Researchers of Tomorrow: A three year (BL/JISC) study tracking the research behaviour of 'Generation Y' doctoral students

Education for Change, in collaboration with The Research Partnership, has been engaged by the British Library and the JISC to undertake a groundbreaking 3-year study on the research behaviour of the 'Generation Y' scholar.

The study is tracking young doctoral students' (those born between 1982 - 1994) information-seeking behaviour, analysing their habits in online and physical research environments and assessing their usage of library and information sources on and off line.

The study includes a survey of doctoral students of any age to provide background to the Generation Y research. The first iteration of the survey took place at the end of June 2009 with the assistance of over 70 HEIs and covered all subject disciplines. It was repeated in 2010 and run for the third and final time in mid 2011. A summary of the 2009 findings is available and those of the 2010 survey are incorporated in the second Annual Report published in June 2011. A final report on the three-year study will be published in spring 2012.

Other activities in the Researchers of Tomorrow study include a comprehensive and ongoing literature review and a longitudinal student tracking study that engages with a cohort of approximately 50 doctoral candidates through telephone interviews, workshops and online fora.

Follow the links below for further information:

Video interviews

During a recent event at the British Library for our Generation Y cohort, video interviews with speakers and participants were recorded by the JISC.