The aims of this pre-registered (doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/PYV5U) study were to 1) explore the differential micro and meso-level impacts of COVID-19 on researcher productivity and 2) to co-design response to maximise the opportunities, and minimise the risks, of these impacts. Informed by the 10 principles of the European Association of Citizen Science, Aim 1 was achieved through a mixed quantitative and qualitative survey of research productivity and it’s impact when lockdown first impacted their lives, at the time of completing the survey and in the future. This was completed by 59 researchers (approximately 10% of the eligible population) at a UK Higher Education Institution. Data collection was administered by the Gorilla platform, which has been shared (https:///osf.io/kb5r9). Survey data is included anonymously. In Aim 2, participants worked with these impacts to co-design solutions around lack of support and University workload. This was conducted via Microsoft Teams and data is an automated transcript of the conversation. In addition, copies of study and consent information are included, along with the survey questions.This study will help us understand the differential impacts of the pandemic on individuals’ research productivity, to discuss the challenges faced and the possible implications for the future of their research and career progression, and to seek views on how impacts might be mitigated. Researchers’ needs are varied; some can work effectively at home, some require access to on-campus facilities, and others work in third party laboratories, clinics and in the field. Many staff have had to balance childcare and home-schooling responsibilities with their University roles, and that this may have had an impact on the quantum of research produced during lockdown. Similar effects will have been experienced by staff with other caring responsibilities, and some staff may now find that they are unable to return to campus because of shielding requirements.

Survey: The survey had four parts and was administered in the English language using the Gorilla experimental platform from 21st May to 20th July 2021. First, the survey started with warm-up questions (Braun et al., 2020), which were demographics (including protected characteristics and subjective social class), researcher productivity and whether they had a role in how their organisation responded. For the short life-story approach, the topic questions (parts 2 and 3) had three temporal phases to the questions; 1) what happened to their research when the pandemic commenced, 2) what is happening now and 3) what will happen next? Part 4 was an open question; ‘is there anything you would like to add but that we have not anticipated in our questions’. Co-Design Groups: An online focus group on the 13th December 2021 was used to identify the implications and recommendations to maximise the differential benefits, and minimise the differential risks, of the experiences.