EDI Climate Survey

Each Faculty of Science EDI Climate survey is a tool to measure the level of inclusion and diversity within each unit at all levels – from undergraduate students to professors to staff.

The UVic Faculty of Science EDI Council – through the Office of the Associate Dean Research – is conducting the survey for each unit. The UVic Privacy Office has approved the survey with respect to privacy concerns.

Protecting your privacy is of utmost importance. The survey has been approved by the UVic Privacy Office. All data collected via Survey Monkey will be analyzed but only reported as aggregated data. To preserve anonymity, when a group includes less than 5 responses/individuals, we will either not report the results or include them within a larger group.

Any "other, specify" or "additional comment" fields (free text) will be manually checked and anything potentially identifying will either be removed or anonymized before anything is reported.

Raw survey responses will only be viewed within the Dean's office for the purposes of anonymizing and aggregating data. No raw survey responses will be available to any member of that unit's survey, including staff and administrators.

The survey report will not only inform each unit of current EDI levels – it will guide how each unit addresses concerns and plans supports for those who are under-represented within each unit.

The demographics and experiences captured here will help direct us – highlighting areas where we need to address concerns. But the survey report will also provide a baseline, so future surveys can illuminate the impact of policy changes and supportive programs.

We're working towards fostering an increasingly supportive and inclusive environment for all our members.

We want to hear from all unit members: faculty, staff, research associates, post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, and adjunct professors. Each survey is intended for all members – not only those who may identify as diverse. This should provide a current snapshot of who makes up each unit population and what some of their experiences have been.

The survey is completely voluntary. But the more people we hear from, the more complete our snapshot will be. This will better inform us to ensure the Faculty of Science is as welcoming, supportive, and inclusive as possible. Please spread the word and remind your peers that they can complete the survey!

While some demographic information has been collected the data is limited and incomplete and doesn't include additional details, nuance, or experiences. This survey goes beyond demographics, including member experiences.

The survey can take from 10 to 20 minutes to finish.

Simply put, the survey is about you and each unit you are in. The first section of the survey includes a series of questions about how you identify yourself – ethnicity, gender, orientation, ancestry, and so on. The second section is about your impressions of and experiences within your unit.

By collecting this kind of data, we hope to obtain a picture of how diverse each unit is, but also how included, respected, and supported people within various groups feel.

Participating in the survey will ensure that your identity and experiences are included in the data. Your information will help us understand the scope of our diversity and the experiences of those within each unit.

The resulting report will guide how we address concerns and plan supports for those who are under-represented within each unit.

The more inclusive and accepting any community or group becomes, the more comfortable, positive, and productive the group can operate as a whole.

Because some EDI climate and experiences can vary between units (department/school), we request that you complete a separate survey for every unit relevant to you.

For example, if you are taking courses in math and biology, please complete both the math survey and biology survey. Similarly, if you are a researcher or staff in physics and SEOS, please complete both the physics survey and SEOS survey.

Please report specific EDI experiences in the survey for the unit in which they occurred.

UVic, the Faculty of Science, and unit members are of many different ancestries, abilities, sexual orientations, and genders. In our society, people experience both conscious and unconscious discrimination based on these and other grounds.

This is why we are making sure to keep the survey results private and only presenting aggregated, anonymized results.

By understanding the scope of our diversity and the experiences of those within each unit, we will be more able to ensure an environment that is inclusive for all.

If you prefer to not answer any question – for any reason – you can select "prefer not to disclose".