Geoscience COVID-19 Survey

PDF versionPDF version

Impacts of COVID-19 on the Geoscience Enterprise: 
How Permanent Will Academic Program and Workforce Changes Be?

Purpose

The American Geosciences Institute is conducting a multi-year study to capture the nature and extent of impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the geoscience workforce and academic programs. This study aims to understand how geoscience employers and educational institutions are changing their workplace and instructional environments and to discover which of these changes will become permanent.

A brief online survey is sent to study participants once a month and takes only a few minutes to complete. Results from the study will be reported only in aggregate and in a manner that ensures the confidentiality of the responses.

This study is open to those who lead geoscience companies, organizations, or academic departments, and to all geoscientists, including students, retired, and those not currently employed, who reside in the United States, and are at least 18 years old. Study participants who participate as individuals are asked about their current employment or enrollment status, geoscience-related activities, and other factors which may be impacted by the current crisis. Study participants who lead geoscience companies, organizations, or academic departments are asked to provide information about impacts to their organization’s work or instructional environment, business operations, and other factors which may be impacted by the current crisis.

Funding for this project is provided by the National Science Foundation (Award #2029570). The results and interpretation of the survey are the views of the American Geosciences Institute and not those of the National Science Foundation.

Benefits

While there may not be any immediate benefits for participants, there would be indirect benefits. This study will provide a cohort-level understanding of the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had upon the geoscience workforce and geoscience academic programs. The information provided by participants will be valuable in helping geoscience academic institutions, geoscience employers and decision makers to understand the structural changes to the geoscience enterprise from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participate in the study

Individuals

Study participants who are individuals reside in the United States and are at least 18 years old, and either are pursuing a geoscience degree or have a background in geoscience and/or are working within the geoscience profession. This cohort of study participants includes geoscience students, unemployed geoscientists, geoscience academic faculty, K-12 faculty teaching geoscience, geoscience post-doctoral fellows, non-academic geoscientists, and retired geoscientists.

Geoscience employers

Study participants who represent geoscience employers reside in the United States, are at least 18 years old, have a leadership position within their organization, and work for an organization that employs geoscientists.

Academic departments

Study participants who represent geoscience academic departments reside in the United States, are at least 18 years old, and have a leadership position within their department, such as a department head or department chair position.

Self-employed geoscientists

Study participants who are self-employed geoscientists may participate as either individuals or as geoscience employers.

Outreach Partners

Thank you to the following organizations for helping to increase awareness of and participation in this study.

Related Geoscience Currents

Cover image of DB-2022-005

COVID-19 Impacts Study: Employment Status of Recent Graduates

May 23, 2022
Of all participants in the Geoscience COVID-19 Impacts study, recent geoscience graduates have been the most vulnerable to employment disruptions during the pandemic. However, the study results indicate that the most recent geoscience graduates have either remained employed or gained employment...
Cover image of Data Brief 2022-004

Pandemic Impacts to Instructional Formats through March 2022

May 6, 2022
Lecture course instructional modes During the pandemic, courses, labs, and field activities have rapidly shifted between online, in-person and hybrid modes of instruction in response to pandemic conditions. With mask mandates easing in early 2022 as the impacts of the Omicron surge waned, there...
Cover of DB-2022-003

COVID-19 Impacts on Geoscience Business Staffing Through 2021

February 14, 2022
Staffing While the rate at which companies expected to increase per­manent staffing grew during the first half of 2021, companies became more cautious from August through October 2021 over concerns of impacts from the Delta variant. Growth expectations returned starting in November and December...
cover of DB-2022-002

COVID-19 Impacts on Geoscience Business Operations Through 2021

January 17, 2022
Financial Performance In 2021, geoscientist-employing organizations’ financial per­formance expectations shifted positively relative to 2020. In January 2021, nearly two-thirds of employers expected their financial performance for the year would be similar or higher than 2020, and by December 2021...
cover of DB-2021-032

Geoscience student progress during the pandemic, August 2021

November 1, 2021
University students may be the population in society to experi­ence the most variability in experiences during the pandemic. We are monitoring experiences of geoscience students during the pandemic, including how advising is being conducted, impacts on degree progress, and students’ intent to...
cover of DB-2021-031

Changes in COVID-related restrictions and concerns on work and research between January and August 2021

October 25, 2021
Facility restrictions Overall, restrictions to facility access declined for both academic (students and faculty) and non-academic geosci­entists since early 2021, with more than half of academic respondents reporting no facility restrictions in August 2021, and 38% of non-academic geoscientists...