CEDARS 2025: your views on research culture at UCL

30 April 2025

We’re inviting UCL’s research community to take part in the CEDARS survey, 19 May – 13 June 2025, to evaluate UCL’s research culture and environment.

The Culture, Employment and Development in Academic Research Survey (CEDARS) is a national survey that gathers anonymous data about working conditions, research culture, and the professional and career development of researchers and research-enabling staff across UK higher education. The survey is anonymous.

CEDARS is managed by Vitae, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting the professional and career development of researchers and research-enabling staff.

Why this survey matters

UCL last participated in 2021, when the results fed directly into the development of the Research Culture Roadmap. This year, we’re asking UCL’s research community to fill in the survey to continue to shape the future of research culture at UCL and in the UK.

UCL is committing to developing a fair, collaborative and inclusive research culture, where both our research and research community can thrive. The data from the survey will support the continued delivery of the Roadmap, as well as REF2029 People, Culture and Environment preparations and submission.

We’re also taking a key step in implementing the principles of the revised Researcher Development Concordat. The survey results will also contribute to national policymaking and advocacy, helping to shape the research culture landscape across the UK.

How the survey will work

The survey will run Monday 19 May – Friday 13 June 2025 inclusive.
Eligible participants will receive a personalised link to their inbox on 19 May from no-reply@app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk.
It should take no more than 20 minutes to complete.
Most questions are set by Vitae and will be given to all participating universities.
There will also be some questions chosen and set by UCL.

Who the survey is for

You should receive a link to complete CEDARS if you are a member of staff (not including doctoral researchers) and undertake research and/or teaching; manage researchers; and/or contribute to the research endeavour by enabling research/researchers, i.e. research professionals and technicians.

If you are in one of the above groups but haven’t received the link by Tuesday 20 May, please contact researchculture@ucl.ac.uk.

As CEDARS is run by individual institutions, if you work across different institutions, you may get more than one invitation to respond. You are welcome to complete CEDARS more than once providing your views of your experience at a particular institution.

Sharing the survey results

Once the survey has closed, the results will be analysed by UCL’s Research Culture and Organisational Development teams.

Results will be available through a dashboard on Tableau by the end of the calendar year.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Will response rates by shared throughout?: We will share faculty-level response rates throughout the survey with faculty leadership and Community Steering Group members.
Will it be anonymous if I am entering unique self-identifying information?: Upon data analysis, in the event of small sample size that may put anonymity at risk (i.e. fewer than 10 responses), data will be aggregated to the next level up. This will ensure that comments or feedback are not lost - but still ensures anonymity.
Why does the link include a unique token and my email address if anonymous?: The URL is unique to allow targeted notifications to non-responders that are generated through the JISC system. However, whoever will analyse the data will only have the list of responses to the questions. Neither the token nor your email address will be included/listed next to the responses, so data extracts will be fully anonymous.
Where will the results go and who will have access to them?: Once the survey closes, the Research Culture team will begin analysing the data in partnership with the UCL Data and Insights team. Once fully analysed, the results will be made available through the already existing Tableau CEDARS dashboard and shared via Research Culture faculty dashboards by the end of the calendar year.
I received a survey link but I am not a member of the research community. What should I do?: If you have incorrectly received a survey link, please feel free to either ignore and delete any emails about CEDARS. Alternatively, email researchculture@ucl.ac.uk to be removed from the distribution list.

Privacy notice

Your responses will be anonymous: you will not be identified or identifiable in any published results. All questions are optional except for those required to route you to questions pertinent to your experience and circumstances.