Who can participate?
Staff members at an Australian university and/or;
Students studying onshore and either:
- attending onshore campuses of an Australian higher education provider or
- residing in Australia for the term/semester and undertaking an external program of study at an institution via distance education or online.
All participants must be 18 years or over.
Who is conducting the study?
This research is being conducted by a team of researchers from POLIS: Centre for Social Policy Research at the Australian National University. The team of researchers was commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Commission to conduct the Racism@Uni Survey as part of the Racism@Uni – A National Study for Change.
Online Research Unit (ORU), one of Australia’s leading online data collection agencies, will manage the survey administration and the in-field survey process.
How do I participate?
Staff and students from participating universities will be sent an invitation email with a unique link to the survey from their university on behalf of the researchers from POLIS.
Do I need to participate in the survey?
You do not have to participate in the survey unless you want to; your participation in this survey is entirely voluntary.
Will my university know if I have completed this survey?
Your university will not know whether you participated in the survey unless you choose to disclose that information yourself.
Your decision to participate or not will not impact your relationship with the university now or in the future.
The use of unique links allows anonymous participation in the survey. It ensures that only the person who receives the invitation can complete the survey, which means that universities will not provide any personal information about students or staff to a third party.
Will my answers/information be confidential? Will I be able to be identified in this study?
Survey participation will be anonymous, which minimises risks relating to confidentiality and privacy. Any personally identifiable information provided in an open text response will be removed and destroyed. Any information obtained and collected from the survey will be de-identified and treated as confidential and securely stored.
In any publication and/or presentation, information will be provided in such a way that you cannot be identified. The results of statistical analysis will also be reviewed prior to publication to ensure that there is no risk of identifying an individual through a set of unique personal characteristics.
What personal information will you collect?
We will not know your name or any of your contact details. You will not be asked to provide any personally identifying information. You will be asked a series of demographic questions; however, you do not have to disclose any information you do not wish to.
Does the Racism@Uni Survey team have access to my personal information and email?
Your university has not provided the ORU or the POLIS research team with any of your personal information. This includes your email address from which you received an invitation to participate in the Racism@Uni Survey.
Will I be compensated for my time? Are there any financial incentives?
There are no costs associated with participating in this research project, nor will you be paid.
However, if you complete the survey, you will be able to enter into a prize draw and have the chance to win one of fifty $50 gift vouchers.
Individuals who consent to participate in the prize draw will only be required to provide their email address and will not need to provide any other identifying information. Your email for the prize draw will not be linked to the survey that you completed.
Can I withdraw from this study?
You can choose to stop completing the survey at any point.
If you stop completing the survey part way through, the information you provide may still be retained depending on what point you stopped answering the survey questions. You should be aware that data collected up to the time may form part of the research project results.
Has this project received ethical approval?
The ethical aspects of this research have been approved by the Bellberry Limited Human Research Ethics Committee (2025/03414) and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Human Research Ethics Committee (REC-O541 Howard-Wagner).
How long will the survey take me to complete?
We anticipate that this survey will take at approximately 15 minutes to complete.
How do I participate?
Participating universities will send out emails to all students and staff in the week commencing 11 August 2025 with a link to the survey embedded in that email.