Second Climate Survey of Biomedical PhD Students in the Time of Covid

Abstract

In July 2021, sixteen months into the Covid-19 pandemic, the institutional climate for PhD training in the School of Medicine was assessed for a second time. This survey of graduate students occurred 1 year after initial surveys of graduate students and training faculty in July 2020. The 2021 survey was completed by 99 PhD students in 11 PhD-granting programs. To allow comparisons between years, most of the 2021 questions were repeated with only minor edits. A few items were added to assess impacts of school-wide town hall meetings, a new PhD career club program, and enlarged mental health services. Several themes emerged. Students remain extremely concerned about the pandemics impact upon their training and long-term career prospects. They worry specifically about pandemic related reductions in research productivity and networking opportunities. Many students successfully adapted to laboratory research under pandemic restrictions but suffer from the continuing lack of social interaction even after in-person work hours increased. Symptoms of anxiety and/or depression persist amongst 46% of the students, as compared to 51% in 2020. Nearly 80% of students continue to report strong satisfaction with mentoring relationships with their dissertation advisors, but to lesser extents with programs (66%), departments or centers (71%), the School of Medicine (32%) and the University (49%). Students (26%) express interest in the Ombuds office that was announced in late 2021. Some students wrote that the medical school could do a better job in embracing diversity and inclusion and in mentor training, and many stated that town hall meetings do not serve them well. Coping mechanisms shared by some students demonstrate impressive resilience. These results present a mixed picture. While aspects of biomedical PhD training have begun to recover as the pandemic continues, long-term consequences of the disruption raise challenges that must be addressed by efforts to restore and improve the learning environment required for 21st century research education.