Outcomes of 2010 Survey on the long-term impact of ESF Research Conferences
The ESF Research Conferences Scheme is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. This is a reason to share stories and impressions, but also an opportunity to improve the scheme further, and to make it even more relevant to the researchers’ interests and needs. Therefore, a survey was launched on 26 August 2010 to study the long-term impact of ESF Research Conferences. Attendees of ESF Research Conferences from 2006 to 2010 were asked to share their opinion on the long-term impact of the conference(s) in an online questionnaire.
The final number of responses received is 978, over 10% of the total number of attendees. Of these, 75% attended as participants, 21% as invited speakers, and 3% as chairs, a distribution which reflects the setup of ESF Research Conferences. 70% attended a conference in 2009/2010; the remaining 30% provide their feedback on events attended between 2006 and 2008.
Reasons for Participation
According to the survey results, researchers mainly participate in ESF Research Conferences to ‘Update their knowledge and fine tune their research direction’ (84%). Other important reasons for participation indicated by respondents were ‘Discuss my research' (75%) and ‘Network/ create new lasting contacts' (71%). (See figure 1).
Conference Quality
74% of the respondents rated ESF Research Conferences as ‘better’ or ‘much better’ than similar events (See figure 2).
97% would recommend ESF Conferences to a friend or colleague. In general, the respondent’s expectations in the conference were fully met or exceeded. On a scale from 1 (‘unsatisfied’) to 5 (‘exceeded my expectations’), the average mark was 4.2. When looking at different aspects of the event, attendees were most satisfied with ‘Conference Atmosphere’, ‘Quality of Chairs and Speakers’ and ‘Scientific Programme’ (See figure 3).
According to the feedback received, key outcomes of the conference participation were ‘New Collaborations’ (44%) and ‘Publication(s)’ (29%). Conference participation also lead to other, new joint projects (See figure 4).
Some typical outcomes described were:
• New research directions toward marine biotechnology in the Azores, Portugal. Possibilities of setting up a start-up company in marine biotechnology in the Azores
• Ideas were generated for new applications of my own research and I also brought home valuable information regarding new methods that might be applied in routine practice in our hospital.
• establishment of new collaborations, ample feedback on my own research, my current carrier development would not have been possible without this conference
• development of national centre of excellence, and new book series
• helped me to decide on further study/research, mainly through communication with peers and exchange of experience in the field
Suggestions for improvement
When asked ‘How could ESF Research Conferences be improved?’ the top three suggestions for improvement chosen by respondents were ‘More discussions’ (16%), ‘Decrease conference fee’ (15%) and ‘More short talks’ (13%). Less than 5% wanted to ‘Make conferences longer’, ‘Make conferences shorter’, ‘Faster feedback on application’ and ‘Earlier registrations’ (see figure 5).
Further suggestions were:
• Main talks a bit shorter allowing more short talks.
• There is should be one or half day for workshop/practical event for the younger researcher like me to explore his/her innovative ideas with the other researcher or senior researcher.
• A little more free time, to enable spontaneous discussions and networking
• More support to researchers from developing economies with extremely limited or lacking research grants / funds to participate in such high level conferences
Next Steps
Thank you all for participating in the ESF Research Conference Feedback online questionnaire.
After a first analysis we will ask some of the respondents, who indicated their willingness to be contacted, for more detailed qualitative feedback; updates on how we will integrate your results will be posted here and sent to mailing list subscribers, if you have not signed up yet, you can do it here.
As a thank you for the feedback, all respondents were offered to participate in a draw for a free participation in a 2011 ESF Research Conference of their choice. The total number of respondents indicating that they wanted to participate in the draw was 395 out of 978.
The winner of the draw is Dr. Katie Gramich, Cardiff University (picture on the left). She said that her participation in an ESF Research Conference “contributed to my ideas re Celtic identities which later fed into both publications and an ongoing research network (funded by AHRC)”. In order to improve the Scheme, Dr. Gramich suggests that “Better publicity would also be helpful. The ESF is not as well known in the UK as it is in continental Europe".
