Uni Panel
Enabling Access to Researchers, Academics and Higher Education Professionals Worldwide
Uni Panel helps organisations recruit researchers, academics, research managers, university staff and other higher education professionals for research projects including surveys, interviews, focus groups, usability testing and co-creation projects. We're dedicated to ensuring these audiences have their say, influencing the policies, infrastructure, culture, products and services that impact their work.
We have more than 30,000 fully opted-in panel members across 182 countries. We provide access to these important audiences, which can be difficult to reach through non-specialist providers. Potential participants include academics, research-active staff, PhD researchers, scientists, technicians, research managers and professional staff working across higher education and the wider research ecosystem. We currently have information on subject-specialism for more than 19,000 of our members.
Planning a Research Project for 2027?
Uni Panel is currently onboarding members, ensuring the quality of our profiling information and developing our systems. We expect to begin accepting new client projects from January 2027.
If you're planning a study for 2027 or beyond, we'd be delighted to hear from you now. Early conversations can help us understand your requirements and prepare for future recruitment needs.
For more details see the section of this website For Clients, or email me at jane@uni-panel.com
What We Do
Uni Panel connects organisations and researchers with people working in higher education, metascience and scholarly communications.
We help clients recruit participants for:
- Online surveys
- Research interviews
- Focus groups
- Usability testing
- Advisory groups
- Product development research
- Thought leadership studies
- Policy consultation or co-creation projects
We rarely conduct research projects ourselves. In most cases, we help organisations reach the right people and recruit participants for their own research.
Why Uni Panel?
Specialist audience
Unlike general sample providers, Uni Panel focuses on researchers, academics, scientists, technicians, research managers and higher education professionals. If this is the audience you wish to reach, you are unlikely to find a better or more extensive panel.
International reach
Panel members are located across 182 countries worldwide.
Targeted recruitment
We are able to select participants by discipline, country, role and institution type. For clients this means better quality data and more precise targeting; for participants, this means you only receive information about relevant projects.
Trusted approach
Research invitations are distributed through Uni Panel. We aim to ensure that members are only invited to studies that will be relevant to them, well managed and well designed. Participants are not routinely approached directly by clients.
Established heritage
Our panellists have a long history of involvement in high-quality and influential research conducted for organisations such as Wellcome, UKRI, Cambridge University Press, Springer Nature, UKGCE, MI Talent and many others. To learn more about the projects Shift Insight conducted, see the archive website: www.shift-insight-archive.co.uk.
Why Uni Panel Exists
Uni Panel was established by Jane Powell following the closure of Shift Insight, the specialist higher education and research consultancy she founded and led for nearly 25 years. Shift built up an extensive panel of higher education professionals, researchers and scientists over its two and a half decades.
When Shift Insight closed in 2026, Jane acquired and developed the panel so that universities, publishers, funders, charities, research organisations and commercial organisations could continue to engage with researchers and higher education professionals worldwide.
Connect with Jane on LinkedIn: Jane Powell
Looking for Research Participants?
Whether you need:
- Academics for interviews
- Researchers for surveys
- Research managers for focus groups
- Vice Chancellors and university leaders for qualitative research
- Higher education professionals for usability testing
- Participants for scholarly communications research
We would be delighted to discuss your requirements.
Email: jane@uni-panel.com