Research Culture: A survey of travel behaviour among scientists in Germany and the potential for change
- Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Helmholtz Association, Germany
Figures
Figure 1
Survey demographics.
Distribution of respondents by gender (A), career stage (B), years of research experience (C), and research field (D). Seven of the research areas asked about in the survey – Life Science, Neuroscience, Immunology, Microbiology, Genetics, Cancer Biology and Cardiovascular/Metabolic research – were combined into a single Life Sciences research area during analysis.
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Figure 1—source data 1
Survey participants’ genders, career stages, years of research experience and research fields.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/56765/elife-56765-fig1-data1-v1.xlsx
Figure 2
Travelling to national and international conferences.
(A) Total number of conferences attended in 2019 by all respondents (red), by doctoral researchers/PhD students (cyan), by postdoctoral researchers (black), and by PIs/group leaders (chartreuse). Each dot represents one respondent; mean ± SD. Number of national conferences (B) and international conferences (C) attended in 2019 by all scientists (red), by doctoral researchers/PhD students (cyan), by postdoctoral researchers (black), and by PIs/group leaders (chartreuse). Mode of transport used for travelling to national conferences (D) and international conferences (E). Answers to the question ‘could you have used a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation?’ when travelling to national conferences (F) and international conferences (G).
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Figure 2—source data 1
Numbers of conferences attended and what modes of transport were used, including whether more environmentally friendly modes of transport were available.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/56765/elife-56765-fig2-data1-v1.xlsx
Figure 3
Factors that influence choices in travel to conferences.
(A) The relative importance of time (black), the environment (green), comfort (chartreuse), cost (cyan) or other (red) when deciding what mode of transport to use to go to a conference. (B) Distribution of answers to the question ‘how important do you consider face to face discussions/networking for the scientific community?’ on a scale of 1 (not relevant) to 5 (essential). (C–F) Distribution of answers to the following questions: ‘would you say that attending all of the scientific meetings/conferences this year was essential for your career/networking?’ (C); "would you be willing to reduce the amount of travelling for your science for the sake of the environment/reducing your personal carbon emission?’ (D); ‘are you aware of any initiative of your or any other research institution to promote environmentally friendly business trips?’ (E); " Could you imagine alternative web-based concepts for scientific meetings/conferences in the future?’ (F).
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Figure 3—source data 1
Motivations for choosing different forms of travel to conferences.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/56765/elife-56765-fig3-data1-v1.xlsx
Figure 4
Views on the environment, travel and diet.
(A) When asked ‘would you say that the environment/climate change affects your travelling behaviour?", 42% of respondents said yes, 44% said partially, and 14% said no. Only one person said they did not care. (B) Number of total flights (business and personal) taken by all respondents in 2019. Each dot represents one respondent; mean ± SD. (C) Preferred diet of respondents: meat-based (black); flexitarian, (cyan); vegetarian (green); vegan (red); other (chartreuse).
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Figure 4—source data 1
Opinions on the environment, travel and diet.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/56765/elife-56765-fig4-data1-v1.xlsx
Additional files
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Supplementary file 1
Survey questionnaire.
File containing the questions distributed to the survey participants. In questions that were not multiple choice, ‘Essay’ indicates that the participants could write in an answer.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/56765/elife-56765-supp1-v1.docx
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Research Culture: A survey of travel behaviour among scientists in Germany and the potential for change
eLife 9:e56765.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.56765
