Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS)

The Careers in Research online Survey (CROS) is run biennially and will next run in spring 2013.
CROS has been running since 2002 and gathers anonymous data about working conditions, career aspirations and career development opportunities for research staff in UK higher education. It was originally developed using funding from HEFCE, SHEFC, and the DTI/OST (now BIS) and was revised in 2008 in light of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. Vitae has published analyses of results from 2009 and 2011 - data from a total of 63 institutions - on behalf of the CROS Steering Group.

CROS provides a valuable way to follow the progress of institutions and the sector. In particular it:

• helps those concerned with researcher development to plan their interventions
• provides institutions with evidence in relation to the European HR Excellence in Research award and their submissions for the research environment element of the Research Excellence Framework
• provides institutions with the opportunity to compare their institutional results with the UK aggregate or standard benchmarking groups.

For further information see our frequently asked questions page.

‘ Positive progress is being made, and accordingly its main recommendation is to encourage institutions to continue the good work being undertaken towards even greater degrees of implementation of the principles of the Concordat. ’

2011 Analysis of UK aggregate results