Researcher Skills Development Needs Survey 2023 Report

This report outlines the results, both quantitative and qualitative, from the Researcher Skills Development Needs Survey 2023, which was conducted by Federation University Library over a four-week period during June-July 2023. The de-identified dataset, two infographics and the survey instrument are all available under a CC BY licence in Federation.figshare.

While the number of respondents was lower than anticipated, the results of both quantitative and qualitative questions provide useful responses. These include areas of skills development identified by the University’s research community as well as a meaningful comparison to the similar survey conducted during 2020.

Opportunities for skills development of researchers have been identified from the survey responses and these are summarised at the end of the main report. Digital skills needs were identified as the greatest skills development requirement. This represents a clear departure from the skills needs generally evident in the 2020 Survey and illustrate perhaps the practical results of the Victorian COVID-19 lockdowns. Access to digital resources and to online data and analysis tools became more critical and this influenced the type of skills needed by researchers.