The academic and scientific freedom to pursue research without undue constraints or censorship is a vital issue, yet researchers rarely discuss it openly, and there are few studies exploring it in the field of biodiversity and conservation research.
To address this, a team from the University of Leeds is conducting research to understand experiences of academic and scientific freedom amongst researchers in this field. This includes those working inside and outside of academic institutions, and those from all disciplinary backgrounds (natural science, social science, arts and humanities). In particular, they want to hear researchers’ experiences of instances where their academic and scientific freedoms have been constrained.
The survey will ask you about your experiences of constraints on academic freedom, and the forms this may have taken. Firstly, it will ask you to reflect on a particular instance where your freedom was constrained, and answer a series of multiple choice questions. It will also invite you to use an open text section to share anything else you deem relevant and important. You will then have the option of providing details of up to three additional instances. There will then be a few questions to aid understanding of how different personal and professional factors may relate to experiences of academic and scientific freedom.
You will be able to provide as little or as much information as feels comfortable and no personal data will be collected as part of this research.