Trifo Unveils First Robot Vacuum Cleaner in India Which Doubles Up as Home Security Camera

 * With outstanding mapping capability and navigation system, the Max series by Trifo is the smartest and most powerful home surveillance robot vacuums to date.  

* Trifo Max series can see, listen and speak as it cleans. It can communicate with the users through the Trifo Home App, whether at home or away. 

* The series includes two models – Max that features powerful 3,000 Pa of suction while Max Pet, designed for homes with pets to manage their hair and bigger dirt particles, offers a higher 4,000 Pa.   

* The series comes with a water tank and ten mopping pads, allowing users to mop the floor while sweeping. 

Trifo, a Silicon Valley-based AI home robot company, rolled out India's first “Home Surveillance Robot Cleaner” with powerful suction capability. Available in two models—Max and Max Pet, the series comes with a water tank and ten mopping pads, allowing users to mop the floor while sweeping. 

Loaded with patented TIRVS (Trifo Intelligent Robotics Vision System) technology, Trifo Max series has smart learning abilities. Its advanced AI-powered surveillance system can decide the most efficient cleaning route while detecting and maneuvering around small obstacles such as toys, cables and jewelry. The robot uses its camera to map out different rooms at home and cleans them efficiently. 

"Trifo is dedicated to creating home robots that help people achieve a better balance of family, work and personal life. Apart from its powerful cleaning capability and advanced vision navigation system, the Max series is a security device that can detect movement and sound, thereby keeping homes clean and safe," said Zhe Zhang, Founder and CEO of Trifo.   

Max features a strong suction power of 3,000 Pa and its smart camera supporting home security functions. Once the Motion Detection feature is switched on, the robot cleaner can serve as a digital watchdog and inform the family about movements, people, or unusual sounds. If necessary, the built-in microphone and speaker can be used to communicate directly with the intruder or the person on site. 

Max Pet is designed especially for furry friends at home. In addition to the home security function, it boasts a more powerful suction of up to 4,000 Pa and has no problem picking up pet hair and larger dirt particles. It comes with an extra pet hair extractor featuring an anti-knotting function ensuring long pet hair does not get stuck. 

Through the Wi-Fi enabled Trifo Home App, Max and Max Pet can communicate with the users whether they are at home or away. The app gives real-time access to all of the different features and functions for cleaning while providing a new level of human-robot interaction from the camera. 

Zhang added, "The specifications, together with a plethora of excellent smart features that it offers at a competitive price, make Max a valuable addition to the Robot Vacuum category. We're excited to bring Max to India so that homes can live better and smarter". 

Availability and Pricing 

After a successful launch in the U.S., UK and European markets, Trifo Max and Max Pet are available on Flipkart and Amazon in India. Max is attractively priced at INR 32,900, given the superior features it offers, while Max Pet is priced at INR 36,900. 

Features and Specifications 

Robot Vacuum and Security System in One 

Supported by the AI-powered surveillance system, the Max series can function as a security robot guarding home while the user is away. The family can set up alert notifications to trigger automatic video recording or have a real-time inspection of a possible break-in by switching on the camera. Max can watch the house even while charging, as its charging port is at the back connecting to the charging station. 

Users worried about privacy issues can disable the microphone and cameras at any time. None of the videos or other information is stored in the cloud or on the server. 

Powerful Cleaning  

Max has an optimized vacuum fan that creates 3,000 Pa of suction. Its larger main brush and six-claw side brush reach deep into corners, while its larger dustbin and a washable primary filter are easy to maintain. Max Pet has 4,000 Pa of suction to cope with pet hair and bigger dirt particles. 

Advanced Intelligent Vision  

The Max series runs on TIRVS (Trifo Intelligent Robotics Vision System)—a combination of proprietary algorithms and the latest deep sensing, perception and decision-making technology. This patented feature ensures the robot always knows where it is, decides the most efficient cleaning route, avoids obstacles and creates a map of its path to repeat later cleaning trips. 

Trifo Home App  

Users can program it remotely to schedule cleaning, whether they're home or not. Family members can see where Max or Max Pet has cleaned, through the map it has built, as it works. The app is available at the Apple App Store and Google Play. 

Innovative Human-Robot Interaction  

The Max series is Alexa-enabled and the family at home can control it using voice commands, such as, "Alexa, turn on Trifo." When out of the house, the user can speak and listen to other family members, pets, or even intruders using Max's speaker and mic through the Trifo Home App. 

…And More 

Max's 5,200 mAh battery keeps it going up to 120 minutes and features a USB port for charging other devices at home. 

upGrad Strengthens Focus on B2B Business; Appoints Minaxi Indra as President - Enterprise Business

upGrad, India’s largest online higher education company, in a most recent development, introduced pilot sessions with guaranteed learning outcomes, for large corporates and its employees, under its B2B arm - ‘upGrad Enterprise’. 

The three-month pilot sessions are meant to help corporate employees develop an accurate subject foundation before they go ahead and pursue the entire online program. Post completion of the pilot session, the employees have an option to upgrade to India's best-selling, and NASSCOM certified PGD program in Data Science. The initiative has secured enrolments from over 15 companies across diverse sectors like BFSI, manufacturing, infotech, IT, and consulting.

The initiative launch was accompanied by the news of onboarding a new leadership team at the helm of upGrad Enterprise.

Minaxi Indra, who joins upGrad as President - Enterprise Business, is a customer-centric business leader with almost 2 decades of experience across enterprise customer excellence and business growth. She has worked with innovative companies like IBM, Cisco, SAP, and LinkedIn, successfully partnering with customers on mutual priorities.

In her previous role at Uber, Minaxi led a high-performance team focused on customer growth and strategic engagement. As one of the founding members for Uber for Business in APAC, she was instrumental in building their customer strategy and engagement model in the region. 

“Minaxi is an innovative thinker and believes in aligning with customer's objectives to drive mutual wins. Given her experience of successfully leading high-impact customer advisory councils pan-India and her credentials in scaling businesses that positively impact customers, we are assured of creating new milestones in our Enterprise business under her leadership,” said, Mayank Kumar, Co-founder & MD, upGrad.

“The talent at upGrad is best-in-class and the organisation has established strong recall as a trusted partner to companies in India. I am invested in building long term mutually successful engagements with our customers and universities.” said Minaxi Indra, who joins upGrad as the President - Enterprise Business and took over her new role from October 1st, 2020.

Moytreyee Konwar joins her team as the Vice President - upGrad Enterprise.

With 21 years of experience, Moytreyee has a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry and has been a Technical Delivery and Architecture Leader working across North America and India. As a Tech enthusiast she was managing a portfolio of around 14M USD Revenue before she moved to Learning & Development, out of a passion for developing talent. In her most recent role at Cognizant Academy (L&D arm of Cognizant ), she was the Global Portfolio leader of Learning Strategies for Industry Domain Solutions, Digital, and Legacy Technology Learning Solutions, Leadership Development programs, and On-Boarding programs, for a business unit of ~25000 employees

upGrad leads with the purpose of generating confidence, commitment, and engagement in these hard COVID-19 times, along with upGrad Enterprise that enables organizations, working closely with customers, to generate demand, thereby, generating sales. Most recently, upGrad Enterprise has partnered with Tata Steel Bhushan Steel Limited (TSBSL), one of India's leading steel manufacturers, to enable digital transformation and analytics-driven decisions, thereby helping them to continue to be a national and global leader in the steel industry. Through this program, upGrad aims to equip their teams with the skills needed to cope with disruptive technologies and optimize their approach to problem-solving through data, combining their solid foundation with the best digital and statistical practices of today.

About upGrad Enterprise:

upGrad Enterprise is the B2B arm of upGrad, India’s largest online higher education company. Founded in early 2015, upGrad has impacted almost 0.9 million individuals globally, within a short span of 5 years. 

With the aim of creating impact at scale through its world-class learning programs and custom solutions, upGrad Enterprise partners with organizations to equip their employees with the right skillset and mindset to produce a future-proof workforce. Our solutions span across the employee lifecycle to facilitate digital and business transformation in alignment with enterprise goals, leading to capability building and value generation.

With over 90% program completion rate, robust tech platform, outcome-based learning approach, industry-relevant curriculum, the company create a learning experience perfectly suited to engage working professionals and maximise their potential through continuous skilling.

IIIT Bangalore and upGrad's PG Diploma in Data Science is India’s first-ever PG Diploma, with over 10,000 alumni & learner-base, to be recommended and validated by the NASSCOM and is aligned to Government approved National Occupational Standards (NOS). upGrad has ranked No.1 in the #LinkedInTopStartups India 2020 list. This is the third time in a row that upGrad has been featured in the #LinkedInTopStartup list after 2018 and 2019. upGrad made it to the GSV Global EdTech 50 List 2020. upGrad has been awarded the title of ‘Best Tech for Education’ by IAMAI in 2019. upGrad received the ‘Best Education Brands’ award by Economic Times in 2018, and the Most Innovative Companies in India' by Fast Company in 2017.

Digital Fitness Startup TREAD Raises $1.1M Seed Round From Notable Early Stage Investors

Bengaluru-based online fitness startup TREAD has raised its maiden round of funding of $1.1M from a clutch of reputable entrepreneurs, super angels and pre-seed funds. The notable investors who participated in this round were Better Capital, Unacademy founders Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini & Hemesh, Udaan founder Sujeet Kumar, CRED founder Kunal Shah, Citruspay founder Amrish Rau, MPL founders Sai Srinivas & Shubh Malhotra, Jupiter founder Jitendra Gupta, RedBus founder Phanindra Sama, Whiteboard Capital, FirstCheque and Stanford Angels among others.

This funding round comes within just 3 months of TREAD’s inception in July 2020. The startup will use this capital to fast track its product development and accelerate the growth of its platform and overall business.

Speaking about the fundraise, Dinesh Godara, Founder & CEO, TREAD said, “We are excited to announce our first ever fundraise for TREAD, a visionary homegrown online fitness startup that aims to advance the “Fit India” initiative by offering holistic workouts which are accessible and affordable to everyone in India and in Bharat. This fundraise gives us the initial capital to rapidly build out our product, our content across social platforms and to onboard thousands of professional trainers from across the country. Our immediate goal is to launch an immersive and gamified experience for users to choose their workouts and make consistent progress on their fitness goals.”

TREAD envisions to deliver live streamed group workout sessions through its mobile app and website. Leading trainers and fitness experts around the country will use TREAD’s platforms for showcasing and delivering different types of workouts such as Yoga, HIIT, Cardio, Strength & Conditioning workouts, and so on. By subscribing to TREAD (as per their monthly or yearly subscription plan), users will get unlimited access to various types of workout sessions on the TREAD app and every user will be able to do workouts with a trainer of his/her choice.

Discussing the current opportunities and way forward for TREAD, Dinesh Godara adds, “In this post-COVID world, people are cautious about social distancing and are hesitant to head back to the gyms and fitness centers. Workout from home has become a new normal in fitness around the world. TREAD is squarely positioned around this need and is offering the full range of workouts via online sessions with best-of-breed trainers across all categories. TREAD is building a rich experience for users to pick up workouts, find trainers of their choice and compete with their peers and track progress via a gamified dashboard. TREAD is also creating rich tools for trainers to conduct highly engaging group workout sessions where users feel connected to their trainers similar to their offline experience.”

TREAD has quickly built a thriving online fitness community on social media channels like YouTube, where it has 1.1M subscribers and on Instagram where it has 500,000+ followers already - a demonstration of the team’s deep understanding of building high quality content-driven businesses. The startup is in talks with multiple venture capital firms for its Series A round of funding.

Global Study Reveals Indian Companies Are Thinking Ahead Of The World’s Digital Transformation Curve

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading digital workflow company, today released a local study, comparing India’s success, realities, anxieties and attitudes to working in the COVID-19 era to global peers, fielded by Wakefield Research. “The Work Survey” features perspectives of 100 Indian C-suite executives and 1,000 local employees, from a total 9,000 global respondents.

The survey reveals that India holds the number one global standing when it comes to utilisation of digital workflows. While the trend at first seems encouraging, there is still a long road ahead.

“74% of India’s executives said that their business continues to use offline workflows, lowest among all other countries surveyed (US 89%, UK 98%, Australia 98%),” said ServiceNow Managing Director – India & SAARC Arun Balasubramanian. “While the figure indicates greater adoption of digital workflows in India there is clearly plenty of scope for greater utilization of digital work processes.”

The pandemic has helped companies forge new and better ways of working, something India’s executives (97%) and employees (93%) firmly agree on. However, one of the biggest challenges for India to overcome is transforming the many old processes that remain disconnected across systems and departments. Less than half of Indian employees (49%) and executives (42%) believe they have a fully integrated system for workflow management across business functions.

“The appreciation for digital workflows in India are among the highest in the world,” said Arun, “but there is a still a long road ahead for the sub-continent.  We are on the cusp of an unprecedented wave of workflow and workplace innovation and there’s no going back.”

Opportunities for India to ride the digital transformation wave:

While the survey indicates strong appreciation of digital transformation in India, it also identified appetite for more. Both executives (69%) and employees (55%) acknowledge the need for further investment as the top priority for organizations seeking to leverage any pandemic-induced cost savings. And it appears there will be funds for this purpose, with 91% of India’s executives agreeing that cost savings will be derived by changes to company operations, brought on by COVID-19.

Demand for upgraded digital workflows has been the most highly touted benefit of new post-COVID work processes globally among India’s employees with 54% of them stating that better use of technology to improve work efficiency was a key benefit they experienced from working remotely.

“In order to succeed in the new normal, every company must underpin their business with digital workflows,” said Arun. “You’re only as good as your people and winning today means delivering new digital business models, faster than the competition, to make it easy for employees to do their best work, anywhere.”

With India preparing to take charge of its digital future, it is safe to say that new systems put in place because of COVID-19 were developed on the fly and are vulnerable to the next major disruption. Less than half of India’s executives and employees felt departments such as customer service, sales and marketing and finance could adapt and implement new workflows within 30 days of another major business disruption. IT fared best, executives (74%) and employees (75%) giving the department the best chance of adapting.

While the benefits of remote work are universally touted, months into working from home, the challenges have become more apparent and there is scope for further growth and innovation. Both executives (95%) and employees (93%) expressed concerns about how remote work will impact the business moving forward with extended timelines for new releases or innovations topping the list for employees, while delays in product or service delivery of most concern for executives.

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott said, “Digital workflows are the way business gets done in the 21st century. There’s no going back. Digital transformation will accelerate. New ways of working will become the norm. We are on the cusp of an unprecedented wave of workflow and workplace innovation.”

Survey Methodology

Wakefield Research fielded an online quantitative survey between September 1st and September 10th, 2020 to 900 C-level executives and 8,100 office professionals (employees) from companies of 500 or more employees in the following countries: United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, India, Japan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. While Wakefield surveyed across industries the findings highlight meaningful differences from employees from the following five key industries: financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications and public sector.

About ServiceNow

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is making the world of work, work better for people. Our cloud‑based platform and solutions deliver digital workflows that create great experiences and unlock productivity for employees and the enterprise. For more information, visit: www.servicenow.com. © 2020 ServiceNow, Inc. All rights reserved. ServiceNow, the ServiceNow logo, Now, and other ServiceNow marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company names, product names, and logos may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Vodafone Idea Collaborates with IBM to Enhance Customer Experience Powered by Big Data Platform

* IBM Services implements data transformation with open technologies to propel Vodafone Idea’s hybrid cloud strategy

* Remote end-to-end project management, delivery and implementation during COVID-19 lockdown

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) today announced that IBM Services has been selected to help the leading telecom operator embrace open source at scale across the enterprise by implementing the Big Data Platform on open source Hadoop framework. As VIL's strategic technology partner, IBM is leading the end-to-end implementation and management of the Big Data Platform.

As a part of the implementation, IBM is responsible for program management, consulting, system integration, infrastructure services, application operations, and maintenance support. Additionally, IBM is helping in enhancing network security. The IBM team's expertise is integral to supporting VIL achieve a reduction in the overall cost of data analytics. The insights from advanced data mining is empowering employees and partners in faster decision making and elevating the omnichannel, digital-first experience, for end customers.

The implementation builds on IBM’s existing work to advance VIL’s hybrid cloud transformation using open technologies. This includes an agreement earlier this year to deliver its Open Universal Cloud with IBM and Red Hat to accelerate network and IT modernization. IBM has been a strategic IT partner to Vodafone Idea for more than a decade.

With the world’s largest IT and network integration, Vodafone Idea has a need for large scale data transformation with a focus on architecture modernization, open-source adoption and using predictive analytics for data modernization.

By partnering on this implementation, IBM is helping VIL transform the way data is optimized and delivered to partners, employees and internal systems. Fragmented, siloed data can now be streamlined for seamless data availability. VIL will also be able to combine insights from the Big Data Platform and better leverage cloud native technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance revenues, reduce costs and elevate customer experiences.

Currently, insights derived from the data are leveraged for management dashboards, campaign management, network analytics, usage traffic analysis, product analysis, amongst others.

Talking about the success of the project, Vishant Vora, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited said, “With the successful completion of the world’s largest integration in record time, we have embarked on a journey equipped with augmented data insights to help millions of our customers with customized and faster service launches. VIL has set up world-class network with largest spectrum portfolio, huge capacity and deployed many principles of 5G architecture that has helped us transform into a future-fit, digital network for the changing customer needs. Along with IBM we have implemented many first-of-kind projects and the big data and analytics engagement is one such initiative. The open source approach has helped us in modernizing infrastructure and network experience, helping our people and partners in quicker business decision making. The power of data will help transform our cloud and AI journey in the future.”

Sharing his views Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India/South Asia said, “VIL is at the forefront of adopting open technologies helping shape the telecom landscape in India. The modernized and future-ready data platform is helping VIL get daily actionable insights to make strategic and operational level decisions effectively. IBM and VIL team worked together in challenging times of COVID-19 lockdown to seamlessly execute a complex and enterprise-wide deployment remotely. We are excited to be part of VIL’s Digital Transformation powered by Data. The engagement will help VIL further  lay the foundations for accelerating its hybrid cloud journey.” 

Life Essentials Personal Care Launches All Natural, No-Alcohol Spray Range Against Bacteria, Viruses Including COVID-19

Life Essentials Personal Care Pvt Ltd today launched a path breaking and innovative range of No Alcohol - No Bleach Protection Sprays. Named ‘W2 Protection Spray Range’, the product has been scaled up, manufactured and commercialised by Life Essentials and is based on licensing of the ECORSANI technology developed by IIT Bombay.

EcorsaniTM  technology by IIT Bombay relates to biodegradable, safe, GRAS approved compositions. The materials are safe for human contact and are free from harmful chemicals or alcohol. The EcorsaniTM formulation is antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal and on direct application has inactivated coronavirus samples. The active antimicrobial agents from natural sources,  inactivate  bacteria (Gram positive & Gram negative), fungi (Yeast & Mold) and viruses (Enveloped & Non – enveloped). The actives act by charge and surface activity to disrupt the cell wall of bacteria and fungi and the envelope of viruses.  This technology when tested on SARS-nCOV2 (COVID 19) virus on direct application has proven to inactivate the Covid 19 virus.

The W2 Protection Spray Range includes - W2 Apparel Protection Spray, W2 Room Protection Spray, W2 Hand-Body Protection Spray and W2 Surface Protection Spray. The efficiency and effectiveness of the W2 protection sprays is analogous to 70% alcohol and 1% hypochlorite based solutions. The alcohol and bleach free products have been formulated with a blend of  all-natural, biodegradable, safe to use and made of GRAS approved composition (Generally recognized as safe (GRAS), a US-FDA designation that certifies ingredients are safe ). Unlike the current range of available products in the market, this spray is free from toxic chemicals.

The W2 Apparel Protection Spray when directly applied on clothes ensures protection from  viruses, bacteria and fungi for up to 24 hours.  This can be sprayed on your clothes before leaving the house and it will give you an all day protection from germs. The W2 Room Protection Sprays can be used for protecting one’s  home or carrying it along so that it can be sprayed wherever one goes,  be it an elevator, a cab, metro, office or a restaurant. The third variant - The W2 Hand and Body Protection Spray can be applied to hands and any of the exposed body parts. The formulation of this product has been approved by the Ministry of AYUSH and is devoid of  harmful chemicals. The product is completely safe to be applied on the hands before eating and the added moisturization prevents the hands from getting dry and rough. The W2 Surface Protection Spray once applied on any hard surface like wood, tiles, metallic surfaces, can give protection for up to 24 hours. Formulated to be safe for children and adults, the W2 Protection Spray Range comes in mild fragrances and keeps you and your surroundings protected.

Speaking on the launch of the new range, Mr Amandeep Singh, Director, Life Essentials Personal Care Pvt Ltd, commented, “There is an urgent need for personal protection, for the public at large and especially the people who are going out of their houses every day. Our products are made to minimise the risk you and your loved ones face when they are going out or when someone is coming to your home or office. Our Protection Sprays give you the freedom to step out minimising the fear of contracting the deadly virus and adapt to the new normal without much worry of the side-effects of alcohol and bleach based products. The products are available across India through our website www.w2whywait.com and e-commerce platforms like Amazon & Flipkart.”

Spearheading R&D for the technology, Dr Rinti Banerjee, Chair Professor, Dept of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay, said,” We have been working on safe, and natural products that kill bacteria even before the pandemic. During this period, we modified and fine tuned our technologies to be effective against viruses and fungi also. EcorsaniTM technology (patent filed) is composed of natural, biodegradable ingredients known to be safe for human use and is free of alcohol or bleach. The formulation shows very strong antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal effects and is equivalent to 70% alcohol in effectiveness. We are very happy to partner with our Licensee Life Essentials for launch of the W2 range of products incorporating this technology. This technology provides us  a safe alternative for antimicrobial protection.’

Over the past few months, Coronavirus has completely changed our lifestyle especially our hygiene habits, while these habits are here to stay it is very important we make conscious choices in choosing products that we are exposing ourselves to. The W2 range is a part of Make in India initiative of the Government and is supported by Government of India COVID ECLG Scheme - Made in India, Made for the world. Life Essentials plans to invest 30 Crores into the development and distribution of its products over the next one year. These investments will be funded by internal accruals as well as by external investments. The  range of products by W2 minimise the risk of health complications which chemical based sanitizers and protection sprays may cause in the long run. As the Ministry of Housing and Family Welfare announce the Unlock 5.0 guidelines and more and more people step out of their  homes, especially the vulnerable segment of the society including children, protection sprays such as the Apparel sprays and Surface Sprays which have the power to protect us against bacteria, virus and fungi for up to 24 hours will act as our personal safety cover.

About W2 | Life Essentials Personal Care Pvt. Ltd

A wellness brand that combines the goodness of natural ingredients, with state-of-the-art technology offered by modern science. Backed by a team of researchers Life Essentials has developed skin care and personal care products that are a breakthrough in the field of preventive cosmetology.

The idea behind the brand W2 (W Square) is targeted at this almost universal habit. W2 stands for ‘Why Wait’: Why Wait for tomorrow when you can act today. It ushers in a range of products which are based upon the concept of Preventive Cosmetology which implies taking regular care of body, skin and hair so that their natural beauty can be maintained and accentuated forever.  All the same, making yourself beautiful should not be at the cost of making our Mother earth ugly.  W2 products are formulated as per the tenets of Ayurveda and environment consciousness is at the heart of all development.

Executive Summary of CACTUS Mental Health Survey in India

The CACTUS Mental Health Survey Report contains an analysis of a survey designed by Cactus Communications and analysed by Shift Learning, aiming to better understand the area of researcher mental health. It is based on the opinions of 13,000 researchers from over 160 countries, gathered over 8 months using a range of channels. 

A large proportion of the survey period was during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been taken into account when interpreting the results.

INSPIRING WORK ENVIRONMENTS – Nearly half of respondents indicated that the academic environment they worked in inspired them to work towards their research goals. Many open comments spoke of the support of peers but noted that their wider organization and/or leadership was less supportive and inspiring. More senior respondents were more likely to be inspired by their environment compared to PhD scholars or those having worked in research for under 10 years.

PURPOSE AND FULFILLMENT – Researchers’ lives seem to have many positive aspects and 76% agreed their work gave them a sense of purpose or fulfilment. 65% agreed that they enjoyed their non-research responsibilities. 

FEELING OVERWHELMED – 38% stated they had felt overwhelmed by their work situation fairly or very often in the previous month. Notably, PhD scholars were consistently more likely to state they felt overwhelmed fairly or very often in the previous month, compared to those with other academic designations. 

LONG WORKING HOURS – Researchers in our survey worked long hours, with over 31% reporting that they worked more than 50 hours and 13% reporting that they worked more than 60 hours per week. Researchers working in academic settings were significantly more likely to report working upwards of 50 hours per week (32%) compared to those working in other sectors. Those who worked longer hours were more likely to report feeling overwhelmed fairly or very often.

PRESSURE TO PERFORM – 65% of respondents indicated they were under tremendous pressure to publish papers, secure grants, and complete projects. Similarly, 56% of respondents agreed that they were under continuous pressure to maintain their current good standing or reputation in the research community. These pressures were particularly strong in academic settings. 

DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT – While 64% of respondents indicated they felt welcome and included in their organization and with their peers, 37% of respondents had experienced or were experiencing discrimination, harassment or bullying, with 60% of mixed-race researchers, 45% researchers self-identifying as homosexual and 42% of female researchers reporting this. Those who had experienced discrimination, harassment or bullying were more likely to also indicate they had felt overwhelmed in the last month than those who had not.

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKPLACE POLICIES – Respondents were highly divided when asked whether their organizations had adequate policies in place around discrimination and harassment, ethics, and work-life balance, perhaps indicating some highly varied practices across the sector. The presence or absence of robust policies seemed to have a strong impact on whether respondents reported experiencing negative behaviors and how often they felt overwhelmed by their work situation. 66% of those who strongly agreed or agreed that their institution lacked strict policies in this area reported having experienced discrimination, harassment or bullying at work, compared to 21% of those who reported being in institutions that had strict policies in place. Similarly, 48% of those who agreed or agreed strongly that ‘My organization does not have strict policies to prevent, detect, and take action against any form of discrimination/harassment/bullying’ had felt overwhelmed fairly or very often, compared with 32% or disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. Strict policies appear perhaps to be a key defining element of a supportive workplace.

SEEKING SUPPORT – 49% of respondents said they would not discuss work-based feelings of severe stress or anxiety with relevant people/authorities in their workplace. Key barriers here were a sense that others would be unable to help, concerns that it might reflect poorly on that individual, fear of not being taken seriously, and a sense that these feelings were part of normal academic life. The sense that stress and anxiety were normal in academic life also often prevented researchers from seeking professional help when they encountered these feelings.