Three-quarters of researchers say yes to meeting-free weeks

Almost three-quarters of researchers are keen to introduce regular meeting-free weeks, a Nature poll has found.

So far, 488 scientists have chosen to respond to the online poll, which began last month, and 72.1% have said that it would “definitely be practical” for their laboratory or research group to adopt the measure. All figures reported in this story were accurate on 4 February 2020.

The poll was inspired by Heidi Rehm’s World View article in Nature calling for one meeting-free week per quarter as a New Year’s resolution. Of those surveyed, 6.8% said that the proposal would not be practical, arguing that meetings are a valuable part of their work. And 21.2% answered “maybe”, but were unsure whether it would be possible to achieve such a goal (see ‘Meeting-free weeks’).

To read this article in full, visit the Nature Careers website – https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00326-8