What makes researchers anxious? It’s Time to Talk about talking about research

Abstract

Increasingly, workplaces provide accessible places and events for employees to discuss mental health issues. In the course of discussions in our organisation, researchers raised the issue of workplace activities that cause them anxiety - top of the list being giving presentations. This article describes a workshop held with researchers at Cambridge Assessment to encourage the discussion to develop more widely. We reflect upon themes about workplace anxiety identified by the workshop participants, relate the themes to the literature, and consider practical techniques for reducing the impact of anxiety. Our aim is that this study will be helpful in enabling other researchers to become more open in discussing the aspects of their role which cause anxiety. In turn, this will facilitate finding ameliorative solutions to the issues raised, to the mutual benefit of individuals and organisations.