So I'm currently thinking of making a formal complaint against my old PhD supervisor.
Long story short: he used to micromanage me, he was passive aggressive, he had unrealistic expectations, he used to expect certain expectations from me, without telling me, then would get angry when I hadn't done them or if I asked him for help, I asked a member of staff for help (she had been assigned specifically for this) and he got very angry because I hadn't asked him, he would get very stressed and take that stress out on me in the form of anger, he was very unpredictable (his moods would change within the space of an hour).
Other members of academic staff avoid working with him because he is deemed to be difficult. I was being emotionally abused and bullied.
Week 3 I made my first complaint, I made several other complaints to other members of staff after this. They met with my supervisor, initally agreeing his boss would be my second supervisor but instead she was put on as 'pastoral support'. This made it worse because he wanted to know why I made the complaints, and cornered me out of hours. It seems the staff walk on eggshells around him. I went straight to HR (who didn't do a lot) and then escalated the situation to the ProViceChancellor demanding money for a new PhD in a new building, completely away from my old supervisor. They gave me money and I moved.
He had 2 students leave before me and the one before those 2 stayed for 8 years (deemed as a fail). The university closed ranks and told me the other students didn't make any complaints so how do they know the reason they left was because of my old supervisor. Even though I got in contact with them both, they still ignore it.
I found out this week my old supervisor is advertising for a new PhD student and I'm furious. Therefore, I want to make a formal complaint. This is unacceptable. I wasted a year of my life, I don't want this to happen to someone else.
The thing is, I've moved to a new PhD project and it's much better (new building, new lab group and supervisors) at the same uni. I'm concerned a complaint may affect this and not to mention, what happens if I'm unsuccessful?