Dread in Academia – how COVID-19 affects science and scientists

Marta Kowal; Piotr Sorokowski; Agnieszka Sorokowska; Izabela Lebuda; Agata Groyecka-Bernard; Michał Białek; Kaja Kowalska; Lidia Wojtycka; Alicja M. Olszewska; Maciej Karwowski

doi:10.2478/anre-2020-0028

Authors

Marta Kowal Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Piotr Sorokowski Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Agnieszka Sorokowska Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Izabela Lebuda 1Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Agata Groyecka-Bernard 1Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Michał Białek Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Kaja Kowalska Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Lidia Wojtycka Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Alicja M. Olszewska Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Poland
Maciej Karwowski Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/anre-2020-0028

Keywords:

COVID-19, academia, scientists, gender differences, pandemic

Abstract

In order to gain an insight into scholars’ concerns emerging from the COVID-19 crisis, we asked scientists from all over the world about their attitudes and predictions regarding the repercussions of this current crisis on academia. Our data showed that the academic world was placed in an unprecedented situation. Results further showed that everybody worked on-line, conducting studies was impossible or highly impeded, and lab work was difficult. Almost a quarter of all scientists participating in our survey were anxious about their scientific employment, and over 25% expected serious financial losses as a consequence of the pandemic. Moreover, we identified sex differences regarding the severity of the COVID-19 impact in the majority of questions. We inferred from this that women perceived to be in a worse situation than men.

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