Your insights are essential!
The Culture, Employment and Development of Academic Researchers Survey (CEDARS) 2025, a national survey managed by Vitae, is your chance to share your experiences of the research environment and culture you work in.
This is your opportunity to feed into our new Research Culture Strategy and resulting action plans as well as contribute to the national benchmarking exercise. CEDARS is a national survey, designed to gather insights from research staff, research-enabling staff (e.g. professional staff whose main role is to support research or researchers) and their managers across UK universities.
Developed by , the CEDARS survey helps institutions understand the lived experiences of researchers in areas such as employment conditions, professional development, wellbeing, and research culture. CEDARS supports universities in assessing progress against the Researcher Development Concordat, and its findings will inform local strategies, policies, and initiatives aimed at improving the research environment. Importantly, it gives our researchers a voice in shaping how their careers are supported and how the culture around them is evolving.
By participating in CEDARS, staff will also contribute to the national understanding of researcher experiences, helping ensure transparency, benchmarking, and shared learning across the sector. For institutions like the ºÚÁÏÈë¿Ú, the survey is a vital source of evidence for creating a more inclusive, supportive and connected research culture.
What will CEDARS 2025 ask?
CEDARS should only take between 10 and 20 minutes to complete and explores essential themes such as research culture, professional development, employment conditions, and the experiences of staff, providing actionable insights to shape supportive and inclusive academic environments.
Most of the questions asked in CEDARS have been pre-set by Vitae. There are also a small number of questions that have been added to help us to support and understand research culture at our institution.
Find out more about the .
How do I take part?
The CEDARS survey launches on Tuesday 29 April 2025 and if eligible* you will be sent an email link to the survey in your staff email account. If you have not received an invitation to complete the survey and believe you are in one of the eligible groups, please contact researchculture@port.ac.uk.
If you have any problems accessing or completing the survey, please contact researchculture@port.ac.uk.
*All researchers, research-enabling staff and managers of researchers.
Before the survey closes, two respondents will be randomly selected to receive a £500 CEDARS Research Culture Fund prize, donated from the University’s Research Culture Fund. Winners will be announced shortly after the survey ends, and the funding can be used to support your research or development activities, such as attending a conference or purchasing research equipment.
What happens to the results?
By running CEDARS, we’re taking a key step in implementing the principles of the revised Researcher Development Concordat. The survey will provide valuable insights into creating a healthier, more supportive, and inclusive research culture at our University. The survey results will inform the ºÚÁÏÈë¿Ú’s policies and practices and be used to inform the national benchmarking report that will contribute to national policymaking and advocacy, helping to shape the research culture landscape across the UK.
Is it anonymous?
The CEDARS survey is being organised by Vitae and administered using the Jisc Online survey software. Whilst the survey is taking place user details will be held by the Jisc system to allow the survey software to send targeted reminders to staff who have yet to complete the survey. This information will contain your institutional email address, your School or Department, and if relevant your REF Unit of Assessment. Whilst the survey is still open you have the right to withdraw consent for us to use or store your data, however at the end of the survey period (23 May 2025) it will no longer be possible to withdraw your data as the linked email address will be deleted and the data will be held so that individuals are no longer identifiable.
After the survey has ended your anonymised data will be held securely for up to 10 years and may be used in summary form by Vitae and the ºÚÁÏÈë¿Ú in scientific, research or statistical reports to better understand the staff experience. Only members of the CEDARS survey analysis team will have access to the anonymised data. No individual will ever be identified in any reports or publications, and the smallest summary value we will report will have at least 5 people contributing to it. We will store your data securely and all staff will receive a summary of the results later in the year.
Data protection
If you have any queries about how your data will be used or processed, please contact the Doctoral College (doctoral-college@port.ac.uk) or the University’s Disclosure and Complaints Manager, Samantha Hill at complaintsadvice@port.ac.uk. You also have the right to lodge a complaint about how your data has been used with the .
If you do not wish to take part in the survey, please contact researchculture@port.ac.uk to be removed from the CEDARS 2025 mailing list.
Please note that, because the survey data is anonymous, any response to information you have provided cannot be fed back to you directly. If there is anything you would like a specific response to, please contact your line manager or Head of School/Department.
For further information about the support available to you as a member of staff at the ºÚÁÏÈë¿Ú, please contact researchculture@port.ac.uk.