A survey of working conditions within biomedical research in the United Kingdom

Survey design

A ten-question survey was designed to formally evaluate the working habits of biomedical researches. While the primary intention was to gather information relating to UK-based biomedical scientists, the survey was also open to non-UK-based scientists from a broad range of backgrounds for comparison. The first three questions “what position are you?”, “broadly, what discipline do you work in?” and “what country do you work in?” aimed to serve as a filter to ensure the accurate analysis of UK-based biomedical scientists at different stages of their career. The following three questions “how many countries have you worked in over the past five years?”, “how old are you?” and “how long have you held this level of position?” aimed to construct a demographic census of the respondents, and to enable comparison between specific age groups. The next three questions focussed on the conditions scientists work under, asking “how many hours did you work last week?”, “how many days did you work last week?”, “what’s your annual salary in pounds sterling?”. The final question “how comfortable do you feel about your long-term prospects in research?” gave respondents the opportunity to select multiple responses, and those selecting the answer “not at all – I’m planning on leaving research” were invited to expand on their answer, and detail any factors contributing to this decision. The full list of questions and accompanying answer options are available in Supplementary File 1. The survey is still active and is hosted by Survey Monkey (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HBP6NXX).

Data analysis

To capture as many responses as possible, data was collected between 21^st March 2016 and 6^th November 2016 (Dataset 1; Riddiford, 2017). In this time period, the survey was answered by 1,128 scientists. Initially, data were filtered to select only for responses from UK-based biomedical researchers (Q2 response: “biomedical sciences”; Q3: “UK”) to give a broad overview of working conditions within this cohort. Data were then further filtered to provide a career-stage-specific profile for each of the major tiers of an academic research career; the PhD, the postdoc and the principal investigator (Q1: “PhD”, “postdoc” and “principal investigator, permanent contract” or “principal investigator, non-permanent contract”). Data for each discrete profile was analysed using a custom Perl script (Supplementary File 2) to parse downloaded data and include non-standard question answers (i.e. where respondents opted to specify a non-listed answer, or to elaborate on their selected response) in the analysis.

For the 299 respondents who provided a written answer to describe in detail the reasons they were planning on leaving research (Q10: “not at all – I’m planning on leaving research”), four statements were selected for each career stage as being broadly representative of the issues addressed by others in the same cohort, and are presented in Box 1–Box 3. The complete unanalysed data set for responses collected within the stated time period can be found in Dataset 1 (Riddiford, 2017; answers compromising the anonymity of respondents [IP address and personal comments] are not included).

A general profile of biomedical researchers

Of the 900 biomedical scientists who responded to the survey, 37% reported having worked more than 50 hours in the week preceding the survey (12%, ≥ 60 hours). Perhaps more striking was that 53% reported working more than five days the week before they answered the survey and that 15% worked every day that week (Supplementary File 1). Only 16% reported receiving an annual salary in excess of £35,000. Almost all of the respondents were PhD researchers or postdocs, and 98% were employed on short-term contracts.

Discrete profiles for UK-based biomedical researchers

PhD students. The majority of respondents to the survey were PhD students (54%), representing the youngest, and most mobile cohort, with 94% aged between 25–29 and 35% having worked in two or more countries over the past five years (Dataset 1 (Riddiford, 2017); Supplementary File 1). On average, they also reported working more hours per week than other cohorts (37% work over 50 hours a week) and the majority worked more than five days in the week before answering the survey (55%, > 5 days; 16%, 7 days; Figure 1 - ‘PhD’). UK-based PhD students are typically funded via a tax-free stipend of between £13,000 and £20,000, which equates to an hourly salary of £6.70 (assuming a 48 hour week earning the average PhD salary of £17,000). PhDs students are funded on a short-term basis, and 92% of PhD respondents have been at their current level of position for fewer than four years.

Figure 1. Graphical representation of analysed survey data.

The data is presented for three discrete career stages, the PhD, the postdoc and the PI.

In response to the question “How comfortable do you feel about your long-term prospects in research?” 5% answered “comfortable”, with the vast majority expressing major concerns about one or more work-related factors. The most common reason for respondents’ lack of comfort in the prospect of a career in research was “it’s too competitive, and there aren’t enough jobs” (63%), followed by “I don’t make enough money” (45%). Surprisingly, only 28% plan on leaving academia (see Box 1 for several respondent-provided statements).

Postdoctoral researchers. The next rung on the academic ladder - and therefore the next discrete cohort analysed - is the postdoctoral research fellowship (“postdoc”), and accordingly this cohort generally comprised older respondents (65% age 30 or older; Figure 1 - ‘Postdoc’). Like PhD students, roughly a third reported having worked in two or more countries over the past five years (33%). While postdocs are also employed on a short-term basis, the number of respondents who reported being employed at the same level for four or more years was drastically higher than for PhD students (≥ 4 years: postdoc, 32%; PhD, 11%; ≥ ten years: postdoc, 4.5%; PhD, 0.3%), almost certainly reflecting the growing necessity of pursuing multiple postdocs on the path to becoming a full faculty member (Bourne, 2013).

Also like PhD students, postdocs work long hours - 79% reported working more than 40 hours a week, and 41% for more than five days a week. Despite their age, experience and work ethic, the average salary for biomedical postdocs in the UK is relatively low, with 75% of postdocs earning between £26,000 and £35,000 (4.5% earn more than £41,000), which constitutes an average hourly salary of approximately £14.00 (assuming a 45 hour week earning the average post doc salary of £33,000). However, despite only 7% describing themselves as “comfortable” in their long-term prospects for a career in research, only 30% plan on leaving academia (see Box 2 for several representative reasons). The large majority that didn’t feel comfortable in a future in research felt that they were working too hard (33% answered “I can’t keep working this hard”) and competing for too few jobs (66% answered “It’s too competitive, and there aren’t enough jobs”).

Principal investigators. The final group comprises those who identified as being a principal investigator (“PI”), and therefore represent an older and more stable cohort that PhD students or postdocs. In total, 63% of respondents in this group were employed on a permanent contract, and only 20% reported working in more than two countries over the last five years. In addition, 80% were over 35 years and 48% reported being employed at the same level for four years or more (≥ ten years: 28%; Dataset 1 (Riddiford, 2017)). However, this category was vastly underrepresented in the survey data – only 30 individuals responded in total, and only 8 were aged over 45 years – representing a major caveat in the interpretation of such data. While such low numbers are insufficient to draw any major conclusions, the data collected do provide some insight into the working habits of UK-based biomedical PIs, and particularly of younger individuals (52% employed at this level for ≤ 4 years). In particular, 17% in this cohort reported working over 70 hours in the week preceding the survey, and 25% worked a seven-day week (Figure 1 - ‘PI’).

Like PhD students and postdocs, the average salary from this group was relatively low (£41,000), which is particularly striking when considering the level of experience required to reach such a position. Accordingly, a low salary was cited as a cause for concern by 38% of respondents (Q10: “I don’t make enough money”), while more respondents felt that their work/life balance was unsustainable (46%; “I can’t keep working this hard”). As in the earlier stages of a research career, roughly a third (31%) plan on leaving research for reasons such as those given in Box 3.