Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - English

Since the Berlin University Alliance aims to promote cooperation in the Berlin research area, we were also interested in how the scientists themselves assessed the framework conditions in the Berlin research area and where they saw a possible need for support. For this purpose, we asked the respondents in the BSS to assess the cooperation opportunities in the Berlin research landscape. Furthermore, we asked to what extent there is a current need for support from the institutions regarding cooperation. It would be useful to repeat these assessments over an extended period in order to analyse whether Berlin as a location for research collaboration has developed positively in the perception of the scientists.

Need for support from the institutions

The BSS respondents were asked whether they need support from their institutions when initiating collaborations. Despite the already high level of collaboration and the thoroughly positive experiences with previous collaborations, 34% of the respondents stated that they would like to receive support. There is thus a definite need for action on the part of the facilities. Not least against the background that the wish for support was considerable, especially among postdocs (40%) and predocs (45%) (see Figure 50). Thus, a consistent picture emerges regarding the status groups: predocs had the fewest collaborative relationships, were less able to successfully pursue their own goals in collaborations, and at the same time most frequently expressed a wish for more collaborations and, accordingly, more support.

Figure 50 Need for support in initiating collaborations by status groups

The following picture emerged regarding the comparison by subject groups (see Figure 51): the need for support was lowest among the natural sciences and engineering. While only 30.5% of the natural scientists reported a need for support, the proportion of social scientists was significantly higher at 44.3% (see Figure 51). Here, too, the picture is quite clear: in the engineering and natural sciences, there was less desire for more collaborations, the collaborative relationships were more stable, and the collaborations occurred more frequently than in the other subject groups on the basis of requests from external parties. Accordingly, this was where there was the least need for support in initiating collaborations. Nevertheless, about one-third of the respondents indicated a need for support here as well.

Figure 51 Need for support in initiating collaborations by subject groups

Assessment of the Berlin research area's ability to facilitate

Finally, in order to gain a comprehensive insight into the research requirements of scientists, the participants were asked to assess the Berlin research area regarding various aspects (Lüdtke and Ambrasat 2022a). The area’s ability to facilitate collaboration” was rated as particularly good compared to other aspects (see Figures 52 and 53). Only 18.7% of respondents rated this aspect of the Berlin research area as "somewhat bad" or "very bad" (see Figure 52).

Furthermore, fewer respondents (11.3%) than for many other topics said that they could not assess this aspect (see Figure 52). However, even if these individuals are removed from the calculation, the predominantly positive assessment of the Berlin area’s success in facilitating collaboration remains (Figure 53).

Figure 52 Assessment of the Berlin Research Area

Figure 53 Assessment of the Berlin Research Area, without "I cannot judge"

If we take a more differentiated look at the estimates, we see that the Berlin area’s “ability to cooperate” was rated as “somewhat” or very bad” in particular by those who expressed a desire for additional cooperation (27.4%, see Figure 54). This finding points to the cooperation potential described above. If this potential can be better exploited, the assessment here may also improve.

At the same time, the Berlin research area's ability to facilitate collaboration” was rated as rather or very bad far more frequently by those who indicated a need for support in this activity (30%, see Figure 55). Thus, it can be assumed that here too, an effective provision of support services for initiating collaborations would, in the medium and long term, improve the assessment of the Berlin research area's ability to facilitate collaboration. However, this is only true if the support is targeted and reaches those who really need it. More detailed analyses, e.g., by means of qualitative surveys, are needed to identify concrete support needs in order to design targeted offers.

Figure 54 Evaluation of the Berlin area’s ability to facilitate collaboration according to the desire to cooperate

Figure 55 Evaluation of the Berlin area’s ability to facilitate collaboration according to support needs

Finally, we ran a multivariate analysis to estimate the weight of the various factors influencing the assessment of the cooperation ability. Figure 56 shows the results of this analysis. According to this, only the subject affiliation to the natural sciences exerted an influence on the evaluation, namely a positive one (see Figure 56). At the same time, the natural scientists have realized a high level of cooperation in the Berlin research area and, compared to the other subject groups, feel less of a need to expand this (in the Berlin research area). Taken together, these findings suggest the natural sciences had reached the saturation point regarding cooperative relationships and were satisfied with them.

Figure 56 Factors influencing the assessment of the cooperation ability of the Berlin research area