Your Research, Your Voice.

As part of this project, we are exploring how early career academics and research supervisors think about their respective roles and professional relationships.  

This research will be asking participants to respond to three writing prompts. The purpose of the prompts is to inspire diverse and honest submissions that will provide exploratory and novel insight into the interpersonal aspects of the researcher experience. For EDI purposes, we will also collect background characteristics and ask a few open-ended questions about professional expectations.  

Participants will be asked to choose and respond to one of the following writing prompts. They will also complete a brief survey and may be asked to participate in a follow up research interview. 

There is compensation of lifestyle vouchers valued between £10-£20 pounds, depending on which prompt participants chose.  

Option 1: Three things 

We estimate that this option will take about 5 minutes to complete.  

1. Write three things you wish you knew before starting your current role 

AND 

2. Three things you are glad you knew when you started your current role 

Option 2: Job description 

We estimate that this option will take about 10 minutes to complete. 

If you are a postdoc or early career academic, please describe the job role of either yourself or your current Principal Investigator/research supervisor. It can be realistic, exaggerated, tongue-in-cheek or funny. You control the tone!   

If you are a principal investigator or research supervisor, please describe the job role of either yourself or your current postdocs/mentees. It can be realistic, exaggerated, tongue-in-cheek or funny. You control the tone!   

Option 3: Letters 

We estimate that this option will take about 20 minutes to complete. In this option we ask you to write a brief letter. The content of the letter is up to you, but you might want to discuss how you feel about the job you are doing, how you feel about research and academia more broadly, or offer some advice to the letter recipient.  

You control the tone of your letter – it can be serious, funny or even a cathartic exercise. You might want to share thoughts that you do not feel able or willing to share in your day-to-day working environment. You can address the letter to whomever you choose. If you name someone directly, we will remove any identifying information about this person during data analysis. 

If you are a postdoc or early career academic, please write a letter to one of the following: 

• Your principal investigator/research mentor 
• Your PhD-self 

If you are a principal investigator or research mentor, please write a letter to one of the following: 

• Your postdoc(s)/your research mentee(s) 
• Your postdoc-self 
• Your PhD-self 

 How do I participate?

Enrollment for this study is open until 18 October 2024.

Participate by following this link to the survey

The Information sheets for the studies can be accessed here:

yourvoice_participantinfosheet.pdf

Preliminary observations

Here is a short video based around some of our preliminary observations of the submissions we have received.