2023 Research Culture Survey

On 6 November 2023 we opened the Research Culture Survey at UCD and it has closed as of 1 December 2023. Thank you to all of you who took the time to share your views on research culture at UCD. This will allow us to measure progress against the findings of the 2021 Survey. The Survey will welcome views from all those involved in research at UCD including, academic staff, technical officers, postdoctoral researchers (PDRAs), Research Fellows, graduate research students, and research managers and administrators (RMAs). 

Some Highlights from our Analysis to Date

• While overall response rates were lower, including from graduate research students), there was an increased response rate from PDRAs
• There was an increase in the respondents who felt that UCD’s Research Culture was improving, and a decrease in the numbers who felt in was disimproving.
• Overall, however, over half of all respondents indicated “do not know” to this question – unchanged from 2021.
• Early-career researchers (ECRs – defined as..) felt that the expectations placed on them were reasonable
• Both faculty and professional staff were less positive in their responses to this question
• Professional staff, overall, had the lowest satisfaction to the recognition provided for their work
• ECRs were very positive in respect of the mentor support available to them, but less aware than faculty of opportunities to become involved in research activities beyond their school.

More to come, including analysis of the intersection between Researcher Wellbeing and Research Culture

UCD Research Culture Survey 2023 Questions

Methodology

Responses

On 6 November 2023 the second Research Culture Survey at UCD was opened and it ran until 1 December 2023. The Survey period was one third shorter than for the first Survey in 2021 which ran for six weeks. In addition, for the 2023 Survey, we were limited to recruiting survey participation from Graduate Research Students to a period of only two weeks. In total, the 2023 Survey received 740 completed responses.

Responses by College and Role

Survey responses were received from every college with the highest percentage of responses coming from the two largest colleges, College of Science at 23% and College of Health and Agricultural Studies at 24%.

The Survey welcomed views from all those involved in research at UCD including: academic staff, technical officers, postdoctoral researchers (PDRAs), Research Fellows, graduate research students, and research managers and administrators (RMAs). The majority of participants were faculty members, constituting 53% of the responses. There was a notable increase in participation by Postdoctoral Research Associates – 79 or 8% or responses in 2021 up to 91 or 12% of responses in 2023. There was a decrease in responses from Graduate Research Students (GRS) – 286 or 27% of responses in 2021 compared to 108 or 15% of responses in 2023. This can be attributed to the restriction that limited recruiting Survey participation of GRS to only two weeks. 

Has Research Culture at UCD improved?

Role and Career

A new set of questions was introduced to the Survey in 2023 section focused on the roles of the respondents and their perceptions about their careers in research. Questions in this section were aligned with roadmap themes and quantitative questions in other sections.

The table shows a comparison of responses to questions on the same topics across roles. On the topic of  Workload, responses show high positivity from Early Career Researchers (ECRs) but much lower for faculty and professional staff (PS). Recognition – least positivity from PS – just above 30%; most positive for ECRs. Collaboration – ECRs less positive about opportunities to collaborate outside of their Schools. Mentoring – ECRs strongly positive; faculty more positive than negative but room for improvement.

Highlights and reports from the 2021 UCD Research Culture Survey