Over ten years ago, UW-IT completed a two-year effort to speak with Principal Investigators (PI) to understand their technology pain points. The findings, presented in the report “Conversations with University of Washington Research Leaders,” supported the early efforts of the eScience Institute, led to the creation of a research computing unit in UW-IT, and helped guide UW-IT in creating research computing infrastructure.
Since those conversations took place, research practices and supporting technologies have evolved rapidly. In 2020, UW-IT conducted a new study to understand the current and evolving technology and infrastructure needs of UW researchers. Rather than individual interviews with PIs (the methodology of the original study), UW-IT staff used a survey to gather data from more than 7000 UW researchers across all three campuses, conducting research in diverse fields, and at every level (from post-docs to PIs).
The survey was designed to identify unmet needs and pain points for researchers in the following areas:
- Data and Computing Needs
- Data Management
- Resources and Support
- Collaboration
- Research Technologies and Teaching