SMaRteN, in partnership with Vitae, is conducting research into the impact of COVID-19 on the working lives of doctoral researchers and research staff.

Vitae is a non-profit programme supporting the professional and career development of researchers. www.vitae.ac.uk   @vitae_news     

Covid-19 and the associated lock down has caused substantive disruption to the study and work of doctoral students and researchers in universities. The response to the pandemic has varied across universities and research funders.

SMaRteN and Vitae aim to develop a national picture for how doctoral researchers and research staff have been affected by the pandemic.

​The survey includes questions relating to the impact of COVID-19 on research work, mental wellbeing, social connection. We further address the impact of COVID-19 on changes to employment outside of academia, living arrangements and caring arrangements and the consequent effect of these changes on research work. The survey considers the support provided by supervisors / line managers and by universities. 

​You can find a summary of the early data from our survey in this short article by Nicola Byrom: ​https://elifesciences.org/articles/59634

Details from qualitative analysis are available here.

Data & analysis.

Data is available via figshare: 
Byrom, Nicola; Metcalfe, Janet (2020): Impact of COVID 19 on Doctoral and Early Career Researchers. figshare. Dataset. 
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12361493.v1

Where the sample size is large enough to ensure anonymity of respondents, Universities may have access to their universities data.

For further information, contact the SMaRteN Network Coordinator, Laura Beswick, smarten@kcl.ac.uk

Methods.

​The study has been registered with the KCL ethics board: Ethical Clearance Reference Number: MRA - 19/20 – 18347.

​We used a single cross-sectional survey, to take a snapshot of how the sector is doing after approximately a month in lock down. We will review the national situation later in the summer, with an option to repeat the survey if daily life is still disrupted by COVID-19. 

Early findings

We would like to thank all respondents to the impact of Covid:19 survey, and from early analysis conducted to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, can release these initial findings to the sector. The survey was launched on 16 April and to date 4,800 researchers have responded, consisting approximately of two thirds doctoral researchers and one third research staff: 

• Half of respondents report being very stressed about their work, two thirds very worried about their future plans and 70% worried about their finances.
• 40% of the research staff surveyed reported that their research contract ends during 2020. Only 10% of this group report that their funding has been extended in the context of the pandemic. 
• Only 12% of final year doctoral researchers reported that their institution has provided an option to extend their doctoral studies.
• Respondents consistently report that the lockdown has negatively impacted on their ability to undertake research activities: more than three-quarters report a negative impact on data collection, discussions with colleagues and dissemination activities; more than a half report a negative impact on data analysis, writing and grant/fellowship applications. While one in five report a positive impact of the lockdown on reviewing the literature, a third report negative impacts. Doctoral researchers are reporting substantially more negative impacts on their research activity than research staff. 
• While four in five respondents are reporting the same access to a computer as they would usually have, 30% are reporting reduced or no access to the software that they require for research.
• The majority of respondents report that there have been clear guidelines on how they will be supported by their institution to manage any changes in their ability to work (60%) and to work remotely (64%). While two-fifths of respondents agree that their institution has done all they can or should do to support them at this time, two-fifths believe their institution could do more.
• Two thirds of doctoral researchers report that their supervisors have done all that they can to support them. Four-fifths of supervisors have been in contact to check how they are managing, with three-quarters making clear arrangements for progress meetings to continue.
• Around two-thirds of research staff report that their line managers have done all that they can to support them. Three-quarters of managers have been in touch with them, with 68% making clear arrangements for progress meetings to continue.
• Around a quarter of respondents have caring responsibilities. Of these, around 90% have seen these responsibilities increase since the lockdown, 60% report a considerable increase. The large majority (88%) of those reporting a change in caring responsibility report that this has had a negative impact on their ability to meet the needs of their work.
• Around a third of respondents report a change in their employment options outside of academia since the lockdown, with around four-fifths of these expecting an impact on their finances for the next academic year. 
• Approximately four in five respondents are showing some level of mental distress. Levels of mental distress are higher among doctoral researchers (compared to research staff), women, individuals working in the arts and humanities and non-UK citizens. Mental distress was lower among respondents who felt that their university had provided clear guidelines about how the university would support changes to working arrangements.
• Three-quarters of respondents are showing low levels of mental wellbeing. Mental wellbeing was higher among individuals who felt well supported by the university and identified being able to access online skills training from their university.
• Reported loneliness was highest among doctoral researchers and those working in arts and humanities. Levels of loneliness were lower where respondents felt their supervisor had supported them to stay in touch with peers and colleagues.
• Doctoral researchers and research staff are typically in a position of high job insecurity, with short term funding resulting in concerns about future career moves. The data highlights the substantive effect of the lock-down on this population.

 
“They have been asked to transition to working from home and most are reporting a substantive negative impact on their ability to work and are experiencing high levels of stress in relation to their work. While there is praise here for the support being provided by supervisors, concerns about finances and job insecurity remain very real.” Dr Nicola Byrom, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London and Principle Investigator, SMaRteN, the Student Mental Health Research Network.     
 
Dr Janet Metcalfe, Head, Vitae: “These researchers are at critical stages in their careers and the restrictions due to COVID-19 are not only having a significant impact on their current research activities, but are likely to have long term implications for their future careers.”
 
Professor Jennifer Rubin, Executive Champion for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at UK Research and Innovation, which funds SMaRteN: “The findings of this survey provide insight into how challenging this time is for our research community, and especially our doctoral students. Our ways of working have had to change dramatically, bringing new pressures and difficulties for many. The mental health and wellbeing of our community is paramount, and UKRI is working to identify, understand and address the impacts of Covid-19 on the researchers we fund and the research that is underway, helping to provide support to researchers to navigate these unprecedented times.”
 
For context, there are 112,000 postgraduate research students studying in the UK and whilst around 60% are supported by stipends, many self-finance their studies. There are 50,000 research-only staff in UK universities, with 67% of these employed on fixed-term contracts (HESA 2018/19). 

Measures being included.

Download text version of survey.

• Academic:
  • Position within academia
    • Doctoral student
    • Employed primarily to undertake research (e.g. research assistant, post-doctoral researcher, research fellow)
    • Employed to undertake teaching and research
    • Employed to undertake teaching only
    • Other (please specify)
  • Nature of contract
  • Years in research
  • Academic area
  • University
  • Primary source of funding
  • Current funding end date
• Wellbeing
  • Short WEMWBs - Stewart-Brown, S., Tennant, A., Tennant, R., Platt, S., Parkinson, J., & Weich, S. (2009). Internal construct validity of the Warwick-Edinburgh mental well-being scale (WEMWBS): a Rasch analysis using data from the Scottish health education population survey. Health and quality of life outcomes, 7(1), 15.
  • Kessler 6 - Kessler, R. C., Andrews, G., Colpe, L. J., Hiripi, E., Mroczek, D. K., Normand, S. L., ... & Zaslavsky, A. M. (2002). Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychological medicine, 32(6), 959-976.
  • Short UCLA loneliness scale + Single item loneliness question - Russell, D. W. (1996). UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): Reliability, validity, factor structure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66, 20–40
• Audit of impact on research
  • Impact on work
  • Access to research tools and resources
  • Support from supervisor / line manager
  • Support from university
• Employment outside of academia:
  • Has this changed
  • What is the impact of these changes on your finances?
• Nationality
  • Changes to country of residence
  • Visa concerns
• Daily life
  • Changes to living arrangements
  • Changes to caring responsibilities
  • Current stressors
• Demographics
  • Age
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Disability