and agreement.

23 April 2026 · senior contact confirmation

The concerns and agreement route were acknowledged

The senior contact again treated the position as clear and left open involvement if agreement could not be reached.

“That is clear — I note your concerns and anticipate you to contact the project lead directly with the points below to negotiate an agreement.”

“I am happy to hear or become involved if there are any difficulties in reaching this agreement.”

23 April 2026 · direct request to project management

The project was directly asked for a formal written agreement

On the same day, the participant-author contacted project management directly asking for written agreement about collaboration, contribution, role, use, credit, protection, and ethical terms.

“Following recent correspondence, I am now writing to formalise matters directly with you regarding my collaboration and contribution to [the project].”

“What I am asking for is a formal written agreement covering: the basis of my collaboration and contribution; boundaries and role clarity around my involvement; what material of mine may or may not be used; how attribution/credit would work in practice; what protection is in place for material already shared; the ethical terms on which the work could be taken up at all.”

“My position is that, until such an agreement is reached, the work I have shared is available for reading and discussion only, and not for implementation, adaptation, or wider use.”

That is a direct written non-use boundary. If the work was never going to be used, adapted, implemented, or credited, that was a clear opportunity to say so.

28 April 2026 · route and formalisation issue

The distinction between individual sharing and project use was explicitly raised

The participant-author then raised the problem that the material had not been shared generally with the project, but with an individual involved in it. That distinction is central to the later ambiguity.

“For clarity, the material was not shared generally with [the project]. It was shared with [individual project member]. I know from the response around the material that it appears to have been read or engaged with more widely, but I do not know how it has been distributed, who has read it, or what context it is being held in.”

“At present, [individual project member] is the only person I am willing to trust with that part of the work in any physical or practical sense. I regard [their] understanding of the work as significant, but I also think there is a lot for [them] to think through if [they] ever wishes to use, carry, or develop any part of that logic.”

“For clarity, I am not refusing discussion. I am trying to protect the distinction between discussion and use.”

“If the work is used as my work, then its ethical sequence and conditions of use need to be named and respected. Otherwise, selected elements risk being extracted for another purpose while the structure that gives those elements their meaning is left behind.”

This shows that the participant-author was not collapsing every interaction into formal project use. The concern was exactly the unclear boundary between individual recognition, project context, possible wider engagement, discussion, and use.

28 April 2026 · ethical/political boundary

The work was framed as critique toward repair, not anti-system withdrawal

The same email also clarified the ethical direction of the work and why it was not being offered as anti-system or oppositional performance.

“Earlier this year I removed myself from remaining anti-system/anarchist attachments because I recognised that carrying those contradictions in my own life would undermine the direction of the work.”

“My position is that the work is critique toward repair, not anti-system performance or opposition for its own sake.”

“[The individual project member] understood the point I was making.”

29 April 2026 · seriousness and non-pressure

The work was not dependent on this project or immediate adoption

The participant-author clarified that the work was already serious before publication and that, if the individual did not take it on, the work could wait for another route.

“The seriousness of the work did not begin at the moment of publication, and it did not begin only once the language became more finished or externally legible.”

“At that time I was still finalising my dissertation draft of the logic, but that does not mean the project was not already serious. The ethical sequence of the work was already there.”

“At the same time, I also need to be clear that if [the individual project member] decides not to take this on in [their] own life, I will wait until it aligns with the next person. And if that does not happen, then so be it.”

“I was never relying on it doing anything within my lifetime.”

This is important because it separates the ethical concern from pressure for adoption. The participant-author was not insisting the project must use the work; he was asking that possible use and non-use be handled clearly.

30 April 2026 · grounds of ethical transmission

Use, adaptation, implementation, credit, and non-use were explicitly named

The participant-author sent a declaration setting out the terms on which the work could be taken up or used.

“Could this please be made available to [individual project member], as it sets out the grounds on which I am willing for the work to be taken up, carried forward, adapted, implemented, credited, or used in any serious context.”

“Reading and discussion are not the issue. But if the work is to be used as my work, then the ethical sequence must be named, lived, and protected as foundational rather than treated as borrowed vocabulary, selective insight, or useful language detached from its responsibilities.”

“If those grounds cannot be met, then I would rather the work not be used.”

This was not vague. The distinction between reading/discussion and use/adaptation/implementation/credit was set out in writing.

30 April 2026 · clarification of withdrawal, non-use, and protection

The non-use route was also named

The participant-author then clarified that if the stated grounds could not be accepted, the appropriate issue was withdrawal, non-use, and protection of material already shared.

“For clarity, I am not seeking to escalate unnecessarily or force any immediate decision. My position is simply that any collaboration, use, adaptation, circulation, or implementation of the work would need to proceed on the grounds set out in the final statement.”

“If those grounds cannot be accepted, then I agree that the appropriate matter to clarify would be the terms of withdrawal, non-use, and protection of material already shared.”

This matters because it gave the project a clear opportunity to say, at that point, that there was no intention to use, adapt, circulate, implement, or work with the material.

30 April 2026 · project lead response

The response acknowledged the declaration and protected materials

The project lead did not respond by saying the work was irrelevant or that there was no intention to use it. The reply acknowledged and respected the declaration and referred to withdrawal and protection of shared materials.

“I write to acknowledge and respect the grounds of your declaration.”

“You, of course, also have the right to withdraw at any time. Your shared materials are protected.”

The participant-author then replied that the confirmation was helpful, specifically thanking the project lead for confirming that the materials already shared were protected.

Formal declaration · ethical use of the work

The work was for repair, not exit

The attached declaration also set the wider ethical boundary for use of the work.

“My position is not against critique. Critique is necessary.”

“But critique is not enough.”

“Its ethical direction is clear: not withdrawal, not purity, not recoil, but repair.”

“If the work is to be used, it must be used by those who are prepared to stand by the kind of responsibility it calls for.”

“My work is not for exit. It is for repair.”

11 May 2026 · formal complaint

Verbal assurance, management contact, and practice change were explicitly raised

The participant-author raised a formal complaint and made the central sequence explicit: contact routes, verbal assurance, management-level discussion, visible practice change, authorship, and retrospective narrowing.

“There is a further point which makes this more serious. The issue is not only that service users were given a form explicitly stating that they could contact the people named on it. It is also that I received verbal confirmation on more than one occasion that I would be worked with and credited.”

“[Management] also came with [individual project member] to speak to me directly, and in that conversation I discussed with [management] what [individual project member] had understood in my work.”

“After concerns had already been raised about [another worker’s] approach, there was then a visible shift in the way service users were being met, in a form that reflected the ethical sequence I had set out.”

“For that reason, the later suggestion that there was confusion about contact, or that there was never any real intention of using the work, does not sit cleanly with the sequence that actually occurred.”

The formal complaint then asked directly whether the verbal assurances about being worked with and credited were authorised and meaningful, and if not, why those assurances were given.

12 May 2026 · complaint route uncertainty

The route itself was unclear across institutions

A senior academic contact acknowledged that the matter was now a formal complaint and noted that governance and complaint routes may vary because different institutions governed different aspects of the work.

“I do understand that you are now articulating a formal complaint, rather than requesting clarification as before.”

“I am aware that there have been changes to the research ethics governance of [the project] with different institutions governing different aspects of the projects. The formal complaint routes may therefore vary.”

The participant-author replied that the concern was not only about where to route a complaint, but about the underlying process: contact routes, subsequent narrowing, authorship and acknowledgement, possible influence, and whether it was appropriate to direct the complaint back through the same line of concern without clearer safeguards.

The issue was raised clearly before the complaint outcome.

Key public sequence