National survey on well-being of scientists

Members of The Young Academy are sticking the thermometer into Dutch science: how about stress, joy and the social safety of researchers?

“Filling in the questionnaire takes 15 minutes at most,” says Joeri Tijdink, psychiatrist and ‘meta-scientist’ at VU University Amsterdam. He hopes thousands of researchers will want to participate in The Academy Thermometer, which he set up with other members of The Young Academy.

According to Tijdink, not much is yet known about the mental health of teachers and researchers in the Netherlands. That is why the Young Academy thought it was time for a major survey. “This has never been done in this way, with a clinical questionnaire, on a national level. We want to understand more about both the joys and the problems.”

The researchers are mainly looking at ‘depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, stress, exhaustion, job happiness, satisfaction with life and working conditions’, Tijdink said. As part of this, they distinguish between gender, age, sector and position. It is not asked which university a person works at, otherwise anonymity would be compromised. (HOP, BB)

• Do you need help? Check the TU Delft website Wellbeing & Study (students) or the University Social Worker‘s intranet page (employees).