Approach and Demographics

On March 25th, I developed a survey to more clearly and systematically document the impacts of COVID-19 on Australian GR students. The survey was distributed to graduate research students via Twitter, email and through word-of-mouth. This survey asked a number of questions relating to the impact of COVID-19 on both GR students research and their lives more broadly. It also included questions about the impact of campus closures and the costs of having to now work from home.

The survey is still in circulation, and I will aim to publish an updated report in the future. However, the fast-moving nature of the situation and the magnitude of disruptions to respondents’ lives and research prompted the release of a preliminary report documenting initial findings. The intention of this interim report is to broadcast these findings, to guide sound decision making on behalf of universities.

The questions asked in the survey were a mix of quantitative (for example, ‘on a scale of 0-10 how has COVID-19 impacted your research activities?’) and qualitative (for example, ‘can you tell me more about these impacts on your research?’).

120 students participated in the survey as of the 27th of March.

A range of students participated in the survey:

• ·75% were students at the University of Melbourne

• 90% were PhD students

Of PhD student respondents:

• 70.5% were domestic students

• 29.5% were international students

The majority of participants answered all questions and provided in-depth (paragraph long) answers to the qualitative questions. These were thematically analysed into themes for this report.